I Remember

An affectionate portrait of mid-century Paris and a daring pointillist autobiography by Georges Perec, a master of postmodern fiction. The text consists of 480 numbered statements, all beginning identically with “I remember” — all limited to pieces of public knowledge, brand names and folk wisdom, actors and illnesses, places and things (“I remember Hermès handbags, with their tiny padlocks”). As playful and puzzling as the best of Perec's novels, I Remember began as a simple writing exercise, and grew into an expansive, exhilarating work of art: the image of one unmistakable and irreplaceable life, shaped from the material of our collective past. For this edition, Perec's 480 memories, sometimes obvious, sometimes obscure, have been elucidated and explained by critic, translator, and Perec biographer, David Bellos.