Autoportrait

by Edouard Leve

Overview

In this brilliant and sobering self-portrait, Édouard Levé hides nothing from his readers, setting out his entire life, more or less at random, in a string of declarative sentences. 

Autoportrait is a physical, psychological, sexual, political, and philosophical triumph. Beyond "sincerity," Levé works toward an objectivity so radical it could pass for crudeness, triviality, even banality: the author has stripped himself bare. With the force of a set of maxims or morals, Levé's prose seems at first to be an autobiography without sentiment, as though written by a machine—until, through the accumulation of detail, and the author's dry, quizzical tone, we find ourselves disarmed, enthralled, and enraptured by nothing less than the perfect fiction... made entirely of facts. Shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award in 2013.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781564787071
Publisher:	Deep Vellum Publishing
Publication date:	03/15/2012
Pages:	120
Sales rank:	533,165
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Édouard Levé (1965-2008), born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, was a writer, photographer, and visual artist. Levé was the author of four books of writing Oeuvres, Journal, Autoportrait, and Suicide and three books of photography. 

Lorin Stein is an American critic, editor, and translator. He was the editor in chief of The Paris Review until 2017.

Editorial Reviews

Simultaneously brilliant and banal, Levé's newest (after Suicide) is a vivid self-portrait/autobiography that lays bare the workings of his mind, the flashes of recollection that make up his life. Fears, observations, pets, favorite words, foods, sleeping positions, and sexual infidelities emerge in a dreamy, stream-of-conscious mélange reminiscent of Lyn Hejinian's seminal My Life: "I cut my own hair…I have seen too many grinning corpses on TV…I will repeat sentences or opinions that I've heard, verbatim…To reassure myself, when I am lost in a foreign city, I go to the supermarket." There is no coherent narrative here—no beginning or middle—, and the string of unconnected musings does occasionally grow monotonous; but then life is often unremarkable, and Levé does not discriminate. This is an autobiography to be read slowly, piece by piece, savoring the sensory details and fragmented stories, all the while pondering what parts of our own lives we would use to tell our own self-portrait—though Levé admits that "To describe life would take longer than to live it." (Mar. 15)

Publishers Weekly

"I’ll go ahead and call [Autoportrait] a work of genius..." —Wayne Koestenbaum, Bookforum

"Autoportrait is a delight the first time around and only gets better upon rereading or being read alongside Levé’s other works." —Words Without Borders 

"...a beguiling and sui generis self-portrait..." —The Paris Review

From the Publisher

Levé's text is a fluid, absorbing -- and often beautiful -- read. A fascinating piece of work.

The Complete Review

An unflinching self-portrait.

Numéro Cinq - Jason DeYoung

Autoportrait is a delight the first time around and only gets better upon rereading or being read alongside Levé's other works.

Words Without Borders

[A] small gem from a writer of great talent and originality.

The Quarterly Conversation - Scott Esposito