{"product_id":"2940013697478","title":"The Desire to be a Man","description":"Nature might stand up and say to all the world: 'This was a man.'\u003cbr\u003e--Shakespeare: Julius Caesar\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Stock Exchange clock struck midnight, under a starry sky. At that\u003cbr\u003etime the citizens were still subject to military law, and, in\u003cbr\u003eaccordance with the curfew regulations, the waiters of those\u003cbr\u003eestablishments which were still lit up were hurriedly closing their\u003cbr\u003edoors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInside the boulevard cafés the gas butterflies of the chandeliers\u003cbr\u003efluttered quickly away, one by one, into the darkness. Outside could\u003cbr\u003ebe heard the noise of the chairs being arranged in quartets on the\u003cbr\u003emarble-topped tables; it was the psychological moment when every cafe\u003cbr\u003eproprietor thinks fit to show the last customers, with an arm ending\u003cbr\u003ein a napkin, the Caudine Forks of the back door.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat Sunday the sad October wind was whistling through the streets. A\u003cbr\u003efew yellow leaves, dusty and rustling, were blown along by the\u003cbr\u003esqualls, touching the stones and skimming the asphalt, and then, like\u003cbr\u003ebats, disappeared into the shadows, arousing the idea of commonplace\u003cbr\u003edays lived through once for all. The theatres of the Boulevard du\u003cbr\u003eCrime where, during the evening, all the Medicis, Salviatis, and\u003cbr\u003eMontefeltres had been stabbing one another with the utmost fervour,\u003cbr\u003estood silent, their mute portals guarded by their caryatids. Carriages\u003cbr\u003eand pedestrians became fewer from one moment to the next; here and\u003cbr\u003ethere, the sceptical lanterns of rag-pickers gleamed already,\u003cbr\u003ephosphorescent glows given off by the rubbish-heaps over which they\u003cbr\u003ewere wandering.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152727589104,"sku":"2940013697478","price":1.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013697478_p0.jpg?v=1763584686","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013697478","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}