Pierrot Mon Ami

This "innocent" implies how his story, at almost every turn, undermines, upsets, and plays upon our expectations, leaving us with more questions than answers, and doing so in a gloriously skewed style (admirably re-created by Barbara Wright, Queneau's principle translator).

The Last Days is Raymond Queneau's autobiographical novel of Parisian student life in the 1920s: Vincent Tuquedenne tries to reconcile his love for reading with the sterility of studying as he hopes to study his way out of the petite bourgeoisie to which he belongs. Vincent and his generation are contrasted with an older generation of retired teachers and petty crooks, and both generations come under the bemused gaze of the waiter Alfred, whose infallible method of predicting the future mocks prevailing scientific models. Similarly, Queneau's literary universe operates under its own laws, joining rigorous artistry with a warm evocation of the last days of a bygone world.

"The most important thing to say about The Last Days is that it works. Erudition is seldom welcome at the gates of satire, but the late Raymond Queneau's autobiographical novel of Parisian student life in the 1920s is profound, complex and instantly likable. It is also very, very funny." (Octavio Roca, Washington Times 10-1-90)

"A witty novel that is a witness both to Queneau's marvelous sense of humor and his capacity for self-examination." (Choice 2-91)

"Dazzling in its wordplay." (Kirkus Reviews 8-1-90)

"It is an artfully crafted literary mosaic of oppositions and similarities (of characters, descriptions, attitudes, and perceptions) that emphasize the literary quality of this work. The finality evoked in the title is rich in potential for interpretation, as is the work itself. The use of puns and neologisms, as well as other stylistic and rhetorical devices characteristic of Queneau's work, have come to be recognized as uniquely his." (Library Journal 8-90)

"Beguiling. . . . Queneau's literary infractions . . . are not for the sake of novelty but for the sake of the novel." (Publishers Weekly 8-24-90)

Publishers Weekly

Pierrot is a Chaplinesque figure who works at a series of marginal jobs for an amusement park, and competes with his friend Paradis for the affections of the owner's daughter. ``Originally published in France in 1942 and in England in 1950, this novel's pared down, often vulgar language is supplemented by highly inventive word plays and snippets of philosophy,'' said PW . (Sept.)

Barbara Wright has translated several Raymond Queneau novels; indeed, as John Updike wrote in The New Yorker,
she "has waltzed around the floor with the Master so many times by now that she follows his quirky French as if the steps were in English." She has also translated works by Alain Robbe-Grillet, Robert Pinget,
Nathalie Sarraute, and Marguerite Duras. She lives in London.