Written in his early twenties and retrieved from his private papers following his death in 1960, A HAPPY DEATH is a remarkably candid portrait of its author as a young man. As the novel follows the protagonist, Patrice, to his victim's house--and then, fleeing, in a journey that takes him through stages of exile, hedonism, privation, and death--it gives readers a glimpse into the imagination of one of the great writers of the 20th century.