By Raymond Queneau
Translated by Barbara Wright
Paperback: 9781628977042
eBook: 9781628977059
Publication Date:Â June 8th, 2027
Description
An autofictional novel of Parisian student life in the 1920s, from one of the most influential twentieth-century French writers.
The Last Days circles two groups of friends in Paris’ Latin Quarter in the 1920s: the first, a group of students with a Queneau stand-in, Vincent Tuquedenne, at its center, and the second, their older generation of teachers. The students reconcile their love for reading with the sterility of scholarship, while the teachers, approaching retirement, look back on their lives with a mixture of acceptance and regret. These disparate groups come under the bemused gaze of Alfred, the waiter at the cafe both circles frequent, whose infallible method of predicting the future mocks prevailing scientific models. A renowned figure of French publishing and member of the Oulipo, Queneau's literary universe operates under its own laws, joining rigorous artistry with a warm evocation of the last days of a bygone world.
Biographical Note
Raymond Queneau (1903-1976) is acknowledged as one of the most influential of modern French writers, having helped determine the shape of twentieth-century French literature, especially in his role with the Oulipo, a group of authors that includes Italo Calvino, Georges Perec, and Harry Mathews, among others.
Barbara Wright is one of the premier English translators of modern French literature. In addition to Raymond Queneau, she has also translated such authors as Alfred Jarry, Nathalie Sarraute, Pierre Albert-Birot, and Patrick Modiano.