Three By Echenoz: Big Blondes, Piano, and Running (English Edition)
A single volume that gathers together three of the most remarkable novels from Jean Echenoz, the “most distinctive French voice of his generation” (<i>The Washington Post</i>), <i>Three by Echenoz</i> demonstrates the award-winning author's extraordinary versatility and elegant yet playful style at its finest.<br /><br />“A parodic thriller sparkling with wit” (<i>L'Humanité</i>), <i>Big Blondes</i> probes our universal obsession with fame as a television documentary producer tries to track down a renowned singer who has mysteriously disappeared. A darkly comedic, noir-style tour de force, it finally answers the age-old question: do blondes have more fun?<br /><br />“Fluid, never forced…like a garment that fits beautifully even inside-out” (<i>Elle</i>), <i>Piano</i> brings Dante's <i>Inferno</i> to contemporary Paris, following Max Delmarc, a concert pianist suffering from paralyzing stage fright and alchoholism, as he meets his untimely death and descends through purgatory—part luxury hotel, part minimum-security prison—into a modern vision of hell.<br /><br /><i>Running</i> is “a small wonder of writing and humanity” (<i>L'Express</i>)—a portrait of the legendary Czech athlete Emil Zátopek, who became a national hero, winning three gold medals at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics even as he was compelled to face the unyielding realities of life under an authoritarian regime.<br />