Bøger af Jean Echenoz

Following his brilliant portrait of Maurice Ravel, Jean Echenoz turns to the life of one of the greatest runners of the twentieth century, and once again demonstrates his astonishing abilities as a prose stylist. Set against the backdrop of the Soviet liberation and post-World War II communist rule of Czechoslovakia, Running-a bestseller in France-follows the famed career of Czech runner Emil Zátopek: a factory worker who, despite an initial contempt for athletics as a young man, is forced to participate in a footrace and soon develops a curious passion for the physical limits he discovers as a long-distance runner.Zátopek, who tenaciously invents his own brutal training regimen, goes on to become a national hero, winning an unparalleled three gold medals at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and breaking countless world records along the way. But just as his fame brings him upon the world stage, he must face the realities of an increasingly controlling regime.Written in Echenoz's signature style-elegant yet playful-Running is both a beautifully imagined and executed portrait of a man and his art, and a powerful depiction of a country's propagandizing grasp on his fate.

Big Blondes is a darkly comedic tour de force that probes our universal obsession with fame, taking a satiric yet chilling look at television stardom. Renowned singer Gloire Stella has mysteriously disappeared from the public eye. When a television documentary producer tries to track her down, Gloire goes on the run. From the cliffs of Brittany to the back alleys of Bombay, Big Blondes is a riotous, non-stop adventure for anyone who has ever wondered whether blondes really do have more fun.

Drawn from the life of Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest inventors of his time,Lightning is a captivating tale of one man's curious fascination with the marvels of science.Hailed by the Washington Post as "e;the most distinctive voice of his generation,"e; Echenoz traces the notable career of Gregor, a precocious young engineer from Eastern Europe, who travels across the Atlantic at the age of twenty-eight to work alongside Thomas Edison, with whom he later holds a long-lasting rivalry. After his discovery of alternating current, Gregor quickly begins to astound the world with his other brilliant inventions, including everything from radio, radar, and wireless communication to cellular technology, remote control, and the electron microscope.Echenoz gradually reveals the eccentric inner world of a solitary man who holdsa rare gift for imagining devices well before they come into existence. Gregor is a recluse-an odd and enigmatic intellect who avoids women and instead prefers spending hours a day courting pigeons in Central Park.Winner of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Echenoz once again demonstrateshis astonishing abilities as a prose stylist as he vividly captures the life of an isolated genius. A beautifully crafted portrait of a man who prefers the company of lightning in the Colorado desert to that of other human beings, Lightning is a dazzling new work from one of the world's leading contemporary authors.

Max Delmarc, age fifty, is a famous concert pianist with two problems: the first is a paralyzing stage fright for which the second, alcohol, is the only treatment. In this unparalleled comedy from the Prix Goncourt-winning French novelist Jean Echenoz, we journey with Max, from the trials of his everyday life, through his untimely death, and on into the afterlife.After a brief stay in purgatory-part luxury hotel, part minimum security prison, under the supervision of deceased celebrities-Max is cast into an alarmingly familiar partition of hell, "the urban zone," a dark and cloudy city much like his native Paris on an eternally bad day. Unable to play his beloved piano or stomach his needed drink, Max engages in a hapless struggle to piece his former life back together while searching in vain for the woman he once loved.An acclaimed bestseller with 50,000 copies sold in France, Piano is a sly, sardonic evocation of Dante and Sartre for the present day, the playful, daring masterpiece of a novelist at the top of his form.

