Book chapter
Communism, Bio-Fiction, and the Olympics in Jean Echenoz's Courir: Physical Culture in French and Francophone Literature
Pour le Sport: Physical Culture in French and Francophone Literature, pp.157-181
Liverpool Univ Press
01/01/2021
DOI: 10.3828/liverpool/9781800856899.003.0008
Abstract
Thomas Bauer looks at the architecture of Braga’s novel 5 000 (1924) in order to understand the work’s contribution to literary style, narrative framework, and its relationship to other avant-garde novels. As Bauer relates, during the summer of 1924 and the Olympic Games in Paris, and one month to the day before the much-hyped 5,000-meter race final, a young writer of Brazilian origin, Dominique Braga, published a sports novel called 5 000 with Gallimard. As a result of his topic and the originality of his poetics, Braga received a great deal of press coverage, and his novel was an unanticipated success. Sports and literary critics were unanimous in their praise, and many columnists wrote about it between June and November 1924. For instance, Ramón Fernández, a literary critic of the Nouvelle revue française, found its analysis to be of the highest order, such as its account of a runner’s foot movement, and the formation of ‘gauging’ or movement of the eyes up towards the ears. As Bauer shows, contrary to other novels that have eventually sunk into oblivion, 5 000 is still very much alive in recent memory.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Communism, Bio-Fiction, and the Olympics in Jean Echenoz's Courir: Physical Culture in French and Francophone Literature
- Creators
- Roxanna Curto - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- Pour le Sport: Physical Culture in French and Francophone Literature, pp.157-181
- DOI
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781800856899.003.0008
- Publisher
- Liverpool Univ Press; Liverpool
- Number of pages
- 25
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/2021
- Academic Unit
- French and Italian; Spanish and Portuguese; University College Courses
- Record Identifier
- 9984464760202771
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