"Who are you talking to ?" "Myself." "Don't get into any arguments"... WINTER is a questioning novel; it questions the actuality of experience through a series of encounters, events, memories, conversations and vivid images. Par excellence, this is a fine example of the novel of ideas, crafted with literary and stylistic skill. HE is a writer: SHE is a photographer; but what they do, and how they do it, are, again, images. They have no names, but they have effective identities; we come to know them both well through their continual dialogue. Perhaps in the end there is only one question; but what is it? Is the only mystery the meaning of meaning? WINTER concentrates something of this in one relationship, one powerful metaphor.