the nature of artistic creation, often in stark or exotic settings. The opening of the book introduces Auvernier, an intellectual and writer retreating to a remote mountain village to finish his much-anticipated philosophical work about happiness and thought. Immersed in a rustic environment among so-called "inferior" villagers marked by poverty and superstition, Auvernier methodically observes their lives, focusing on a local woman with intellectual disability—the "crétine." As he witnesses her simple pleasures, his faith in the supremacy of thought and cultivated happiness is shaken, leading to existential doubt about the value and reach of intellect. The subsequent story moves to Morocco, following British expatriates and their uneasy interactions with local customs and mysticism, foregrounding cultural misunderstandings and the limits of rational benevolence. The narrative then shifts again, this time to the life of a sensitive, alienated artist in North Africa, exploring the connection between creativity, desire, and suffering. Overall, the opening stories interrogate the presumed superiority of intellect, the vulnerability of ideals, and the complex realities faced by individuals in unfamiliar or marginal situations. (This is an automatically generated summary.)