Mobile

work by Butor

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Last updated

June 30, 2026

Quick Summary

The term "mobile" can refer to something capable of being moved with ease, such as a mobile electric generator. It can also describe a way of life involving seasonal migration between regions, like mobile workers following resort seasons.1

In literature, Michel Butor's novel Mobile is an example of avant-garde technique. Published in 1962, it presents material in the form of a small encyclopedia, using an alphabetic taxonomy for the reader to navigate rather than a sequential narrative. This approach challenges traditional novel structures, reflecting a broader movement in French literature known as the nouveau roman. Butor, a prominent figure in this movement, aimed to explore new ways of presenting narrative and engaging the reader.23

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Michel Butor
…among his nonfiction works are Mobile (1962; Eng. trans. Mobile), a prose-rhapsody aiming to capture the spirit of the United States, and Description de San Marco (1963; Description of San Marco). He also published several collections of poetry and critical essays, including Répertoire, 5 vol. (1960–82), Improvisations sur Flaubert (1984),…
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…among his nonfiction works are Mobile (1962; Eng. trans. Mobile), a prose-rhapsody aiming to capture the spirit of the United States, and Description de San Marco (1963; Description of San Marco). He also published several collections of poetry and critical essays, including Répertoire, 5 vol. (1960–82), Improvisations sur Flaubert (1984),…
Read More

novel
Avant-gardism
…French novelist Michel Butor, in Mobile, to present his material in the form of a small encyclopedia, so that the reader finds his directions obliquely, through an alphabetic taxonomy and not through the logic of sequential events. Nabokov, in Pale Fire (1962), gives the reader a poem of 999 lines…
Read More
…French novelist Michel Butor, in Mobile, to present his material in the form of a small encyclopedia, so that the reader finds his directions obliquely, through an alphabetic taxonomy and not through the logic of sequential events. Nabokov, in Pale Fire (1962), gives the reader a poem of 999 lines…
Read More