The World About Us

by Claude Simon, Daniel Weissbort (Translator)

A loosely related series of scenes from the past and the present are combined in a fictional collage

Genres: Novels, France

123 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1975

About the author

Awarded 1985 Nobel Prize in Literature, for being an author "who in his novel combines the poet's and the painter's creativeness with a deepened awareness of time in the depiction of the human condition."

Reviews

[Magnus Carlstedt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fransk nyroman. Förvisso skickligt genomfört men inte riktigt min tepåse.

[Tim Burnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably a perfect closure to his Nouveau Roman 'trilogy', deconstructed at times to pure description, of reference to images that aren't there(but may have been intended at one time), juxtaposing some really elegant prose to the most banal scene description at times. He's never solely interested in reforming the structure of the novel, though - everything is lucidly connected, sometimes in such sudden vividness, the room crumbling to grey mirrors the melting of a body in the next chapter. Some of his formal experimentation reveals the interchangeability of Simon's words, these are snapshots in Divertissement I/II, they begin before he begins writing and continue after, the lighthouse in The Reischoffen Charge shows us (again, Simon is never just interested in reforming the novel) the light on a rhythmic, unending cadence shining on memories we have no choice in keeping with us, the structure showing us that the words within these memories, rooms, nights, could be changed indiscriminately and still retain the same value.

[Roland Hassel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Något av en föregångare till Murnane i sättet att fokusera på och gå in i landskapet, i stunden, platsen och bilden (även på ett sorts metaplan), in i ett händelseförlopp som är närmast stillastående - fast jordigare, närmare människorna: "skit i det gosse", "jävla flax", "sticka, vart i helvete skulle jag kunna sticka". Kanske hade vunnit på en översättning som inte är från sjuttiotalet.