I found Idée Fixe and three other volumes of the collected works at the library bookstore. A dialogue between a physician and a man representing Valéry himself discuss, primarily, the idée fixe, or fixed idea. For Valéry, the mind is too dynamic for ideas to truly be fixed. Rather, people who seem fixed on a particular idea are more likely to revisit the same idea again and again. He calls this, rather mockingly, an “omnivalent” idea. Mixed in with the philosophical discourse is quite a bit of intellectual humor and wit. The two characters have a fascinating sense of reality to them. In a way, it’s a classic tale of two very different people brought together by circumstance.