Running: A Novel

(Hardback)

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Following his brilliant portrait of Maurice Ravel, Jean Echenoz turns to the life of one of the greatest runners of the twentieth century, and once again demonstrates his astonishing abilities as a prose stylist. Set against the backdrop of the Soviet liberation and postWorld War II communist rule of Czechoslovakia, Runninga bestseller in Francefollows the famed career of Czech runner Emil Ztopek: a factory worker who, despite an initial contempt for athletics as a young man, is forced to participate in a footrace and soon develops a curious passion for the physical limits he discovers as a long-distance runner.

Ztopek, who tenaciously invents his own brutal training regimen, goes on to become a national hero, winning an unparalleled three gold medals at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and breaking countless world records along the way. But just as his fame brings him upon the world stage, he must face the realities of an increasingly controlling regime.

Written in Echenozs signature styleelegant yet playfulRunning is both a beautifully imagined and executed portrait of a man and his art, and a powerful depiction of a countrys propagandizing grasp on his fate.

Reviews

"Elegant and joyous." Le Monde

"Magnificent." Magazine Litteraire

"Vivid and extraordinary." La Croix

Author Bio

Jean Echenoz won Frances prestigious Prix Goncourt for Im Gone (The New Press). He is the author of nine other novels in English translationincluding 1914, Big Blondes, Lightning, Piano, Ravel, and Running, all published by The New Pressand the winner of numerous literary prizes, among them the Prix Mdicis and the European Literature Jeopardy Prize. He lives in Paris.