The Origin of the World
Published on 22. October 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
112 pages
978-0-300-18070-1 (ISBN)
Description
An exploration of desire by the French master Pierre Michon
"A haunting, imagistic book, somehow both lush and spare."-Martin Riker, Wall Street Journal
This spare, unforgettable novel is Pierre Michon's luminous exploration of the mysteries of desire. A young teacher takes his first job in a sleepy French town. Lost in a succession of rainy days and sleepless nights, he falls under the spell of a town resident, a woman of seductive beauty and singular charm.
Yvonne. Yvonne. "Everything about her screamed desire . . . setting something in motion while settling a fingertip to the counter, turning her head slightly, gold earrings brushing her cheek while she watched you or watched nothing at all; this desire was open, like a wound; and she knew it, wore it with valor, with passion." Michon probes the destructive powers of passion and the consuming need for love in this heartbreaking novel.
"A haunting, imagistic book, somehow both lush and spare."-Martin Riker, Wall Street Journal
This spare, unforgettable novel is Pierre Michon's luminous exploration of the mysteries of desire. A young teacher takes his first job in a sleepy French town. Lost in a succession of rainy days and sleepless nights, he falls under the spell of a town resident, a woman of seductive beauty and singular charm.
Yvonne. Yvonne. "Everything about her screamed desire . . . setting something in motion while settling a fingertip to the counter, turning her head slightly, gold earrings brushing her cheek while she watched you or watched nothing at all; this desire was open, like a wound; and she knew it, wore it with valor, with passion." Michon probes the destructive powers of passion and the consuming need for love in this heartbreaking novel.
Reviews / Votes
"While in part an ode to the obsessive absorption unrequited love can impose on one's psyche, The Origin of the World more importantly stands as a meditation on love, life, sex, and death, and the hidden violence that lies in wait at the intersections of each. With poetic concision, Pierre Michon has created a story that is simultaneously a fabulistic, archetypal, and concrete expression of physical and emotional survival, steeped in need, the imaginary, and blood's life force."-Tom Bowden, Education Digest"Michon's The Origin of the World is an astonishingly rich, mythic new direction in modern French narrative."-Guy Davenport
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 125 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight
128 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-18070-1 (9780300180701)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2013
1st Edition
Yale University Press
€19.95
Available for download
Persons
Pierre Michon is an author of high acclaim in France and Europe. He was winner of the Prix France Culture in 1984 for his first book, Small Lives, and of the 1996 Prix de la Ville de Paris for his body of work. He lives in France. Wyatt Mason, a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a contributing editor at Harper's, has translated writing by Pierre Michon, Eric Chevillard, Michel de Montaigne, and Arthur Rimbaud. He teaches at Bard College.