Making Love_Toussaint
2006 Longlist

Making Love

artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

“But how many times had we made love for the last time? I don’t know, many. Many.”

An immediate bestseller in France, Making Love is an original and daring retelling of a classic theme: the end of an affair. Following a couple’s final days together in Japan, the novel explores the frustration of two lovers trying to break up with each other while on vacation, even as they go on a wild and intimate ramble through the streets of Tokyo.

Toussaint writes with an economy and restraint that evoke the distinct imagery of film while allowing a startling proximity to the feelings of his characters. The result is vertiginous, standing traditional images on their head and transposing the conflict and confusion of lost intimacy onto the labyrinthine ultramodernism of Tokyo and Kyoto.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Jean-Philippe
Toussaint

Jean-Philippe Toussaint is the author of seven novels. His writing has been compared to the work of Samuel Beckett, Jacques Tati, the films of Jim Jarmusch, and even Charlie Chaplin.

Jean-Philippe Toussaint is the author of seven novels. His writing has been compared to the work of Samuel Beckett, Jacques Tati, the films of Jim Jarmusch, and even Charlie Chaplin.

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Linda
Coverdale

Linda Coverdale is a literary translator from French. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has a Ph.D in French Literature. She has translated into English more than 60 works by such authors as Roland Barthes, Emmanuel Carrère, Patrick Chamoiseau, Maryse Condé, Marie Darrieussecq, Jean Echenoz, Annie Ernaux, Sébastien Japrisot, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Philippe Labro, Yann Queffélec, Jorge Semprún, Lyonel Trouillot, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Jean Hartzfeld, Sylvain Tesson and Marguerite Duras.

Linda Coverdale is a literary translator from French. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has a Ph.D in French Literature. She has translated into English more than 60 works by such authors as Roland Barthes, Emmanuel Carrère, Patrick Chamoiseau, Maryse Condé, Marie Darrieussecq, Jean Echenoz, Annie Ernaux, Sébastien Japrisot, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Philippe Labro, Yann Queffélec, Jorge Semprún, Lyonel Trouillot, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Jean Hartzfeld, Sylvain Tesson and Marguerite Duras.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country
Belgium
Original Language
French
Publisher
The New Press
Translator
Linda Coverdale

RELATED FEATURES

News May 23 2025

2025 Dublin Literary Award Winner Revealed

Discover this year's winner!
Video May 23 2025

2025 Dublin Literary Award Ceremony

2025 Dublin Literary Award Winner Ceremony live from the International Literature Festival Dublin.
Video May 23 2025

2019 Winner Emily Ruskovich

Dublin Literary Award Celebrating 30 Years Q&A
Video May 23 2025

2010 Winner Gerbrand Bakker

Dublin Literary Award Celebrating 30 Years Q&A

STAY CONNECTED

Stay in touch and sign up to our newsletter to receive all the latest news and updates on the Dublin Literary Award.