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Things
A Story of the Sixties / A Man Asleep
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Two trailblazing novels by Georges Perec, Things: Jerome and Sylvie, the young upwardly mobile couple, lust for the good life. They wanted life's enjoyment, but this equated to ownership. A Man Asleep: A nameless student attempts to purify himself entirely of material desires and ambitions.
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Description
Two thematically-related novellas by Georges Perec in one volume. In each, Perec probes our obsession with society's trappings-the seductive mass of things that masquerade as stability and meaning.
In Things: A Story of the Sixties, Jerome and Sylvie, a young, upwardly mobile couple lust for the good life, caught between the fantasy of "the film they would have liked to live" and the reality of life's daily mundanities.
The nameless student in A Man Asleep attempts to purify himself entirely of material desires and ambition. He longs "to want nothing. Just to wait, until there is nothing left to wait for. Just to wander, and to sleep." Yearning to exist on neutral ground as "a blessed parenthesis," he discovers something unexpected.
With the American publication of Life: A User's Manual in 1987, Georges Perec was recognized in the United States as one of this century's most innovative writers. Things: A Story of the Sixties is accessible, sobering, and deeply involving. Each novel distills Perec's unerring grasp of the human condition and displays his rare comic talent, detachment, and compassion.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781567921571
Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher Inc
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 16 July 2010
Country: United States
Imprint: David R. Godine Publisher Inc
Illustration: Graphic novel
Contributors:
- Translated by David Bellos
- Translated by David Bellos
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 19.0mm
Width: 146.0mm
Height: 210.0mm
Weight: 263g
Pages: 224
About the Author
Georges Perec was a French essayist, novelist, memoirist, and filmmaker. Born in Paris in 1936, the child of Polish Jews, his father died as soldier in the Second World War and his mother was killed in the Holocaust. Much of his work dealt with themes of identity, loss, absence--including his most celebrated work, Life A User's Manual. In addition to being honored by the Prix Renaudot (1965), the Prix Jean Vigo (1974), the Prix Médicis (1978), and the French postal service (2002), both an asteroid and a street in Paris were named in his honor--as well as a Google Doodle on his 80th birthday.
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Life
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Species of Spaces and Other Pieces
Available for the first time in Black Classics Species of Spaces and Other Pieces by Georges Perec showcases some of the most entertaining and spirited essays of his age. Perec's literary output was remarkably varied in form and style. This generous selection of his non-fictional work also demonstrates his characteristic lightness of touch, wry humour, and accessibility.Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise
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Things: A Story of the Sixties by Georges Perec offers a cool, exacting portrait of a couple torn apart by consumer desire. A young couple build their lives around the objects they long to own. From furniture to clothes to carefully imagined interiors, their desires shape their sense of who they are - and who they might become. Yet satisfaction...Paperback$2400Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Oct 2026Pre-order -
Brief Notes on the Art and Manner of Arranging One's Books
A problem of space first of all, then a problem of order One of the most singular and extravagant imaginations of the twentieth century, the novelist and essayist Georges Perec was a true original who delighted in wordplay, puzzles, taxonomies and seeing the extraordinary in the everyday. In these virtuoso writings about books and language, he discusses different ways of...PaperbackSold Out
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