In the critically praised THE PHYSIOGNOMY, a New York Times Notable Book of 1997, Physiognomist Cley chronicled the fall of the Well-Built City, created from the mind of the evil Master, Drachton Below, and the inception of the independent city of Weanu. In MEMORANDA, Cley, no longer the Physiognomist but a humble citizen, realizes that the antidote to the sleeping disease that has infected the people of Wenau is locked in symbolic form in a new mnemonic "palace" in the sleeping Below's memory. With the help of a demon, Cley must venture into the city of Below to search for the symbolic form that holds the secret of the antidote. As he searches through the bizarre city, Cley falls in love, knowing full well that the lady is merely the symbolic representation of an idea and that he must lose her if his quest to save the people of Weanu is to succeed.