On the Possibility of ‘Late Love’

Peter Stamm’s new novel, The Archive of Feelings (Other Press, December, 2023) interrogates the old French aphorism on n’aime qu’une fois, la première (one’s first love is one’s only love). Or, as Cat Stevens might put it, “the first cut is the deepest.” Seamlessly interweaving the past and the present, fantasy and reality The Archive of Feelings charts the psychological fallout of an unnamed narrator’s unrequited first love, Franziska, as it unfolds over four decades. Throughout, a sense of loss suffuses the tone of this elegiac and wistful novel. Aside from the novel’s exquisite construction and masterly control of tone, what’s most moving is Stamm’s examination of the possibility of a late love affair, after a lifetime of loneliness.