Jump to content

From Noumenapedia

Monsieur Levert

Monsieur Levert
AuthorRobert Pinget
Original titleLe Fiston
TranslatorRichard Howard & Richard Coe
LanguageFrench
PublisherEditions de Minuit, Grove Press, John Calder
Publication date1959
Published in English
1961, 1976
Pages125
LC ClassPZ4.P653 Mo

Le Fiston (1959; literally, "The Son" or "The Lad" but translated as Monsieur Levert or No Answer) is a novel by Swiss-born French novelist Robert Pinget. That same year, he adapted the novel into the play Lettre Morte (Dead Letter).

Plot summary

Monsieur Levert is a lonely, drunken old man living in the isolation of a Swiss village. He spends his time writing and rewriting a letter to his son Gilbert who ran away from home ten years ago, knowing that he will never complete it and never send it.[1][2][3]

Translations

Le Fiston has been translated into English twice: first by Richard Howard for Grove Press in 1961, and then by Richard Coe for John Calder in 1976.

References

  1. ↑ Robert Pinget, Monsieur Levert, trans. Richard Howard (New York: Grove Press, 1961).
  2. ↑ Robert M. Henkels, Jr., Robert Pinget: The Novel as Quest (University of Alabama Press, 1979) 70–83.
  3. ↑ Léonard A. Rosmarin, Robert Pinget (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995) 46–53.