Le Méridien de Greenwich

Rejected by every other publisher, the manuscript of Le Méridien de Greenwich was finally accepted by Jérôme Lindon, marking the beginning of a long collaboration between Echenoz and Éditions de Minuit, to which he would remain faithful throughout his career.

The novel is built as a kind of trompe-l’oeil adventure story, unfolding partly in France and partly on an exotic island crossed by the meridian, echoing classics of the genre such as Verne or Stevenson. The protagonist, Claude Rocaille, obsessed with his puzzles, invites comparison with Perec’s Bartlebooth in La Vie mode d’emploi: a blurred hero, a compassless cartographer, pursuing an absurd quest through a barely recognizable space where situations gradually slip out of focus, without landmarks. The zero meridian becomes a symbol of non-place and lost bearings.

A very fine copy.
Rare.