An Archive - (Semiotext(e) / Native Agents) by Mathieu Lindon (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An intimate memoir of growing up inside legendary Parisian publishing house Les Éditions de Minuit.

I wanted to tell the story of Les Éditions de Minuit as I saw them as a child. And also to tell the story of my father, Jérôme Lindon, as I saw him and loved him. Are there archives for that? And how to be an archive of the child that I once was?

An Archive tells the story of Les Éditions de Minuit, the legendary Parisian publisher of Samuel Beckett, Marguerite Duras, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Claude Simon, Monique Wittig, Gilles Deleuze, Pierre Bourdieu, Marie NDiaye, and so many others. It is the tale of its editor, Jérôme Lindon, who directed the publishing house from 1948 until his death in 2001. It is also the chronicle of growing up in a family of writers who were, to the eyes of a young child, the temple of literature. Looking back on a childhood immersed in books, Mathieu Lindon draws a portrait of his father, narrating his use of power and his avarice, but also his generosity, his enthusiasm for literature and defense of authors, and his commitment to politics--during the German Occupation, through the Algerian War of Independence, and for the Palestinian cause after the Arab-Israeli War of 1967. Opening the archive of his own memory, Lindon gives a moving, ferocious, and often funny account of a defining period of twentieth-century French intellectual history.

Review Quotes

"An Archive evades all generic definition. A singular text, captivating and infinitely poignant, it assembles and explores what has always been the strength of Mathieu Lindon's work: intimacy narrated with perfect pitch, openly stating what was without straying from a reserve which is also respect."
--Christine Marcandier, Diacritik

"An exercise in a love that is not blind, a practice of boundless admiration, An Archive is a magnificent literary tombstone."
--Nelly Kaprièlian, Les Inrockuptibles

About the Author

Mathieu Lindon was born in 1955. He is a columnist for Libération and the author of numerous books, including Learning What Love Means and Hervelino, both published in English by Semiotext(e).