Who Else Writes Like Toussaint?

I've got a question for the LBCers who liked Television and anyone else out there who is participating on the discussion: What other books out there are like Television?

I'm repeatedly surprised that Toussaint can make such an impression with such slight books. As Sam points out, all of his books have similar themes and narrators, and I'll add that they all very small. I'm used to thinking that only big books can have big impacts, but Toussaint creates his own unique worlds with books that can be read in a day. I'm not sure I've read anything quite like it.

So, I'll put that question out there--who else writes in a similar vein as Toussaint?

I can't think of any books, but I can think of movies. It's been repeatedly said that the films of Jim Jarmusch are similar to Toussaint's books (in fact, I'm pretty sure it says that on the back copy). To that I might add John Cassavetes (who seems like a forerunner to Jaramusch) and a Mexican director by the name of Fernando Eimbcke. I saw a movie of his named Duck Season, and it shared a lot of elements with Toussaint and Jarmusch--namely, the strangeness of everday life (to borrow Sam's phrase), slacker heros (to borrow Max's), and a surreal feeling that both nothing and something has happened.

Comments

[derik]

Christian Gailly is a bit like Toussaint, or at least I associate them, possibly because they are both published by Minuit and I read both about the same time.

[steve]

Robert Walser comes to mind, and Alberto Moravia as I mentioned in an earlier comment.

[Scott]

Moravia is a good one. I read "Boredom," and you're right that there's a similarity in terms of a protagonist who can't get anything done. I think the big difference is that Moravia's protagonist is fundamentally bothered by this relationship with the world, whereas Toussaint's seems to find it quite pleasing.

[derik]

It now occurs to me (duh) that Queneau has many similarities to Toussaint. Particularly the "slacker heroes" (see other post) of The Sunday of Life and Pierrot Mon Ami, both of which I highly recommend. Delightfully funny and thoughtful, you can't go wrong with Queneau!

[derik]

I should add that Queneau also has that "nothing really happens" style except that tons of crazy things occur in a way that still leaves one without a sense of any conventional progressive plot.

[Inversiones en petroleo]

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