La Maison de Rendez-Vous and Djinn: Two Novels (Robbe-Grillet, Alain) - Softcover

Robbe-Grillet, Alain

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802130178 ISBN 13: 9780802130174

Publisher: Grove Press, 1994

Synopsis

These two novellas demonstrate why Alain Robbe-Grillet, the leading practitioner and theorist of the noveau roman, is one of the most discussed and controversial writers of the post-war era. In La Maison de Rendez-vous, the master of the "new novel" creates a world of crime, intrigue, and passion dominated by Lady Ava's mysterious Blue Villa. Set in Hong Kong, the novella unfolds over the course of one evening, but the events of that night recur repeatedly, from the perspectives of different characters. Robbe-Grillet creates an unsettling work that challenges ideas about subjectivity and objectivity, fiction and fact, and the entire process of storytelling. A haunting, disorienting, and brilliantly constructed novel, Djinn is the story of a young man who joins a clandestine organization under the command of an alluring, androgynous American girl named Djinn. His search for the meaning of his mission and for possible clues to the identity of the mysterious Djinn, becomes a quest for his own identity in an ever-shifting time-space continuum.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

With Hong Kong as the setting, the master of the "new novel" creates a world of crime, intrigue, and passion dominated by Lady Ava's mysterious Blue Villa. The novella unfolds over the course of only one evening, but the events of that night recur repeatedly, and the same moments are described from the perspectives of different characters. Robbe-Grillet creates an unsettling work that challenges his readers' ideas about subjectivity and objectivity, fiction and fact, and the entire process of story-telling. Djinn

A haunting, disorienting, brilliantly constructed novel, Djinn is the story of a young man who joins a clandestine organization under the command of an alluring, androgynous American girl, Djinn. Having agreed to wear dark glasses and carry a cane like a blind man, he comes to realize, through bizarre encounters, recurring visual images, and fractured time sequences he experiences as part of his undisclosed mission, that he is, in a sense, helplessly blind. His search for the meaning of his mission and for possible clues to the identity of the mysterious Djinn, becomes a quest for his own identity in an ever-shifting time-space continuum. His growing obsession with solving the mystery becomes the reader's own until, through a surprising shift in narrative perspective, the reader too becomes lost in the dimension between past and future.

"Alain Robbe-Grillet is the forerunner of a revolution in the novel."--Claude Mauriac

"[La Maison de Rendez-vous is] a new literary entertainment, and a poetic, amusing, captivating book."--The New York Times Book Review

"[La Maison de Rendez-vous] is a funny book, a provocation, a do-it-yourself mystery or a fairy tale."--Eliot Fremont-Smith, The New York Times

"Djinn may win a whole generation over to the noveau roman."--International Herald Tribune

"Robbe-Grillet is at the top of his form with this fantastic tale."--Le Monde

Alain Robbe-Grillet, born in 1922, is one of the most discussed and controversial writers of the post-war era. The leading practitioner and theorist of the noveau roman, he is best known for his novels Jealousy and The Voyeur, as well as his screenplay for the classic film Last Year at Marienbad. Among his other works are The Erasers, In the Labyrinth, Project for a Revolution in New York, and Topology of a Phantom City

Language Notes:

Text: English, French (translation)

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0802130178
• ISBN 13: 9780802130174
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 284