Jean Echenoz (non) lu depuis la République tchèque

The novels of Jean Echenoz have been rather poorly received in the Czech Republic. The postmodern practices that can be detected in his work require his readers to understand genre and historical references to French literature from the twentieth century that they are probably lacking. Jean Echenoz’s fictional biographies would be more likely to seduce these readers, but the one about the runner Emil Zátopek adds complication to the literary misunderstanding about an attack on a national legend.