bayard-how_to_talk_about

How to Talk About

Books You Haven't Read

PIERRE BAYARD

Translated from the F r e n c h by Jeffrey M e h l m a n

B L O O M S B U R Y

Copyright © 2 0 0 7 Les Editions de Minuit

English translation copyright © 2 0 0 7 by Jeffrey Mehlman

All rights reserved. N o part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address Bloomsbury USA,

1 7 5 Fifth Avenue, New York, N Y 1 0 0 1 0 .

Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York

Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers

All papers used by Bloomsbury US A are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in well-managed forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS C A T A L O G I N G - I N - P U B L I C A T I O N DATA

Bayard, Pierre, 1 9 5 4 -

[Comment parler des livres que l'on n'a pas lus? English]

How to talk about books you haven't read / Pierre Bayard; translated from the French by Jeffrey Mehlman.—1st U.S. ed.

p. cm.

I S B N - 1 3 : 9 7 8 - 1 - 5 9 6 9 1 - 4 6 9 - 8

I S B N - 1 0 : 1 - 5 9 6 9 1 - 4 6 9 - 6

1. Literature—History and criticism—Theory, etc. 2 . Books and reading. I. Title.

P N 4 5 . B 3 4 4 1 3 200 7 809 d c 2 2 2OO7O27178

Originally published in French as Comment parler des livres que l'on n'a pas lus? by Les Editions de Minuit, Paris, 2 0 0 7

Typeset by Westchester Book Group

Printed in the United States of America by Québécor World Fairfield