Jérôme Lindon by Jean Echenoz and translated by Mark Polizzotti

"Echenoz is one of the contemporary literature's rare graceful magicians." --Bookforum

Jérôme Lindon is a genre-defying meditation on the friendship and working relationship between Jean Echenoz and his editor, the founder of Les Editions de Minuit, Jerome Lindon. Lindon published the work of Samuel Beckett, Marguerite Duras, and Robbe-Grillet, among so many other giants. This voice-driven ramble recounts in candid, understated, and hilarious glimpses Echenoz's encounters with his publisher over a period of twenty years, and in the process reveals an intimate portrait of both of them. Echenoz's spare, lyrical, and playful descriptions of early-morning phone calls and exchanges over lunch illuminate Lindon's impulsiveness and impatience, his matter-of-fact generosity, and the humanity beneath his gruff exterior. In his unassuming way, Echenoz's lets us in on how his own literary path was shaped by Jerome Lindon's belief in him and explores the deep bonds between a writer and his publisher. A tender tribute.