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TelevisionAuthor: Jean-Philippe Toussaint Translator: Jordan Stump French Literature Series March 2007 164 pages, 5.5 x 8 Dimensions: Paperback, 1-56478-372-3 Retail Paperback Price: Our Paperback Price: $10.36—20% OFF! 
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Book Description
The amusingly odd protagonist and narrator of Jean-Philippe Toussaint's novel is an academic on sabbatical in Berlin to work on his book about Titian. With his research completed, all he has left to do is sit down and write. Unfortunately, he can't decide how to refer to his subject—Titian, le Titien, Vecellio, Titian Vecellio—so instead he starts watching TV continuously, until one day he decides to renounce the most addictive of twentieth-century inventions.
As he spends his summer still not writing his book, he is haunted by television, from the video surveillance screens in a museum to a moment when it seems everyone in Berlin is tuned in to Baywatch.
One of Toussaint's funniest antiheroes, the protagonist of Television turns daily occurrences into an entertaining reflection on society and the influence of television on our lives.
About the Author
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Jean-Philippe Toussaint is the author of seven novels, including The Bathroom and Monsieur, both of which have been published in English translation. His work has been compared to that of Samuel Beckett, Jacques Tati, Ivan Oblomov, the films of Jim Jarmusch, and even Charlie Chaplin. His contemporary existentialism is as poignant as it is funny. Simply put, Toussaint is one of the most original novelists working today, and will almost undoubtedly go down as one of the great comic writers of our era. |
About the Translator
| Jordan Stump is the noted translator of several modern French novelists, including novel prize winner Claude Simon, for whom his translation of Le Jardin des Plantes won the French American Foundation’s Translation Prize. |
Praise
"Toussaint is an original and significant writer, whose fiction can be as engaging as it is surprising."—Times Literary Supplement"Darkly comic."—New York Times
"Wonderful . . . Toussaint is a genuinely funny writer."—Kirkus Reviews
"Its studied neutrality turns out to conceal impressive intelligence, deep-seated metaphysical anxiety and real passion. The Bathroom is a powerful, sympathetic debut."—London Review of Books