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Pas un jour
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Not One Day begins with a maxim: “Not one day without a woman.” What follows is an intimate, erotic, and sometimes bitter recounting of loves and lovers past, breathtakingly written, exploring the interplay between memory, fantasy, and desire.
“For life is too short to submit to reading poorly written books and sleeping with women one does not love.”
Anne Garréta, author of ...more
“For life is too short to submit to reading poorly written books and sleeping with women one does not love.”
Anne Garréta, author of ...more
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A brief memoir or confession recalling women the narrator has known, set out in an Oulipian restraint. Or is it something else entirely? The writing loops, swerves, and crackles. Translation by Emma Ramadan and Garréta. Longer review to come. Recommended.
Long review here:
http://winnipegreview.com/2017/09/not...
Long review here:
http://winnipegreview.com/2017/09/not...
A charming confection from a lesser-known Oulipian rising to prominence on the world stage, thanks to Deep Vellum Press. Whip-smart (in the S&M sense), wryly hilarious, elegantly lyrical, and drolly observant, this novella makes a fine addition to the Oulipian canon.
Very sexy, very French. The narrator sets herself the task of daily free-writing about a different woman she has lusted after, and the results prove a lot more gorgeous and interesting than one might expect. An Afterword adds a dazzling layer of complexity, turning the whole into a fascinating reflection on form and fiction.
★★★★☆ (4/5)
A non-fiction veiled fictitiously. Anne Garréta’s stunning prose brings to life the mind of a writer, mired in an upheaval of a personal project where she intends to deliberate on past infatuations. We come across a myriad of unknown love interests, crushes, secret admirers and objects of affections; delve into the writers psyche of emotional attachments, value of arts and sentiments in life. The structure of prose is terse, given the writers Oulipian affiliations, which threads from ...more
A non-fiction veiled fictitiously. Anne Garréta’s stunning prose brings to life the mind of a writer, mired in an upheaval of a personal project where she intends to deliberate on past infatuations. We come across a myriad of unknown love interests, crushes, secret admirers and objects of affections; delve into the writers psyche of emotional attachments, value of arts and sentiments in life. The structure of prose is terse, given the writers Oulipian affiliations, which threads from ...more
Was not as into this as her previous book; this really came across as an exercise both in device and diction, this seemed wordy for the sake of wordiness and not for any other reason, and did not enhance my enjoyment of the book. Shame, but I'll definitely pick up her next.
This book is an interesting exploration of desire. It's use of description is quite eloquent. This book is well written and thoughtful. You can tell the author is stretching herself by sharing.
I can't say I liked this book but read it for my first French-American book club meeting in New York this evening. I read it in French and am curious to find out how the English version was perceived. The topic (sex, desire...) and writing style (Oulipian writing) are interesting but left me cold. Maybe I will have a different view after the book club discussion. Stay tuned (or not).
Not One Day is beautifully written, and is composed, basically, of two kinds of writing: memoir and flights of fancy. Garréta moves from engrossing story (a short interaction with a child, a night spent with a woman at a bar) to off-the-cuff philosophizing (the meaning of desire, the visual workings of memory), and often balances them well, placing a solid narrative detail at the end of a philosophical passage. I enjoyed reading this book—there are sections that I know I'll read again and cheris
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This small book contains volumes. Garreta's response to reader desire transforms into a personal, but universal story of desire. There are so many ways to read this book: vignettes, one large story, alphabetically, chronologically. Each new reading is a revelation.
“We have an abundance of young youngsters and old youngsters of both sexes, ambitious, as naïve as they are cunning, in thrall to their own little bildungsroman. Channeling (often without knowing or else knowing too well) Corteggiano, apocryphal instructions of a baroque cardinal of yore.”
excellent
Interesting, incisive, a bit heady and wandering. Good to think over.
[4.5/5] A relatively breezy experimental text with an Oulipian constraint that doesn't block its accessibility and a goal that finds the narrator turning over the theme in surprising ways.
An exercise in memory, and the fictionalisation of eroticism.
Probably more like a 3.5. The pieces that are strong are very strong! But a bunch were lackluster. Overall though I can appreciate what Garreta was trying to do here.
I’ve been meaning to write some book thoughts on Anne Garretta’s amazing book Not One Day since I finished it, last month. However, I had been finding it quite difficult to find the right words to express the many thoughts that came through my head as I read it. What I can say with most certainty is that through out the whole book I found myself stopping and rereading parts out loud because they were just too delicious not to hear. The way Garreta writes amazes me. Now, I know this is a translat
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Fiction G2391n 2017
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Anne F. Garréta (born 1962) is a French novelist and a member of the experimental literary group Oulipo. A graduate of France’s prestigious École normale supérieure and lecturer at the University of Rennes II since 1995, Anne F. Garréta was co-opted into the Oulipo in April 2000. She also teaches at Duke University as a Research Professor of Literature and Romance Studies. Her first novel, Sphinx
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“For life is too short to resign ourselves to reading poorly written books and sleeping with women we don't love.”
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“All of her mannerisms, even her way of sitting, are of a perfect femininity. Or: how to occupy the least possible amount of space in the world.”
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