Overview

Just shy of his fiftieth birthday, bestselling French author Frederic and his ten-year-old daughter travel the globe in search of immortality. What does the man who has everything fame, fortune, a new love, and a new baby want for his fiftieth birthday? The answer is simple: eternal life. Determined to shake off the first intimations of his approaching demise, Frederic tries every possible procedure to ward off death, examining both legal and illegal research into techniques that could lead to the imminent replacement of man with a post-human species. Accompanied by his ten-year-old daughter and her robot friend, Frederic crisscrosses the globe to meet the world's foremost researchers on human longevity, who--from cell rejuvenation and telomere lengthening to 3D-printed organs and digitally stored DNA--reveal their latest discoveries. With his blend of deadpan humor and clear-eyed perception, Beigbeder has penned a brutal and brilliant expose of the enduring issue of our own mortality.

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9781642860672

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Reviews

""Written in a breezy style, bristling with wit, sarcasm, heavy doses of gallows humor, and many lists...This extravagant metafiction about obsession, life, love, and lists mixes sincerity with an endearing, genre-bending wackiness.""--Kirkus Reviews ""A Life Without End pivots entirely on its voice--smart-ass, wisecracking, yet shaded by pathos and sentiment. As translator, the ever-excellent Frank Wynne catches all this motormouth ebullience and solipsistic charm...the fun, and the gags, never go extinct."" --Financial Times ""If you have any interest in genetics it will put you right on top of things"" --David Mills, The Sunday Times ""It's funny, profound, brilliantly researched, and fiendishly artful."" --Le Figaro ""A Life Without End is, appropriately enough, a lively wallow. Death may be a dark subject, but Beigbeder's semi-fiction is almost relentlessly upbeat and cheerful, the author aware of the absurdity of his ambition and undertaking, but clearly also well-practiced in faking it for an audience and putting on a good show."" ―Complete Review ""A Life Without End is an invigorating, oddball and entertaining read, spawning a new kind of post-Existentialism for the digital age."" --Bookblast ""Brutally funny."" --New Scientist ""A touching and contemplative literary curve ball.""--Femina ""Beigbeder has produced one of the most human, touching, relevant, and funny stories about passing time, the acceptance of ageing, and the need to love. If you're looking for something quite unlike anything else to read, then choose this.""--Le Parisien ""A call to arms against transience from a Beigbeder who is back in top form, with all his trademark wit.""--Lire ""This mad philosophical and biological quest is a life-affirming and intelligent reflection on the meaning of life. Decidedly ambitious, Monsieur Beigbeder!""--Psychologies Magazine ""As always, Fr�d�ric Beigbeder knows perfectly well how to seize burning issues. In A Life Without End he captures immortality, the desire it inspires, and its likelihood. A tale falling somewhere between satire and the confidences of a father, a lover, and a writer who wants to live forever.""--Transfuge ""Behind this wild pursuit of immortality appears a sharper and deeper reflection than you would expect.""--Elle ""An audacious romance, between obsessions and hope.""--Marie Claire

It's funny, profound, brilliantly researched, and fiendishly artful. Le Figaro A touching and contemplative literary curve ball. Femina Beigbeder has produced one of the most human, touching, relevant, and funny stories about passing time, the acceptance of ageing, and the need to love. If you're looking for something quite unlike anything else to read, then choose this. Le Parisien A call to arms against transience from a Beigbeder who is back in top form, with all his trademark wit. Lire This mad philosophical and biological quest is a life-affirming and intelligent reflection on the meaning of life. Decidedly ambitious, Monsieur Beigbeder! Psychologies Magazine As always, Frederic Beigbeder knows perfectly well how to seize burning issues. In A Life Without End he captures immortality, the desire it inspires, and its likelihood. A tale falling somewhere between satire and the confidences of a father, a lover, and a writer who wants to live forever. Transfuge Behind this wild pursuit of immortality appears a sharper and deeper reflection than you would expect. Elle An audacious romance, between obsessions and hope. Marie Claire

Written in a breezy style, bristling with wit, sarcasm, heavy doses of gallows humor, and many lists...This extravagant metafiction about obsession, life, love, and lists mixes sincerity with an endearing, genre-bending wackiness. --Kirkus Reviews It's funny, profound, brilliantly researched, and fiendishly artful. --Le Figaro A touching and contemplative literary curve ball. --Femina Beigbeder has produced one of the most human, touching, relevant, and funny stories about passing time, the acceptance of ageing, and the need to love. If you're looking for something quite unlike anything else to read, then choose this. --Le Parisien A call to arms against transience from a Beigbeder who is back in top form, with all his trademark wit. --Lire This mad philosophical and biological quest is a life-affirming and intelligent reflection on the meaning of life. Decidedly ambitious, Monsieur Beigbeder! --Psychologies Magazine As always, Frederic Beigbeder knows perfectly well how to seize burning issues. In A Life Without End he captures immortality, the desire it inspires, and its likelihood. A tale falling somewhere between satire and the confidences of a father, a lover, and a writer who wants to live forever. --Transfuge Behind this wild pursuit of immortality appears a sharper and deeper reflection than you would expect. --Elle An audacious romance, between obsessions and hope. --Marie Claire

Author Information

FRDRIC BEIGBEDER is a French journalist and critic, and is responsible for the literary section of Le Figaro Magazine. Also a bestselling author, his novel 99 Francs both got him fired from his advertising job and established him as a controversial force within French literature. For his other novels, he has been awarded various prizes including the 2003 Prix Interalli and the 2009 Prix Renaudot. He is a regular guest on French national morning radio, and a frequent contributor to El Pas Icon (Spain), Interview (Germany), and Esquire (Russia). FRANK WYNNE is a literary translator, writer and editor based in London, UK. He has translated numerous French and Hispanic authors including Michel Houellebecq, Patrick Modiano, Javier Cercas, and Virginie Despentes. His work has earned him numerous prizes including the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Scott Moncrieff Prize, and the Premio Valle Incln. Most recently, his translation of Animalia won the 2020 Republic of Consciousness Prize. He edited the anthology Found in Translation collecting a hundred of the finest translated stories from around the world.

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