false 2711109 1 Maurice Roche has been called "the most interesting novelist in France" (TriQuarterly), and Compact "one of the classics of our modernity" (Le Figaro). <P>Certainly, Compact is one of the most compellingly original works of fiction of the postwar period. Composedas if a musical scoreof six intertwining narratives (each distinguished by its own voice, tense, and typeface), Compact has lost none of its remarkable freshness or groundbreaking innovation since its first appearance in 1966. <P>But along with its striking originality, Compact is also a work rich in off-beat humor and great humanity. Compact is the story of a blind man living in a city of his own imagining. Confined to his deathbed, he engages in mental walks through the world's capitals. These sightless excursions explode in a plethora of musical arrangements, sexual encounters, and mysterious funeral rites. Meanwhile, a Japanese collector and his transvestite assistant watch over the blind man in exchangeupon the latter's deathfor his magnificent tattooed skin. As a further ordeal, the protagonist finds himself prey to the whims of a sadistic French girl in the next apartment. <P>A novelistic tour-de-force, Compact fully bears out La Tribune de Geneve's judgment of Maurice Roche's work as "the most important literary upheaval to hit France in the last decade." 2736604 9 1988 Compact total:4|5:2|3:2| 4 16 7 1 5 0 false false Fri Jul 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 14:45:13 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 14:46:29 -0700 2009 Compact is a literal catalog of avant-garde textual techniques and how to apply them without resorting to gimmickry. The narratives entwined here are wholly enigmatic, yet affecting, and some of the words, declarative statements, hit where one needs to be ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed May 27 15:55:20 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 15:55:26 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu May 21 13:45:25 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 13:45:25 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Feb 22 11:56:46 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 11:56:46 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Thu Jan 29 18:18:10 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 18:18:10 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Oct 20 23:45:56 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 20 23:45:56 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Mon Aug 18 00:05:05 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 18 00:05:05 -0700 2008