Customer Reviews

The Flight of Icarus (New Directions Books)

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Hubert, a writer, has lost the main character to the novel he is, well was, writing. After viciously accusing friends and fellow writers of stealing Icarus, he hires the detective Morcol, "who has appeared in many novels under different names," to find him. Soon we meet Icarus, who is only 15 pages old and on his own in 1890 Paris, and begin to see the formation from what Hubert designed, to a real character through his first experience with absinthe, his girlfriend LN, his love of automobiles and bicycles, and his love of flying machines. Barbara Wright has done nice work with the translation although the tone does change abruptly towards the end without apparent reason (some readers may know her translation of Alfred Jarry's, Ubu Roi). Queneau wrote this novel in the form of a play which adds to the borderline absurdist and fast-paced story. One almost believes that the story is really about the process of writing a novel as characters elude and morph and disappear. This is a very easy to read, yet highly irregular work that is highly recommended for its creativity and execution. Readers may also enjoy other works by Queneau and his writing group formed in the 1960's called the OULIPO.

This is the first novel I have read by queneau and I certainly plan on reading more by him. "The flight of Icarus" is a hysterical novel in the form of a play, consciously parodying pirandello. It follows a young man, Icarus, the main character of a novelists new book, who escapes its pages and enters late 19th century paris. It is an amusing easy read, full of intentionally awful puns. I recommend it :).