Jacques Roubaud, born in 1932, has been a professor of mathematics at the University of Paris X Nanterre. He is one of the most accomplished members of the Oulipo, the workshop for experimental literature founded by Raymond Queneau and Francois Le Lionnais. He is the author of numerous books of prose, theatre and poetry. In addition to several of Jacques Roubaud's books, Dominic Di Bernardi has translated works by Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Muriel Cerf, Claude Ollier, and Patrick Grainville, among others.

A supremely human work, born of the spirited integrity of a rare mind out of the multiform experiences of a body capable of intense torment and delight. The Independent Jacques Roubaud has finally produced the book that his great and varied talent had always promised... a beautifully controlled examination of the effect on him of his wife's death and of the failure of his literary ambitions. -- Gabriel Josipovici The Independent

Jacques Roubaud, born in 1932, has been a professor of mathematics at the University of Paris X Nanterre. He is one of the most accomplished members of the Oulipo, the workshop for experimental literature founded by Raymond Queneau and Francois Le Lionnais. He is the author of numerous books of prose, theatre and poetry. In addition to several of Jacques Roubaud's books, Dominic Di Bernardi has translated works by Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Muriel Cerf, Claude Ollier, and Patrick Grainville, among others.

A supremely human work, born of the spirited integrity of a rare mind out of the multiform experiences of a body capable of intense torment and delight. The Independent Jacques Roubaud has finally produced the book that his great and varied talent had always promised... a beautifully controlled examination of the effect on him of his wife's death and of the failure of his literary ambitions. -- Gabriel Josipovici The Independent

Jacques Roubaud, born in 1932, has been a professor of mathematics at the University of Paris X Nanterre. He is one of the most accomplished members of the Oulipo, the workshop for experimental literature founded by Raymond Queneau and Francois Le Lionnais. He is the author of numerous books of prose, theatre and poetry. In addition to several of Jacques Roubaud's books, Dominic Di Bernardi has translated works by Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Muriel Cerf, Claude Ollier, and Patrick Grainville, among others.

A supremely human work, born of the spirited integrity of a rare mind out of the multiform experiences of a body capable of intense torment and delight. The Independent Jacques Roubaud has finally produced the book that his great and varied talent had always promised... a beautifully controlled examination of the effect on him of his wife's death and of the failure of his literary ambitions. -- Gabriel Josipovici The Independent