Life

by Perec, Georges

• ISBN13: 9780879237516
• ISBN10: 0879237511
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1988-11-01
• Publisher: David R Godine Pub

Summary

Life is an unclassified masterpiece, a sprawling compendium as encyclopedic as Dante's Commedia and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and, in its break with tradition, as inspiring as Joyce's Ulysses. Structured around a single moment in time ? 8:00 p.m. on June 23, 1975 ? Perec's spellbinding puzzle begins in an apartment block in the XVIIth arrondissement of Paris where, chapter by chapter, room by room, like an onion being peeled, and extraordinary rich cast of characters is revealed in a series of tales that are bizarre, unlikely, moving, funny, or (sometimes) quite ordinary. From the confessions of a racing cyclist to the plans of an avenging murderer, from a young ethnographer obsessed with a Sumatran tribe to the death of a trapeze artist, from the fears of an ex-croupier to the dreams of a sex-change pop star to an eccentric English millionaire who has devised the ultimate pastime, Life is a manual of human irony, portraying the mixed marriages of fortunes, passions and despairs, betrayals and bereavements, of hundreds of lives in Paris and around the world.But the novel in more than an extraordinary range of fictions; it is a closely observed account of life and experience. The apartment block's one hundred rooms are arranged in a magic square, and the book as a whole is peppered with a staggering range of literary puzzles and allusions, acrostics, problems of chess and logic, crosswords, and mathematical formulae. All are there for the reader to solve in the best tradition of the detective novel.

Table of Contents

Preamble	xv
PART ONE
On the Stairs, 1	3	(3)
Beaumont, 1	6	(4)
Third Floor Right, 1	10	(3)
Marquiseaux, 1	13	(3)
Foulerot, 1	16	(1)
Breidel (Servants' Quarters, 1)	17	(3)
Morellet (Servants' Quarters, 2)	20	(5)
Winckler, 1	25	(8)
Nieto and Rogers (Servants' Quarters, 3)	33	(2)
Jane Sutton (Servants' Quarters, 4)	35	(2)
Hutting, 1	37	(3)
Reol, 1	40	(2)
Rorschach, 1	42	(7)
Dinteville, 1	49	(2)
Smautf (Servants' Quarters, 5)	51	(7)
Celia Crespi (Servant's Quarters, 6)	58	(1)
On the Stairs, 2	59	(3)
Rorschach, 2	62	(4)
Altamont, 1	66	(2)
Moreau, 1	68	(5)
In the Boiler Room, 1	73	(8)
PART TWO
Entrance Hall, 1	81	(14)
Moreau, 2	95	(6)
Marcia, 1	101	(4)
Altamont, 2	105	(8)
Bartlebooth, 1	113	(6)
Rorschach, 3	119	(6)
On the Stairs, 3	125	(6)
Third Floor Right, 2	131	(3)
Marquiseaux, 2	134	(3)
Beaumont, 3	137	(14)
Marcia, 2	151	(2)
Basement, 1	153	(4)
On the Stairs, 4	157	(4)
The Concierge's Office	161	(5)
On the Stairs, 5	166	(1)
Louvet, 1	167	(1)
Lift Machinery, 1	168	(3)
Marcia, 3	171	(3)
Beaumont, 4	174	(5)
Marquiseaux, 3	179	(4)
On the Stairs, 6	183	(1)
Foulerot, 2	184	(5)
Winckler, 2	189	(6)
Plassaert, 1	195	(8)
PART THREE
Monsieur Jerome (Servants' Quarters, 7)	203	(4)
Dinteville, 2	207	(3)
Madame Albin (Servants' Quarters, 8)	210	(3)
On the Stairs, 7	213	(7)
Foulerot, 3	220	(6)
Valene (Servant's Quarters, 9)	226	(8)
Plassaert, 2	234	(7)
Winckler, 3	241	(6)
Plassaert, 3	247	(7)
Fresnel (Servants' Quarters, 10)	254	(8)
On the Stairs, 8	262	(2)
Madame Orlowska (Servant's Quarters, 11)	264	(7)
Gratiolet, 1	271	(5)
Hutting, 2	276	(9)
Cinoc, 1	285	(6)
Berger, 1	291	(4)
Altamont, 3	295	(5)
Service Entrance	300	(1)
In the Boiler Room, 2	301	(6)
PART FOUR
Moreau, 3	307	(11)
Marcia, 4	318	(7)
Basement, 2	325	(2)
On the Stairs, 9	327	(2)
Altamont, 4	329	(2)
Bartlebooth, 2	331	(9)
Moreau, 4	340	(4)
Basement, 3	344	(4)
Marcia, 5	348	(10)
Lift Machinery, 2	358	(3)
Marcia, 6	361	(4)
Basement, 4	365	(4)
Louvet, 2	369	(2)
On the Stairs, 10	371	(9)
On the Stairs, 11	380	(3)
Bartlebooth, 3	383	(10)
Rorschach, 4	393	(2)
Gratiolet, 2	395	(3)
Hutting, 3	398	(11)
PART FIVE
Cinoc, 2	409	(5)
Berger, 2	414	(3)
Rorschach, 5	417	(3)
Bartlebooth, 4	420	(16)
Altamont, 5	436	(11)
Moreau, 5	447	(4)
Entrance Hall, 2	451	(4)
Basement, 5	455	(3)
Louvet, 3	458	(5)
PART SIX
Third Floor Right, 3	463	(2)
On the Stairs, 12	465	(3)
Rorschach, 6	468	(5)
Dinteville, 3	473	(7)
Hutting, 4	480	(4)
Reol, 2	484	(9)
Bartlebooth, 5	493	(6)
Epilogue	499	(4)
11, Rue Simon-Crubellier	501	(2)
Appendices	503	(2)
Index	505	(60)
Chronology	565	(8)
Alphabetical Checklist	573	(6)
Postscript	579	(2)
Translator's Note	581