A Man Asleep
Encyclopedia
A Man Asleep is a 1967 novel by the French writer Georges Perec
. It uses a second-person narrative
, and follows a 25-year-old student, who one day decides to be indifferent about the world. A Man Asleep was adapted into a 1974 film, The Man Who Sleeps.
in 1967. An English translation by Andrew Leak was published in 1990 through David R. Godine, Publisher
, in a shared volume with Perec's first novel, Things: A Story of the Sixties
.
of the Los Angeles Times
compared the two novels of the volume—Things and A Man Asleep—, and wrote that Things was "the more engaging of the two, though less focused and ultimately, perhaps, less memorable." He wrote that in A Man Asleep, "Perec shows a beauty on the far side of the void; a humanity on the far side of refusal."
Georges Perec
Georges Perec was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist and essayist. He is a member of the Oulipo group...
. It uses a second-person narrative
Second-person narrative
The second-person narrative is a narrative mode in which the protagonist or another main character is referred to by employment of second-person personal pronouns and other kinds of addressing forms, for example the English second-person pronoun "you"....
, and follows a 25-year-old student, who one day decides to be indifferent about the world. A Man Asleep was adapted into a 1974 film, The Man Who Sleeps.
Publication
The novel was published in France through Éditions DenoëlÉditions Denoël
Éditions Denoël is a French publishing house founded in 1930 by the Belgian Robert Denoël and the American Bernard Steele .Called the Éditions Denoël-Steel during its first few years, it had its first success in 1932 with Voyage au bout de la nuit by Louis-Ferdinand Céline...
in 1967. An English translation by Andrew Leak was published in 1990 through David R. Godine, Publisher
David R. Godine, Publisher
David R. Godine, Publisher is an American book publishing company, founded in 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts by David R. Godine. Many of the early titles were fine letterpress editions, using a 40" Kelly-3 flatbed reciprocating letterpress with three form rollers. The company has since grown to...
, in a shared volume with Perec's first novel, Things: A Story of the Sixties
Things: A Story of the Sixties
Things is a novel by Georges Perec. It received the Prix Renaudot in 1965.It recounts the life of a young couple — both pollsters — in the 1960s...
.
Reception
Upon the American release, Richard EderRichard Eder
Richard Eder was for 20 years variously a foreign correspondent, a film reviewer and the drama critic for the New York Times. Subsequently he was book critic for the Los Angeles Times, winning a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism and the National Book Critics Circle annual citation...
of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
compared the two novels of the volume—Things and A Man Asleep—, and wrote that Things was "the more engaging of the two, though less focused and ultimately, perhaps, less memorable." He wrote that in A Man Asleep, "Perec shows a beauty on the far side of the void; a humanity on the far side of refusal."