Minor Angels - Hardcover

Volodine, Antoine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803246722 ISBN 13: 9780803246720

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 2004

Synopsis

From Antoine Volodine comes a deeply disturbing and darkly hilarious novel whose full meaning, its author asserts, will be found not in the book’s pages but in the dreams people will have after reading it. In Minor Angels Volodine depicts a postcataclysmic world in which the forces of capitalism have begun to reestablish themselves. Sharply opposed to such a trend, a group of crones confined to a nursing home—all of them apparently immortal—resolves to create an avenging grandson fashioned of lint and rags. Though conjured to crush the rebirth of capitalism, the grandson is instead seduced by its charms—only to fall back into the hands of his creators, where he manages to forestall his punishment by reciting one “narract” a day. It is these narracts, or prose poems, that compose the text of Minor Angels.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Praise for Antoine Volodine’s Naming the Jungle:

"His talent surfaces time and again in luxurious, hypnotic ways."—Publishers Weekly. "Clever and incisive."—New York Times Book Review. "Alive with color and detail."—Kirkus Reviews. "His quirky and eccentric narrative achieves quite staggering and electric effects. . . . Dazzling in its epic proportions and imaginative scope."—The Nation.

From Antoine Volodine comes a deeply disturbing and darkly hilarious novel whose full meaning, its author asserts, will be found not in the book’s pages but in the dreams people will have after reading it. In Minor Angels Volodine depicts a postcataclysmic world in which the forces of capitalism have begun to reestablish themselves. Sharply opposed to such a trend, a group of crones confined to a nursing home—all of them apparently immortal—resolves to create an avenging grandson fashioned of lint and rags. Though conjured to crush the rebirth of capitalism, the grandson is instead seduced by its charms—only to fall back into the hands of his creators, where he manages to forestall his punishment by reciting one "narract" a day. It is these narracts, or prose poems, that compose the text of Minor Angels.

A French writer of Slavic origins, born in 1950, Antoine Volodine has published twelve books, which have proven difficult to categorize since they blend science fiction, Tibetan myth, a ludic approach to writing, and a profound humanistic idealism. Minor Angels was awarded the Prix France Inter in 2000. Jordan Stump is an associate professor of French at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. An award-winning translator of numerous books, including Christian Oster’s My Big Apartment (Nebraska 2002), he is also the author of Naming and Unnaming: On Raymond Queneau(Nebraska 1998).

About the Author

A French writer of Slavic origins, born in 1950, Antoine Volodine has published twelve books, which have proven difficult to categorize since they blend science fiction, Tibetan myth, a ludic approach to writing, and a profound humanistic idealism. Minor Angels was awarded the Prix France Inter in 2000 and the Prix Médicis in 2014.  Jordan Stump is an associate professor of French at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. An award-winning translator of numerous books, including Christian Oster’s My Big Apartment (Nebraska 2002), he is also the author of Naming and Unnaming: On Raymond Queneau (Nebraska 1998). 

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0803246722
• ISBN 13: 9780803246720
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 166