A Life Without End by Frédéric Beigbeder has been translated by Frank Wynne and published by World Editions.
"Beigbeder is smart and amusing, and issues a busy, entertaining broadcast of high-low cultural references.” The Guardian
"Written in a breezy style, bristling with wit, sarcasm, heavy doses of gallows humor, and many lists…This extravagant metafiction about obsession, life, love, and lists mixes sincerity with an endearing, genre-bending wackiness." Kirkus Reviews
“A call to arms against transience from a Beigbeder who is back in top form, with all his trademark wit.” Lire
What does the man who has everything – fame, fortune, a new love, and a new baby – want for his fiftieth birthday? The answer is simple: eternal life. Determined to shake off the first intimations of his approaching demise, Frédéric tries every possible procedure to ward off death, examining both legal and illegal research into techniques that could lead to the imminent replacement of man with a post-human species. Accompanied by his ten-year-old daughter and her robot friend, Frédéric crisscrosses the globe to meet the world’s foremost researchers on human longevity, who—from cell rejuvenation and telomere lengthening to 3D-printed organs and digitally stored DNA—reveal their latest discoveries. With his blend of deadpan humor and clear-eyed perception, Beigbeder has penned a brutal and brilliant exposé of the enduring issue of our own mortality.
Frédéric Beigbeder is a French journalist and critic, and is responsible for the literary section of Le Figaro Magazine. Also a bestselling author, his novel 99 Francs both got him fired from his advertising job and established him as a controversial force within French literature. For his other novels, he has been awarded various prizes including the 2003 Prix Interallié and the 2009 Prix Renaudot, and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2005 for his novel Windows on the World. He was a regular guest on French national morning radio, and a frequent contributor to El País Icon (Spain), Interview (Germany), and Esquire (Russia).