Traces of Ink

Poetry. What can one say of Pinget, as he comes through in Miss Wright's loving translations, except that he conveys, amid much wilful murk, an impression of integrity, intelligence and power? -- John Updike. Having translated thirteen earlier works by Pinget, Barbara Wright has much to say about this important personage of contemporary French letters, and appends a useful afterword to this volume: TRACES OF INK is Robert Pinget's last published book. It came out in the spring of 1997, and was followed that summer by a colloquium in Tours celebrating every aspect of his work; this was a happy, successful occasion which Pinget much enjoyed. Only a month later, though, he had a stroke and died. It is fitting that Pinget's last work is written in a notebook form, his signature genre despite his writing of both novels and plays. Pinget helps us to stay alive and sustain our own enquiry -- Barbara Wright, (Afterword).