Jean-Philippe Toussaint

Jean-Philippe Toussaint (1957) is a French-Belgian writer, photographer and filmmaker. His works have been strongly influenced by the ideas of the French ‘nouveau roman’ of the 1950s. Commenting on Toussaint’s literary aims, translator Triinu Tamm has noted that instead of events, the author is interested in the most general problems of the human condition, which is why Toussaint’s characters are in ‘a constant existential search, their fears, anxieties, wants and aims go beyond everyday life, they are haunted by big questions about the human condition and their place in the world’. Yet Toussaint’s approach to writing is free of prejudice; he has written quite extensively on such a seemingly trivial thing as football – in 2006, he published the lyrical short essay La Mélancolie de Zidane, which was inspired by the ugly end of the career of the legendary French footballer Zinedine Zidane, who headbutted an Italian player at the 2006 World Cup final. In 2016, Toussaint published the essay Football, where he analyses his love for football with his characteristic elegance. Jean-Philippe Toussaint will talk to translator and publisher Triinu Tamm.