Gregor té un increïble talent per inventar qualsevol cosa que serà d’utilitat pel futur. Desafortunadament, és menys capaç de guarir els seus assumptes, potser perquè la ciència li interessa més que la seva pròpia vida. Aprofitant aquest desavantatge, d’altres científics li acaben robant tot. Per distreure’s de tot això, Gregor es quedarà amb la companyia dels llampecs i el teatre dels ocells. Aquesta novel·la està basada en la vida de l’enginyer Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) però no té cap pretensió biogràfica, i amb ella l’autor tancarà la magistral sèrie sobre tres emocionants vides, com són les dels llibres Córrer (Raig Verd, 2014) i Ravel.Jean Echenoz, (Orange, França, 26 de desembre de 1947) és un dels novel·listes contemporanis amb més reconeixement internacional.Malgrat que va estudiar Sociologia i Enginyeria Civil, la seva gran passió ha estat sempre la literatura. Va publicar la seva primera novel·la, Le Méridien de Greenwich, el 1979, amb la qual va guanyar el premi Féneon.Fins ara ha publicat 14 novel·les, per les quals ha rebut els premis literaris més importants de França, com el Goncourt o el Médicis. En català en podeu trobar també les novel·les Me’n vaig (Proa, 2000), 14 (Raig Verd, 2013) i Córrer (Raig Verd, 2014).

A l’Emil no li agrada l’esport però sempre diu que no amb un somriure. "Vam haver d’insistir perquè l’Emil comencés a córrer. Però quan va començar, ja no es va aturar. No va parar d’accelerar. Vet aquí l’home que va córrer més de pressa sobre la Terra." Aquesta és la història de l’Emil Zatopek, un home que inventarà noves formes d’entrenament per córrer cada cop més de pressa. Primer sorpren Txecoslovàquia amb els seus rècords, després sorprendrà el món. Un parell d’Olimpíades més tard se’l considera invencible. Però en la seva vida, a més d’enfrontar-se amb els rivals a la pista, haurà de lluitar també contra el règim opresor, sigui quin sigui aquest. Amb la seva escriptura plena d’ironia, Echenoz ens relata quaranta anys d’una vida excepcional i, com la de qualsevol de nosaltres, amb un destí marcat pel poder.(Orange, França, 26 de desembre de 1947) és un dels novel·listes contemporanis amb més reconeixement internacional.Malgrat que va estudiar Sociologia i Enginyeria Civil, la seva gran passió ha estat sempre la literatura. Va publicar la seva primera novel·la, Le Méridien de Greenwich, el 1979, amb la qual va guanyar el premi Féneon.Fins ara ha publicat 14 novel·les, per les quals ha rebut els premis literaris més importants de França, com el Goncourt o el Médicis.En català en podeu trobar també les novel·les Me’n vaig (Proa, 2000), 14 (Raig Verd, 2013) i Córrer (Raig Verd, 2014).

Cinc homes han partit a la guerra. Una dona n’espera la tornada de dos. Falta per saber si tornaran. Quan. I en quin estat. L'aproximació de Jean Echenoz a la Gran Guerra, a aquesta barbàrie sense precedents que va sacsejar mig món i va destrossar l'altre mig, se salda amb un relat precís i afilat sobre la marxa dels soldats per França, l'estrèpit de la carn i el metall , els projectils i els morts, la massa sense ment enviada a morir. Una novel·la d'absències, de desesperació i de fugida.(Orange, França, 26 de desembre de 1947) és un dels novel·listes contemporanis amb més reconeixement internacional.Malgrat que va estudiar Sociologia i Enginyeria Civil, la seva gran passió ha estat sempre la literatura. Va publicar la seva primera novel·la, Le Méridien de Greenwich, el 1979, amb la qual va guanyar el premi Féneon.Fins ara ha publicat 14 novel·les, per les quals ha rebut els premis literaris més importants de França, com el Goncourt o el Médicis.En català en podeu trobar també les novel·les Me’n vaig (Proa, 2000), 14 (Raig Verd, 2013) i Córrer (Raig Verd, 2014).

