About
Jean Echenoz, born December 26, 1947 in Orange, is a French writer. After studying sociology and architecture, he moved to Paris in 1970. He published his first novel, Le Méridien de Greenwich, in 1979 with Les Éditions de Minuit, where all his work has appeared. He won the Prix Médicis for Cherokee (1983) and the Prix Goncourt for Je m'en vais (1999). He is also the author of fictionalized biographies of Maurice Ravel, Emil Zátopek, and Nikola Tesla. His style, marked by irony and the influence of cinema and jazz, is in line with the Nouveau Roman.
* 1947-12-26
Major works
- Le Méridien de Greenwich (1979)novel
- Cherokee (1983)novel
- Je m'en vais (1999)novel
- Ravel (2006)novel
- Courir (2008)novel
Key milestones
- 1979Publication of his first novel, Le Méridien de Greenwich, with Les Éditions de Minuit.
- 1999Awarded the Prix Goncourt for Je m'en vais.
- 2016Awarded the Prix de la BnF for his complete body of work.
Themes
Irony and humorInfluence of cinema and jazzFictionalized biographiesLegacy of the Nouveau RomanExploration of contemporary life
Sources: cms-www-adm.bnf.fr · larousse.fr · archipelagobooks.org