A Regicide
By (Author) Alain Robbe-Grillet
Translated by John Calder
Alma Books Ltd
Calder Publications Ltd
4th February 2019
22nd November 2018
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Fiction in translation
843.914
Paperback
224
Width 128mm, Height 198mm
Set in an unspecified island kingdom, A Regicide tells the story of the statistician Boris who, after the electoral victory of the Church party in the countrys elections, decides to assassinate the King on the day he is to visit the factory where he is employed. As the crime is described and relived, doubt sets in as to whether it has ever taken place. Written in 1949 but only published in 1979, Robbe-Grillets first novel is a disquieting and satirical avant-garde political thriller which bridges the gap between traditional novel and the Nouveau Roman genre he would later espouse and make famous.
An extraordinary work, unafraid to be different, whose games with narrative haunt and nag at the mind. -- Nicholas Lezard * The Guardian *
Reading A Regicide today, were reminded of Robbe-Grillets influence on our notions of how a novel should be. * TLS *
I doubt that fiction as art can any longer be seriously discussed without Robbe-Grillet. * The New York Times *
Alain Robbe-Grillet (19222008) is best known as the pioneering spokesman of the nouveau roman, a greatly influential movement in post-war French fiction, and as the author of Jealousy and The Voyeur.