Page 177 "...one more episode would have pushed him over the Reichenbach Falls"

Clockwise from top left: Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty battle at the top of the Falls;
The Reichenbach Falls, Switzerland; Sherlock Holmes climbing the Falls;
another view of the Falls.

From page 177 of the book: "...But because Owen had gone a little over the bend, the stories of his life which had been told in cold blood, had reached a point where if he didn't get sick from the telling, one more episode would have pushed him over the “Reichenbach Falls.” One more thing was going to drive him completely insane. Like Sherlock Holmes, it was going to be the final problem. And like Holmes, whose instinct was to survive and whose death over the Reichenbach Falls was a mere fiction, our instinct nevertheless was to survive. Owen's elemental impulse was to survive."

Page 176 "...reading Cobban's History of Modern France..."

Mid-19th century engraving of the storming of the Bastille

 Alfred Cobban (1901–1968)
Professor of French History, University College, London

From page 176 of the book: "...I was alone in the back yard, sitting between two kerosine lamps, reading Cobban's History of Modern France and fantasizing about the strange, romantic attachment I had to my mother's country."

Page 176 "...Aeneas' visit to hell in order to speak with his father"

Various images of the Aeneid

Aeneas visits the underworld

From page 176 of the book: "...As if to put a final topping on the discussion, relative to its meaning for fathers and sons, Ebert quoted from Virgil's Aeneid, a passage which spoke of Aeneas' visit to hell in order to speak with his father, Anchises. In translation, it said that the road to hell is easy, that the gate stands open night and day, but "to trace one's steps and return to the upper air, that is the toil, that the difficulty."

Page 174 "...our dinner table had an evolution that was nothing slight of spectacular"

A few images of Provence and its food.

From page 171 of the book:  "...In exchange for her volunteerism, Mme. Cendre was teaching her the French language and Provencal cooking.  The result of which was our dinner table had an evolution that was nothing slight of spectacular."


Some interesting links regarding Provencal cooking:

Life in Provence http://lifeinprovence.com/
Herbs and Spices of Provence www.beyond.fr/food/herbs.html

http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-provence.html

http://www.epiculinary.com/fra_valmouriane.html