L’Art du roman
Signed presentation inscription: “Paris 86. À Sylvie Genevoix avec toute la sympathie de Milan Kundera.”
Seven essays are gathered under this title, sharp and ironic toward modernism. Kundera describes himself here as a “postmodern” writer, “a kind of anti-modern modernist.” Tracing the history of the novel through some of its leading figures — from Rabelais to Musil, from Cervantès to Flaubert — he asserts his opposition to the Nouveau Roman, which he considers overly preoccupied with form, arguing that the novel must remain the guarantor of its capacity to reveal the unknown aspects of human nature, as well as the vast powers of its exploration.
A fine copy with a distinguished publishing provenance: Sylvie Genevoix, a journalist at Le Figaro and L’Express, was literary director at Éditions Albin Michel, where she joined in 1992. She was also the daughter of the novelist and academician Maurice Genevoix, author of Raboliot and Ceux de 14.