Praise for 1914:"Echenoz's nod to the powerlessness of ordinary people caught in the first great modern cataclysm is a veritable monument to human dignity."Gary Indiana, Bookforum"This new novel from Jean Echenoz concentrates and synthesizes the quintessence of his writing."—Le MondePraise for Jean Echenoz:"One of the best storytellers among the 'serious' novelists of his generation."—Context"Echenoz is one of the contemporary literature's rare graceful magicians. . . . He might easily be located in the post-human environs of Michael Houellebecq [and] Haruki Murakami."—Bookforum"A gentle tending to perversity links Echenoz to that other master of the perverse detail, Vladimir Nabokov."—Los Angeles Times"Every word is perfectly placed; the writing is fluid . . . like a garment that fits perfectly even inside out..."—Elle"The most distinctive voice of his generation and the master magician of the contemporary French novel."—The Washington Post"Writing lives! [Echenoz's] words are full of grace and surprises, and he has the ability to throw relationships among them just off-center enough to make the images or people they convey seem all the more compelling and fresh." —The New York Times Book Review"A writer at the top of his form . . . his style is, as usual, impeccable, full of finesse and promise."—Le Monde"[O]ne of the best storytellers among the “serious” novelists of his generation. . . . Echenoz has shown that an attention to novelistic intrigue is by no means incompatible with an experimentalist impulse."—Context"Against a pungently evoked French landscape, figures both comical and grotesque move through a magic-lantern adventure story at a pace that keeps us turning the pages—though again and again we pause to savor the richness of Echenoz's startling, crystalline observations. Never a dull moment!"—Lydia Davis"A humanist rewriting Foucault with a satirist's wit, Echenoz deftly and amusingly meditates on who we are and what defines us."—Village Voice"Echenoz employs almost no dialogue and nothing that departs from known facts in this tiny miracle of a biographical novel, which begins dryly and builds to a shattering, but still contained and elegant, emotional climax, like a Ravel masterpiece."—Booklist"This is a wholly unsentimental portrait of a freaky inventor. Our sympathy is not required; all Echenoz requires is our attention, which he secures through his lapidary prose, buffed to a high gloss in this excellent translation."—Kirkus Reviews"Echenoz picks out the absurd nuances of pop culture and twists them into a contemporary detective book. . . . A hilarious read."—Publisher's Weekly"Rarely has the difficult craft of storytelling been as well mastered."—The Times Literary Supplement"Jean Echenoz has a terrific sense of humor tinged with existential mischief. . . . An author in total control of his material."—L'Express"His realism is innocent, meticulous, ironic. . . . Seldom is a narrative so well constructed."—Le Figaro"[A] fascinating portrait of a musical genius, a strange and lonely character who was never at peace with himself."—France Today"Magnificent."—Magazine Litteraire"Vivid and extraordinary."—La Croix"Dazzling, meticulous, and somber."—Télérama
