Alain Fleischer's 'Imitation': A Novel on Mimicry and Identity
Alain Fleischer's novel 'Imitation' explores the theme of mimicry through the story of Anton, a young Central European academic researching imitation in contemporary society under his retired professor Josef Kalman. The narrative follows Anton's dual project: writing the fictional life of Mimmo, an exceptional imitator, while recording his own erotic adventures in notebooks. Fleischer employs a mirroring device where one narrative is presented as fiction and the other as its imitation, blending philosophical inquiry with fantastical storytelling. Published by Éditions Actes Sud, the book questions whether happiness itself is merely an imitation of happiness.
Key facts
- Alain Fleischer is the author of the novel 'Imitation'.
- The novel is published by Éditions Actes Sud.
- The narrator Anton is a young Central European academic.
- Anton's research is supervised by his retired professor Josef Kalman.
- The novel includes a character named Mimmo, an exceptional imitator.
- Anton keeps notebooks documenting his own erotic adventures.
- The book uses a mirroring narrative structure between fiction and imitation.
- The novel was reviewed in artpress in September 2010.
Entities
Artists
- Alain Fleischer
Institutions
- Éditions Actes Sud
- artpress
Sources
- artpress —