Dump This Book While You Still Can!
by Marcel Benabou
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Description
In one of the most thought-provoking and wry books by one of the most intriguing contemporary writers in French literature, readers become party to the dilemma of "challenging" literature in a singularly involving and amusing fashion. Opening a book that has mysteriously appeared amid the clutter of his desk, the narrator finds himself exhorted not to read further, to throw the book away! Instead (but of course) he tries different strategies for approaching the book, none of which work. The show more narrator's tempestuous, increasingly obsessive relationship with the book he is determined to read, interwoven with the story of a real (but no less enigmatic) love affair, is, in its own challenging way, a charmed and charming, deeply provocative meditation upon reading and writing, and their inevitable discontents. Dump This Book offers a new angle on the work of this original writer and an ironic perspective on the power of reading to produce meaning. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
A man who has just turned 40 and lives alone in a cluttered apartment one day finds a book that he doesn't remember buying on his desk. Its cover is completely blank, and the book opens with a request that it not be read:
'Come on, dump this book. Or better yet, throw it as far away as you can. Right now. Before it's too late. That resolution is your only escape, believe me.'
The narrator is piqued and intrigued, and decides to read the book in spite of the author's request, both for the challenge of reading it, and because he is convinced that it will be worth the effort. He is perplexed and consumed by it, and he devotes nearly all his energy to elucidating its hidden messages. Throughout this book, we learn about Sophie, a young but show more elusive woman who he loves deeply, his past and current unsatisfactory life, and the pleasures and frustrations of reading.
Unfortunately, I lost interest in this story and its narrator somewhere in the middle of the book, as it became a bit too clever and esoteric for me. So, I would encourage anyone considering this book to dump it before you buy it. show less
'Come on, dump this book. Or better yet, throw it as far away as you can. Right now. Before it's too late. That resolution is your only escape, believe me.'
The narrator is piqued and intrigued, and decides to read the book in spite of the author's request, both for the challenge of reading it, and because he is convinced that it will be worth the effort. He is perplexed and consumed by it, and he devotes nearly all his energy to elucidating its hidden messages. Throughout this book, we learn about Sophie, a young but show more elusive woman who he loves deeply, his past and current unsatisfactory life, and the pleasures and frustrations of reading.
Unfortunately, I lost interest in this story and its narrator somewhere in the middle of the book, as it became a bit too clever and esoteric for me. So, I would encourage anyone considering this book to dump it before you buy it. show less
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Author Information
22+ Works 268 Members
Marcel Benabou is a professor of ancient history at the University of Paris.
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Dump This Book While You Still Can!
- Original title
- Jette ce livre avant qu'il soit trop tard
- Original publication date
- 1992
- Epigraph
- There is hardly any merchandise in the world stranger than books: printed by people who don't understand them, sold by people who don't understand them, bound, censored, and read by people who don't understand them, and—bet... (show all)ter yet—written by people who don't understand them.
—Lichtenberg - First words
- Come on, dump this book.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Literature Studies and Criticism
- DDC/MDS
- 848.91407 — Literature & rhetoric French Literature French miscellaneous writings 1900- 1900-1999 1945-1999 Without identifiable literary form
- LCC
- PQ2662 .E4714 .J4813 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures French literature Modern literature 1961-2000
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 40
- Popularity
- 731,684
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (2.67)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
