DVDLiterary interludesMoviesSome Came Running by Glenn Kenny

Perec on film

By November 4, 2008January 12th, 20265 Comments

Perec.cat

One of my all-time favorite writers, Georges Perec, co-created a stunning film version of his novel Un Homme Qui Dort back in 1974. It's the subject of today's Tuesday Morning Foreign Region DVD Report, over at The Auteur's Notebook. 

5 Comments

  • bill says:

    I have yet to read Perec, but I have “A Void” and “Life: A User’s Manual” on my shelf. Is one of those a better place to start than the other?

  • Glenn Kenny says:

    I’d start with “Life,” which was my first, and hooked me but good. Among a great many other things, it’s just spectacularly entertaining. The tough thing about “A Void” is that, given its formal restriction (no “e”s), Gilbert Adair had to pretty much rewrite it, as opposed to merely translate. It’s still awesome. I also highly recommend “W, or The Memory of Childhood,” which is staggeringly ingenious and utterly heartbreaking.

  • I think _Species of Spaces_ is the fucking realness. “The Street”… YES! Gotta see this film at some point.

  • bill says:

    Glenn – Yeah, I’d wondered about “A Void”: it must be an ingenious piece of translation, but, truthfully, what can be left of Perec’s writing by the end?
    I’d been put off by “Life”‘s length, but I’m in a pretty good rhythm at the moment, as far as reading goes, so I may have to give it a try before I hit the inevitable wall.
    Oh, and I’m about halfway through “Revolutionary Road”. Really impressed so far.

  • jake says:

    It’s really funny how much Perec looks like Frodo Baggins.

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