A Man Asleep

Summary

A Man Asleep (French: Un homme qui dort) is a 1967 novel by the French writer Georges Perec. It uses a second-person narrative, and follows a 25-year-old student, who one day decides to be indifferent about the world. A Man Asleep was adapted into a 1974 film, The Man Who Sleeps.[1]

A Man Asleep
First American edition of the English-language translation
AuthorGeorges Perec
Original titleUn homme qui dort
TranslatorAndrew Leak
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
PublisherÉditions Denoël
Publication date
1967
Published in English
1990
Pages167

Publication edit

The novel was published in France through Éditions Denoël in 1967. An English translation by Andrew Leak was published in 1990 through Collins Harvill in the United Kingdom and David R. Godine, Publisher in the United States, in a shared volume with Perec's first novel, Things: A Story of the Sixties.[2]

Reception edit

Upon the American release, Richard Eder of the Los Angeles Times compared the two novels of the volume—Things and A Man Asleep—and wrote that Things was "the more engaging of the two, though less focused and ultimately, perhaps, less memorable." He wrote that in A Man Asleep, "Perec shows a beauty on the far side of the void; a humanity on the far side of refusal."[2]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Un homme qui dort". AlloCiné (in French). Tiger Global. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
  2. ^ a b Eder, Richard (1990-11-04). "All Parts, No Sum". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-10-30.