Summary

In September, Austerlitz invited the narrator to visit him in Paris, where he was now living. They met at a bistro bar, where Austerlitz “continued his story” (255).

Austerlitz was living in the Thirteenth Arrondissement, as this was where Maximilian’s “last known address” before he had “disappeared without a trace” (255). He has tried to discover more about Maximilian but the Parisian officials were difficult to work with. Sometimes Austerlitz imagined running into Maximilian on the street, but other times wondered if he was living at Drancy during the police raids of 1941. Many Jewish residents had chosen to die by suicide to avoid capture.

Being in Paris also made Austerlitz wonder if all the moments of life “occupy the same space” (258). He especially felt this sensation when he visited the Cimetière de Montparnasse recently. Meandering through the cemetery, he studied the gravestones and...