The Explosion of the Radiator Hose (Paperback)

Jean Rolin

ISBN 10: 1564786323 / ISBN 13: 9781564786326

Published by Dalkey Archive Press, Normal, IL, 2011

About this Item

Paperback. In this nominally true story of an epic, transcontinental road trip, Jean Rolin travels to Africa from darkest France, accompanying a battered Audi to its new life as a taxi to be operated by the family of a Congolese security guard. The ghost of Joseph Conrad haunts Rolin's journey, as do memories of his expatriate youth in Kinshasa in the early 1960s--but no less present are W. G. Sebald and Marcel Proust, who are the guiding lights for Rolin's sensual and digressive attack upon history: his own as well as the world's. By turns comic, lyrical, gruesome, and humane, "The Explosion of the Radiator Hose" is a one-of-a-kind travelogue, and no less an exploration of what it means to be human in a life of perpetual exile and migration. Fiction, autobiography, travel narrative, gonzo journalism, and historiography are all parts of Rolin s rollicking narrative. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781564786326

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Explosion of the Radiator Hose (Paperback)
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press, Normal, IL
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1564786323
• ISBN 13: 9781564786326
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

In this nominally true story of an epic, transcontinental road trip, Jean Rolin travels to Africa from darkest France, accompanying a battered Audi to its new life as a taxi to be operated by the family of a Congolese security guard. The ghost of Joseph Conrad haunts Rolin's journey, as do memories of his expatriate youth in Kinshasa in the early 1960s--but no less present are W. G. Sebald and Marcel Proust, who are the guiding lights for Rolin's sensual and digressive attack upon history: his own as well as the world's. By turns comic, lyrical, gruesome, and humane, "The Explosion of the Radiator Hose" is a one-of-a-kind travelogue, and no less an exploration of what it means to be human in a life of perpetual exile and migration.

About the Author

Jean Rolin is a French writer and journalist, the winner of the 1988 Albert Londres Prize for journalism, and the 1996 Prix Medicis for his novel L'organisation. As a student, he was closely involved-along with his older brother Olivier (the author of "Hotel Crystal")-in the May '68 uprising. He is the author of essays, novels, and short stories. In 2006, his book "L'Homme qui a vu l'ours" won the Prix Ptolemee.