Two Novels: Jealousy and In the Labyrinth

Here, in one volume, are two remarkable novels by the chief spokesman of the so-called “new novel” which has caused such discussion and aroused such controversy. “Jealousy,” said the New York Times Book Review “is a technical masterpiece, impeccably contrived.” “It is an exhilarating challenge,” said the San Francisco Chronicle. The Times Literary Supplement of London called Robbe-Grillet an “incomparable artist” and the Guardian termed Jealousy “an extraordinary book.” In his native France, leading critic Maurice Nadeau wrote in France-Observateur that “In the Labyrinth is better than an excellent novel: it is a great work of literature,” and fellow novelist and critic Claude Roy judged the same work Robbe-Grillet’s “best book,” while here in America the “Parade of Books” column called In the Labyrinth “a highly emotional experience for the reader” and went on to predict: “Robbe-Grillet will take his place in world literature as a successor of Balzac and Proust.”This volume, which offers incisive essays on Robbe-Grillet by Professor Bruce Morrissette of the University of Chicago and by French critics Roland Barthes and Anne Minor, also contains a helpful bibliography of writings by and about the author.