The Erasers

by Alain Robbe-Grillet

Book Overview

Alain Robbe-Grillet is internationally hailed as the chief spokesman for the noveau roman and one of the great novelists of the twentieth century. The Erasers, his first novel, reads like a detective story but is primarily concerned with weaving and then probing a complete mixture of fact and fantasy. The narrative spans the twenty-four-hour period following a series of eight murders in eight days, presumably the work of a terrorist group. After the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802150861
• ISBN13: 9780802150868
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Robbe-Grillet's first experiment...

In an odd twist of fate, Alain Robbe-Grillet died the same week that I finally finished reading his debut novel, The Erasers. I don't ascribe any importance to that, it was just odd. The Erasers reminds me of Black Sabbath's Black Sabbath or The Stooges The Stooges or Metallica's Kill `Em All or Public Enemy's Yo! Bum Rush the Show. There is something great here, it isn't perfected yet, but there is hint of something amazing to come. This grand experiment will yield a Paranoid or a Fun House or a Master of Puppets or a It Takes A Nation of Millions.... In many ways, The Erasers is the most `conventional' of Robbe-Grillet's novels if for no other reason than it was his first stab at the New Novel. On the surface, the story can even be perceived as a more intricate form of crime fiction. In a small seaside town, Daniel Dupont, a professor, becomes the ninth victim in nine days of an unknown assassin. Theories abound as to the murder's true identity: a terrorist group unhappy with the professor's political leanings or a long lost bastard child. Arriving in town the day after the murder is one Detective Wallas who has been sent to investigate the murder. And so it begins... Over a 24-hour period, Robbe-Grillet has us following Wallas, wandering down blind alleys, retracing steps, replaying scenes over and over again, as he would in Jealousy and In the Labyrinth. We are introduced to the assassin, or are we? We meet many witnesses, but have they actually seen anything? Soon we are forced to ask a disturbing question: Is Wallas in fact the assassin? Is he investigating himself much like Gian Maria Volontè's police inspector in the classic Elio Petri film, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion. The twisting labyrinthine plot - what would become Robbe-Grillet's hallmark - draws you into the story, taking it to a psychological level that most crime novels (and lesser authors) are unable to achieve. You are forced to consider the possibility that Wallace has a dark side to his character that even his own brain will not reveal to the reader (something RG used even more effectively in The Voyeur). Only by `tailing' Wallas do we start to see the pieces of the disjointed puzzle pulled together and ultimately the grim, inevitable outcome. In The Erasers, Robbe-Grillet has not completely abandoned traditional use of character and plot. There is a storyline here, but it is condensed into a frenetic series of meetings, arguments, subterfuge, and yes, murders. We are left with dead ends, miscues, faulty memories, and cryptic messages that the confound the reader as much as Wallas. It is this aspect that can turn someone away; the plot is not laid out as a simple series of events and an impatient readers quickly shut down. But compared to Robbe-Grillet's later novels, The Erasers is a great entry point to his writing, the rabbit-hole if you will. As I said, I don't consider The Erasers to be Robbe-Grillet's finest work. He is a young sprite, play

Like being a little drunk, this book was fun though disorienting

I can see why some would dislike the style of this novel. For one, it is (purposely) written in a dry, deceivingly impersonal way. The scenes and even the sentences are fragmented. But that's what this story is all about-taking the fragments and putting them back together. Can also be read as a very fragmented version of the Oedipus story-in fact I think reading it as such will add much understanding to the otherwise confusing tale. I loved reading this book. This was one of the few books that I enjoyed the style of the writing more than the story and characters. I found it delightfully confusing. Like being a little drunk, this book was fun though disorienting. Besides the fragments, there are flashbacks, same scenes described by multiple characters, scenes in which you are not sure if the information is accurate. It was very dreamlike to me. Though you know before most what happened to Dupont, it is still mysterious how it all unfolds. As I said, I loved the style of writing even more than the story. This was my first encounter with Robbe-Grillet and I will actively seek out more of his books.

not your typical mystery novel

While this is billed as "a pure detective tale or as a complex, many leveled novel," those who are expecting a whodunit will be disappointed. There is certainly a crime: for the eight days preceding the opening of the book a murder has been committed in some part of the country at the same time every day, presumably by the same terrorist group. Now economist Daniel Dupont has been murdered, or has he? Wallas is sent from the Bureau to solve the crime---or is he really the assassin? The book has action and even an ending, but there the similarity with the mystery novel ends. It is more like the British television series "The Prisoner" that aired in the 70's. The action goes back and forth between flashbacks, characters, and ruminations. The same scene is described over and over from the viewpoint of different characters...or is it an imagined event? One character climbing a stairs dissolves into another character climbing a different stairs (or is it) dissolves into another (or is it) character obsessing about how he will climb the same set of stairs. The sound of a buzzer dissolves into the sound of a woman's voice. Another character plans a detailed suicide, but it is only in the imagination of the local police inspector, who realizes there are social limitations to who can be accused of a murder and is determined to report a believable suicide. And is it the hero staring into the canal or the bartender staring into the fishtank? In the end we are left to sort out the fantasies from actual happenings and possible motivations. The author gives cryptic clues: a picture of lightning striking a tower as two figures fall out of it resembling a tarot card, and the mutterings of a drunk who spouts riddles about Oedipus "What animal is parricide in the morning, incestuous at noon, and blind at night?" Who is betrayed, and who is a position to betray? And what about the theory of the inspector's assistant that an illigitimate son has committed murder to collect the inheritance? If you like 'The Prisoner', you will like this. If you want a mystery novel with predictable dialogue and action, pick up Agatha Christie or Mickey Spillane.

Buy This Book!

I read this many years ago after borrowing it from a friend and had to buy it now to own it and re-read it. My friend read it for a class and came to love it. He told me about and I found the plot intriquing. It's more than that. It's fascinating! Robbe-Grillet writes in such an unusual style which you soon grab on to, and then it pulls you in. As another reviewer said, take nothing for granted. Everything is important. If you like trite stories with no plot aside from the "been there done that" type, then don't buy this. You'll probably hate it. But if you enjoy being captivated by a story, and want a story and plot line to take you somewhere, this is it. This is a story which requires you to think. The story and the plot fold in and on themselves and becomes tangled, but then unfolds and reveals the brilliant mind of the author. A literary masterpiece!

A perpetual exercise in doubting 'the facts'; great mystery

The narration and elaborate descirptions in this book lure the reader in more and more. You cannot let one single aspect of the narration escape you, it's too important to the impact of the ending. There is also a plot within a plot in this book; the unfolding of events is extremely well done. I couldn't put it down because as the reader, you feel more omnicient than the characters and can't wait to see the final outcome.