As You Were Saying: American Writers Respond to Their French Contemporaries [Paperback]

Fabrice Rozié (Editor), Esther Allen (Editor), Guy Walter (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2007

At a time when the dialogue between America and France is strained by political and cultural forces, As You Were Saying provides a space for an important and riveting exchange between writers from these two countries. By pairing some of America's best writers with their French contemporaries, As You Were Saying shows us the importance of considering--and responding to--the world beyond our borders. A unique collaboration, the stories collected here were begun by the French writers, and then responded to by their American counterparts. The results are spectacular--funny and inventive, and an interesting look at the similarities and differences between how French and American writers approach the short story.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rick Moody's dark with and unflinching eye for the bathetic render him a particularly appropriate seer for contemporary alienation, and the inevitable--not wholly unjust--comparisons have been made: to Updike, to Cheever, and, more accurately, to Amis fils." --Village Voice

"Marie Darrieussecq is one of the freshest, quirkiest and most radical voices in contemporary French fiction." --Independent

"Roubaud seduces with felicitous--and feline--humor . . . evoking the spirits of his countryman Rabelais, of Flann O'Brien, Jorge Luis Borges, Gilbert Sorrentino, Julio Cortazar, Umberto Eco, Tom Robbins." --Los Angeles Times

"Marie Darrieussecq is one of the freshest, quirkiest and most radical voices in contemporary French fiction." --Independent

"Roubaud seduces with felicitous--and feline--humor . . . evoking the spirits of his countryman Rabelais, of Flann O'Brien, Jorge Luis Borges, Gilbert Sorrentino, Julio Cortázar, Umberto Eco, Tom Robbins." --Los Angeles Times

About the Author

This collection includes stories by some of the most important contemporary French and American writers, including these pairings: Marie Darrieussecq and Rick Moody; Lydie Salvayre and Rikki Ducornet; Grégoire Bouillier and Benjamin Kunkel; Jacques Roubaud and Raymond Federman; Jean Hatzfeld and Philip Gourevitch; Philippe Claudel and Aleksandar Hemon; Luc Land and John Edgar Wideman; and Camille Laurens and Robert Olen Butler.

Product Details

• Paperback: 79 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press; 1st edition (July 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564784746
• ISBN-13: 978-1564784742
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,735,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)