One of his six favorite books about nothing, as told to The Week magazine:
Jealousy by Alain Robbe-GrilletRead about another book on the list.
We move, repeatedly, through a house on a tropical plantation, watching a table being laid, a centipede being crushed, a woman combing her hair. These actions never run their course: They loop, incessantly — and as they do, the tension mounts. Will there be a murder? Has there been one already? Yes. And no. And yes again.
Also see Tom McCarthy's top 10 European modernists and Tom McCarthy's literary top 10.
--Marshal Zeringue