and thus (mindful of her lofty mission) she now lives the vicarious emotional life of millions, a never-ending series of high-frequency pulp novels:

THE LOVE LIFE OF NADINE C.

Installment #39

The Chips Are Down

The episode is terminated

SUSPENSE!!!

Who will the next man be?

•

I’m the ideal partner here. The more hopeless the liaison at the outset, the more suspenseful the course of events promises to be. And the more stylized the variation on the everlastingly identical theme of hopelessness (though at the end of course the simple way out, separating, remains open: for after all the game must continue). And the good Lord is kept out of it.

Nor would I have to burden my conscience: Nadine has as little to fear from me as I from her. Whatever we do together takes place in the dimension of hopelessness. We move weightlessly through the space of the zero point. Thus, we’d both get our money’s worth, with neither of us having to pay with himself. The alternation of hopeless literary experience and hopelessly lived literature would take on the grace of a pas de deux.

And the so to speak chemically pure literature would be set down in the entertainment section of the illustrated weeklies (where it has always been at home):

NEW AND ENDURING HAPPINESS FOR NADINE CARRIER?

Her relationship with Guitarist X came to a painful end. X could not help her get over her disappointment with Bobsled Champion Y. Nor could he help her forget the cataclysm of her love for Fashion Photographer Z. But now, France’s most popular screen star has been regularly seen in the company of Screenwriter A (author of such hits as Heart’s Blood, The Royal Eagle Project, and The Man in the Plastic Helmet):—leaving nightclub “8” in Rome—

—skiing in Courcheval—

—shopping on London’s Bond Street—

—on location for her latest movie The Prodigal Daughter (scripted by A) in Cannes—

—at the beach in Acapulco—

—at the annual pilgrimage of the Gypsies in Camargue—

—on the grounds of the diva’s country house on the Oise—

NADINE CARRIER FINALLY IN SEVENTH HEAVEN AGAIN!

Friends confirm the rumor that France’s most popular movie queen is planning a May wedding with the very busy screenwriter. . .

A BABY FOR NADINE CARRIER?

Upon leaving the world-famous hospital, the smile on the face of France’s most radiant star (here accompanied by the successful) seems to confirm the rumor . . .

NO BABY FOR NADINE CARRIER

The disappointment on her face shows all too clearly that . . .

A DARK CLOUD OVER NADINE’S HAPPINESS?

During location shooting of her movie Take Me! (scripted by A), the well-known author showed movie starlet B (who debuted in Fever Curve) an interest that went beyond professional considerations . . .

NADINE DEFENDS HER LOVE!

Her relationship with her steady beau was endangered by a recent crisis. But now the woosome twosome have reconciled and are spending quiet weeks again in . . .

NADINE DISAPPOINTED BY LOVE AGAIN?