Need for the Bike

Fournel, Paul

ISBN 10: 0803269099 / ISBN 13: 9780803269095

Verlag: Bison Books, 2003

Very Good condition. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers T05P-00819

Inhaltsangabe:

A book like no other, Frenchman Paul Fournel&;s Need for the Bike conducts readers into a very personal world of communication and connection whose center is the bicycle, and where all people and things pass by way of the bike. In compact and suggestive prose, Fournel conveys the experience of cycling&;from the initial charm of early outings to the dramas of the devoted cyclist.

 

An extended meditation on cycling as a practice of life, the book recalls a country doctor who will not anesthetize the young Fournel after he impales himself on a downtube shifter, speculates about the difference between animals that would like to ride bikes (dogs, for instance) and those that would prefer to watch (cows, marmots), and reflects on the fundamental absurdity of turning over the pedals mile after excruciating mile. At the same time, Fournel captures the sound, smell, feel, and language of the reality and history of cycling, in the mountains, in the city, escaping the city, in groups, alone, suffering, exhausted, exhilarated.

 

In his attention to the pleasures of cycling, to the specific &;grain&; of different cycling experiences, and to the inscription of these experiences in the body&;s cycling memory, Fournel portrays cycling as a descriptive universe, colorful, lyrical, inclusive, exclusive, complete.

 

Purchase the audio edition.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor:

Paul Fournel is a member of Oulipo, a collective of avant-garde writers whose works focus on the problems and puzzles of language. He is presently the cultural attaché at the French Embassy in Cairo. Allan Stoekl is a professor of French at Pennsylvania State University, the author and editor of a number of books, and the translator of Maurice Blanchot&;s The Most High (Nebraska 1996).

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Need for the Bike
Verlag: Bison Books
Erscheinungsdatum: 2003
Einband: Softcover
Zustand: Very Good