Roundhay, tuinscène

Valéry Barre built panoramas and painted before he found a way to record pictures that move, an achievement almost nobody credits him with. Rivals and patent fights have worn him down, and his wife wishes he would go back to commissions for portraits of country houses. Travelling by rail from Dijon to Paris to say goodbye to his friend Albert Roussin, a gifted photographer, before emigrating to America, Barre fears a future flooded by images and phrases repeated without end. On impulse he leaves the train at a small rural stop and checks himself into an asylum. His tale mirrors the real-life rivalry between Louis Le Prince and Edison.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

336 pages in the original

Genres

Historical (assigned by AI)

Set in

France

First published

2013 by Querido

Author's age

41 when first published

ISBN

9789021449951 (original)