The 7th Function of Language - Softcover

Laurent Binet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1910701599 ISBN 13: 9781910701591

Publisher: Harvill Secker, 2017

Synopsis

Paris, 1980. The literary critic Roland Barthes dies struck by a laundry van after lunch with the presidential candidate Francois Mitterand. The world of letters mourns a tragic accident. But what if it wasn t an accident at all? What if Barthes was . . . murdered?

In The Seventh Function of Language, Laurent Binet spins a madcap secret history of the French intelligentsia, starring such luminaries as Jacques Derrida, Umberto Eco, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Julia Kristeva as well as the hapless police detective Jacques Bayard, whose new case will plunge him into the depths of literary theory (starting with the French version of Roland Barthes for Dummies). Soon Bayard finds himself in search of a lost manuscript by the linguist Roman Jakobson on the mysterious seventh function of language.

A brilliantly erudite comedy that recalls Flaubert's Parrot and The Name of the Rose with more than a dash of The Da Vinci Code, The Seventh Function of Language takes us from the cafes of Saint-Germain to the corridors of Cornell University, and into the duels and orgies of the Logos Club, a secret philosophical society that dates to the Roman Empire. Binet has written both a send-up and a wildly exuberant celebration of the French intellectual tradition.

About this title

About the Author

Laurent Binet lives and works in France. His first novel, HHhH, was an international bestseller which won the prestigious Prix Goncourt du premier roman, among other prizes.

Review

"Establishes Laurent Binet as the clear heir to the late Umberto Eco, writing novels that are both brilliant and playful, dense with ideas while never losing sight of their need to entertain... One of the funniest, most riotously inventive and enjoyable novels you'll read this year" -- Alex Preston * Observer * "A hugely entertaining novel, taking delight in its own twists and turns" -- Nicholas Lezard * Spectator * "Lively, earthy, experimental, ambitious, clever and endlessly entertaining... Smart, witty, direct, cool" -- Hal Jensen * The Times Literary Supplement * "The premise is a stroke of genius. Roland Barthes did not die following an accident in 1980; he was murdered... The strands of the plot are skilfully interwoven through a dual process of fictionalisation of the real and realisation of the fictional" -- Andrew Gallix * Financial Times * "An almost filmic detective romp, taking in glamorous international locations, killer dogs, Bulgarian secret agents, several varieties of sex and wild car chases" -- Andrew Hussey * Literary Review *

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvill Secker
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1910701599
• ISBN 13: 9781910701591
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400