Never Any End to Paris

By Enrique Vila-Matas

A writer closely resembling Enrique Vila-Matas recounts his two-year stint living in Paris, where he aspired to author a novel under the apprenticeship of Marguerite Duras.

A masterclass in irony, Never Any End to Paris presents itself as a lecture given by the author on a return visit to Paris. The author, who is a stand-in for a young Enrique Vila-Matas, revisits his memories as a young man living in Marguerite Duras's garret and trying to write his first novel, obsessing over the works of Ernest Hemingway as he does so. When he asks his famous landlord for advice on how to write a novel, she writes him a 13-point list, which he proceeds to carry in his pocket, consulting regularly. With no shortage of influences, from Georges Perec, Samuel Beckett, and W.G. Sebald, to Rimbaud and Mallarm , primarily it's Hemingway's account of Paris that guides him: "And what was I doing in Duras's garret? Well, basically trying to live a writer's life like the one Hemingway recounts in A Moveable Feast."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 162897706X
• ISBN13: 9781628977066
• Release Date: June 2027
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
• Length: 200 Pages