Sontag's first novel, it is a fascinating, knowing, acerbic portrait of Hippolyte, a latterday Candide whose violently imaginative dream life becomes indistinguishable from his surprising experiences in the "real world."

In the form of a memoir by a latter-day Candide named Hippolyte, 'The Benefactor' leads us on a kind of psychic Grand Tour, in which Hippolyte's violently imaginative dream life becomes indistinguishable from his surprising experiences in the 'real world.'Sontag's novel supplies a fascinating, knowing, acerbic portrait of a certain bohemian demi-monde that flourished in France until quite recently. More importantly, 'The Benefactor' is a novel about ideas - especially religious ideas - unlike any other: funny, acrobatic, disturbing and profound.