Many thanks for this moving review. I shall certainly add Japin's book to my list. It would seem that the art of acting, if not the whole of creation, has this sorrow at its heart. If I remember right, Orhan Pamuk has written something about this -- although anger towards an imperfect/unfair world and the consequent need to remake it (or freeze it or set it on fire) is added to his mix. Japin's estimable novel sounds like its creativity is grounded in both the anger and the sorrow. Listening to Beny More's great old RCA recordings this morning, I hear them both. It's true enough that art is the only possible solution to love. Otherwise the pity is insufferable.