The Explosion of the Radiator Hose
A Novel
Published on 19. May 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
168 pages
978-1-56478-632-6 (ISBN)
Description
In this nominally true story of an epic, transcontinental road trip, Jean Rolin travels to Africa from darkest France, accompanying a battered Audi to its new life as a taxi to be operated by the family of a Congolese security guard. The ghost of Joseph Conrad haunts Rolin's journey, as do memories of his expatriate youth in Kinshasa in the early 1960s--but no less present are W. G. Sebald and Marcel Proust, who are the guiding lights for Rolin's sensual and digressive attack upon history: his own as well as the world's. By turns comic, lyrical, gruesome, and humane, "The Explosion of the Radiator Hose" is a one-of-a-kind travelogue, and no less an exploration of what it means to be human in a life of perpetual exile and migration.
Reviews / Votes
Jean Rolin is a companion with whom one can walk as one hears his clear and dispassionate voice, his wry humor . . . One day I ll have to tell this story, the story of my heroic death and the ensuing revolution, he announces on the final page. I look forward to this. --Christian AuthierMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Normal, IL
United States
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 202 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
213 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-56478-632-6 (9781564786326)
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
04/2011
1st Edition
Columbia University Press
€13.49
Available for download
Persons
Jean Rolin is a French writer and journalist, the winner of the 1988 Albert Londres Prize for journalism, and the 1996 Prix Medicis for his novel L'organisation. As a student, he was closely involved-along with his older brother Olivier (the author of "Hotel Crystal")-in the May '68 uprising. He is the author of essays, novels, and short stories. In 2006, his book "L'Homme qui a vu l'ours" won the Prix Ptolemee. Jean Rolin is a French writer and journalist, the winner of the 1988 Albert Londres Prize for journalism, and the 1996 Prix Medicis for his novel L'organisation. As a student, he was closely involved-along with his older brother Olivier (the author of "Hotel Crystal")-in the May '68 uprising. He is the author of essays, novels, and short stories. In 2006, his book "L'Homme qui a vu l'ours" won the Prix Ptolemee.