CONSTANT, Benjamin [125] pp. New Directions 1953 8" x 5 1/4" Jacket design by Philippe Jullian "For nearly a hundred and fifty," Genet recently wrote in The New Yorker, reporting the first publication in France of Cecil, "Benjamin Constant's novelette Adolphe has been regarded as unique... because it was the first example of the delicate tragedy of the lady pursuing the gentleman, and the inability of the gentleman, rather than the lady, to say yes or no.