The History of Love

Leo reads The History of Love in shock. He cannot imagine how the text appeared after so many years, and he is amazed that the book is now in English and that the characters have Spanish names. Like Alma Singer trying to unravel the mystery of Jacob Marcus across town in Brooklyn, Leo makes a list of questions for whoever sent the manuscript. Suddenly a thought strikes Leo: What if he has become a famous writer and doesn’t even know it?

He races to the library and asks for all the books written by Leo Gursky. The librarian has one: a children’s book called The Incredible, Fantastic Adventures of Frankie, Toothless Girl Wonder. The book has nothing to do with Leo, and he is deflated. He begins to contemplate the obsession with death that he developed after his heart attack, always imagining how he might die but never able to see the actual moment of his death. He remembers his first encounter with death as a child; when he was nine years old, his uncle passed away suddenly, and Leo developed a fear of death that “haunted [him] for a year” (125). However, when he was 10, he met his childhood sweetheart and fell in love.