Jean Echenoz

What makes a great editor—and what happens when the person who believes in your work is no longer there? In this intimate, witty memoir, French novelist Jean Echenoz remembers Jérôme Lindon, the formidable publisher who led Éditions de Minuit and helped shape modern French literature. Their relationship began in 1979, when Echenoz, an unpublished writer, nervously submitted his first novel to Lindon. Instead of rejecting the manuscript, Lindon offered him a contract, beginning a friendship and professional partnership that would last more than twenty years. Through recollections of early-morning phone calls, lunches, disagreements, and conversations about the smallest details of writing, Echenoz reveals a man whose stern exterior concealed generosity, conviction, and an unwavering commitment to literature. Both a personal farewell and a portrait of literary life, this slender book celebrates the often complicated bond between a writer and the editor who helps bring his work into the world.