Need for the Bike

Need for the Bike

by PaulFournel (Author)

Synopsis

A book like no other, Paul Fournel's Need for the Bike conducts readers into a very personal world of communication and connection whose center is the bicycle, and where all people and things pass by way of the bike. In compact and suggestive prose, Fournel conveys the experience of cycling-from the initial charm of early outings to the dramas of the devoted cyclist. An extended meditation on cycling as a practice of life, the book recalls a country doctor who will not anesthetize the young Fournel after he impales himself on a downtube shifter, speculates about the difference between animals that would like to ride bikes (dogs, for instance) and those that would prefer to watch (cows, marmots), and reflects on the fundamental absurdity of turning over the pedals mile after excruciating mile. At the same time, Fournel captures the sound, smell, feel, and language of the reality and history of cycling, in the mountains, in the city, escaping the city, in groups, alone, suffering, exhausted, exhilarated. In his attention to the pleasures of cycling, to the specific "grain" of different cycling experiences, and to the inscription of these experiences in the body's cycling memory, Fournel portrays cycling as a descriptive universe, colorful, lyrical, inclusive, exclusive, complete.

$24.10

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 150
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 30 Nov 2003

ISBN 10: 0803269099
ISBN 13: 9780803269095
Book Overview: Passionate reflections on the pleasures and pains of bicycling

Media Reviews
Few sportswriters fancy themselves members of the literary avant-garde, but Frenchman Paul Fournel is the real deal. In his carefully cadenced prose poem Need for the Bike, translated by Allan Stoekl, he shares a passion for the sport matched only by his love of language. -Bicycling Bicycling A fascinating mix of bicycling memories, observations, and experiences the author has gathered during a lifetime of cycling... This very personal book, doled in short, easily digestible doses, packs a meal that ultimately satisfies deeply. -ForeWord ForeWord
Author Bio
Paul Fournel is a member of Oulipo, a collective of avant-garde writers whose works focus on the problems and puzzles of language. He is presently the cultural attache at the French Embassy in Cairo. Allan Stoekl is a professor of French at Pennsylvania State University, the author and editor of a number of books, and the translator of Maurice Blanchot's The Most High (Nebraska 1996).