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the complete review - auto/biographical

Jérôme Lindon

by
Jean Echenoz

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

B+ : nice little personal tribute

See our review for fuller assessment.

  From the Reviews:

• "(A) charming portrayal of the often complicated writer-editor relationship." - Publishers Weekly
  
  
• "[À] la fois portrait sensible d'un homme très secret et récit intime de la relation à la fois proche et distante que l'éditeur a entretenue avec cet auteur depuis plus de vingt ans. (...) Jean Echenoz trace le portrait d'un homme généreux, drôle, affectueux à l'occasion, le Jérôme Lindon qu'on ne connaissait pas. Du coup, entre les lignes pudiques de cet hommage, c'est aussi la silhouette de l'auteur qui se dessine, avec humour et retenue." - Isabelle Rüf, Le Temps

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

       Jérôme Lindon was the longtime head of venerable French publishing house Les Éditions de Minuit; he passed away in 2001, and Jérôme Lindon, published later that year, is Jean Echenoz's tribute to Lindon, who was also his publisher.
       When Echenoz completed his first novel he was worried that Les Éditions de Minuit was: "too good for me, not even worth trying", but after being rejected by many other houses he did submit it -- and Lindon took it on. (As with most of his works he brings up in Jérôme Lindon, Echenoz does not mention the title of the work in question; in this case it is his 1979 debut, Le Méridien de Greenwich -- a rare Echenoz novel that has not (yet) been translated into English.) Lindon immediately takes to him -- "Over the following days, Monsieur Lindon and I see each other several times; we even have lunch", and: "He often calls me at home in the morning, nearly every day" -- but it's a somewhat one-sided relationship, the young author intimidated by the grand old(er) publisher. Still, even Echenoz doesn't give in when Lindon suggests he change his first name for the cover of the book (though: "I understand where he's coming from, euphonically speaking he's got a point" ...).
       Echenoz's novel is not a breakout hit -- "Commercially speaking, the novel is a bust" -- but he is still very pleased: "I have a publisher and it's Jérôme Lindon. The rest is unimportant ". Still, the path is not entirely smooth: Lindon dismisses Echenoz's follow-up -- and:

While he confirms that he will not publish my book, he also warns me that he'll have a jealous fit if I try to bring it out elsewhere. The situation seems stuck, not to say fucked.

So let me tell you, I think this thing is worthless, he says in essence, it’s very bad, it’s very bad for you, I’m publishing it just so no other publisher gets his hands on it.

And in fact, the book does come out, but you can barely find it in bookstores, there are almost no reviews, and it sells virtually nothing. Afterward, when I read it over, I have to admit that it’s indeed unfortunate and, every subsequent year, I ask Irène to put it out of print. Oh, no, she answers with a smile, what do you expect ? It exists, we have to try and sell it.

Jérôme Lindon discourages periodical publication the way he discourages collaborations, discourages symposia, discourages working for the movies or television, discourages travel (he especially hates travel), discourages pretty much anything that could distract you from writing -- in short, he discourages much more than he encourages. With few encouragements to follow, therefore, I generally heed his discouragements.

- M.A.Orthofer, 26 August 2026

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Links:

• Archipelago publicity page
• Les Éditions de Minuit publicity page
• Trama Editorial publicity page
• Nørdicalibros publicity page

• El Cultural (Spanish)
• El dilettante (Spanish)
• Publishers Weekly
• Dr.Tony Shaw
• Le Temps (French)

• Jérôme Lindon obituary

• Reading Jean Echenoz by Warren Motte at Context
• The Idiosyncratic Fictions of Jean Echenoz by Mary Hawthorne

• Big Blondes
• Chopin's Move
• Command Performance
• I'm Gone
• Lightning
• 1914
• Piano
• The Queen's Caprice
• Ravel
• Running
• S.
• Special Envoy
• We Three

• See Index of Books on Books and Publishing
• See Index of Biographical works under review
• See Index of French literature

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About the Author:

       French author Jean Echenoz has won numerous literary prizes.

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© 2026 the complete review

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