Five Frenchmen go off to war, two of them leaving behind a certain young woman who longs for their return. But the main character in 1914 is the Great War itself. Jean Echenoz, the multiawardwinning French literary magician whose work has been compared to Joseph Conrad and Lawrence Sterne, has brought that deathtrap back to life, leading us gently from a balmy summer day deep into the insatiableand still unthinkablecarnage of trench warfare.With the delicacy of a miniaturist and with irony both witty and cleareyed, the author offers us an intimate epic with the atmosphere of a classic movie: in the panorama of a clear blue sky, a biplane spirals suddenly into the ground; a tardy piece of shrapnel shears the top off a mans head as if it were a softboiled egg; we dawdle dreamily in a springscented clearing with a lonely shellshocked soldier strolling innocently to a firing squad ready to shoot him for desertion.But ultimately, the grace notes of humanity in 1914 rise above the terrors of war in this beautifully crafted tale that Echenoz tells with discretion, precision, and love.

Seven short stories by the Prix Goncourt winner';the most distinctive voice of his generation... master magician of the contemporary French novel' (The Washington Post). France's preeminent fiction writer, Jean Echenoz is celebrated for his ability to craft stories with such precision that readers are caught off guard by the intense emotion and imagination just beneath the placid surface of his writing. As Gary Indiana put it in his essay ';Conjuror of St. Germain', ';Echenoz risks everything in his fiction, gambling on the prodigious blandishments of his voice to lure his readers into a maze of improbabilities and preposterous happenings.' The Queen's Capriceseven stories available in English for the first timereveals Echenoz at the height of his talents, taking readers on a journey across radically different landscapes. The title story explores a tiny corner of the French countryside; ';Nelson' offers a brilliant miniaturist portrait of the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar; ';In Babylon' sketches the ancient city of Mesopotamia, based on trace descriptions from Herodotus; and other stories visit the forests of England, the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, Tampa Bay, and the interior of a submarine. Amid the thrill and allure of this voyage of words, ';again and again we pause to savor the richness of Echenoz's startling, crystalline observations' (Lydia Davis). ';[A] terrific sense of humor tinged with existential mischief.' L'Express

';A tiny miracle of a biographical novel' inspired by the life of the brilliant French composer (Booklist). Shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award This beguiling and original evocation of the last ten years in the life of a musical genius opens in 1927 as Maurice Raveldandy, eccentric, curmudgeoncrosses the Atlantic aboard the luxury liner theSS Franceto begin his triumphant grand tour of the United States. With flashes of sly, quirky humor, this novel captures the folly of the era as well as its genius, and the personal and professional life of the sartorially and socially splendid ravel over the course of a decade. From a winner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt, Ravel is a touching literary portrait of a dignified and lonely man going reluctantly into the night. ';A beautifully musical little novel.' The New York Times Book Review ';The most distinctive voice of his generation.' The Washington Post

After a series of coincidences and disasters 3 people find themselves aboard a spacecraft. Brimming with Jean Echenoz's inimitable humor, We Three is both a satirical take on the adventure novel and subtle experiment with narrative point of view.

With his trademark comically wry phrasing and a sure eye for quirky detail, Echenoz has produced his oddest and most enjoyable novel to date. Chopin's Move interweaves the fates of Chopin, entomologist and recalcitrant secret agent; Oswald, a young foreign-affairs employee who vanishes en route to his new home; Suzy, who gets enmeshed in a tangle of deceit and counterdeceit; the mysterious Colonel Seck, whose motivations are never quite what they seem; and a typically Echenozian supporting cast of neurotic bodyguards, disquieting functionaries, and crafty double agents. As the plot thickens, the characters become embroiled in layer upon layer of deception and double-dealing, leading them further into a world in which nothing can be taken at face value and in which "reality" hinges on apparently harmless coincidence.

Renowned singer Gloire Stella has mysteriously disappeared. When a television producer tries to track her down, Gloire goes on the run. From the cliffs of Brittany to the back alleys of Bombay, this is nonstop adventure for anyone who has ever wondered whether blondes really do have more fun.

A man at Ferrer's time of life should be starting to treat himself - and his heart - carefully, not living the bachelor life in the Paris atelier that doubles as his art gallery. And when she has lost her belongings, her money, her looks and almost herself - one year later - the coast is clear for her to come back to Paris.