A young Paris researcher decides to lead a less risky, more abstract life by staying in his bathroom, but an invitation to the Austrian embassy tempts him to face the unexpected

The Bathroom

Literature & Fiction

Jean-Philippe Toussaint

Humor & Satire

Plume

The amusingly odd protagonist and narrator of Jean-Philippe Toussaint's novel is an academic on sabbatical in Berlin to work on his book about Titian. With his research completed, all he has left to do is sit down and write. Unfortunately, he can't decide how to refer to his subject Titian, le Titien, Vecellio, Titian Vecellio so instead he starts watching TV continuously, until one day he decides to renounce the most addictive of twentieth-century inventions. As he spends his summer still not writing his book, he is haunted by television, from the video surveillance screens in a museum to a moment when it seems everyone in Berlin is tuned in to Baywatch. One of Toussaint's funniest antiheroes, the protagonist of Television turns daily occurrences into an entertaining reflection on society and the influence of television on our lives.

Television

Literary

Dalkey Archive Press

First published in France in 1985, The Bathroom was Jean-Philippe Toussaint’s debut novel, and it heralded a new generation of innovative French literature. In this playful and perplexing book, we meet a young Parisian researcher who lives inside his bathroom. As he sits in his tub meditating on existence (and refusing to tell us his name), the people around him―his girlfriend, Edmondsson, the Polish painters in his kitchen―each in their own way further enables his peculiar lifestyle, supporting his eccentric quest for immobility. But an invitation to the Austrian embassy shakes up his stable world, prompting him to take a risk and leave his bathroom . . .

Self-Portrait Abroad (Netherlandic and Belgian Literature)

L'Appreil Photo (French Edition)

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Editions de Minuit

Die Wahrheit uber Marie

Verlagsgruppe Random House GmbH

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Books by Jean-Philippe Toussaint