Passing Time

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The stay of a young Frenchman in a gloomy, apocalyptic industrial city in northern England becomes a haunting adventure in an atmosphere filled with suspicion and fear. Upon arriving in Bleston, Jacques Revel, who is to work for a year in an export-import company, is overcome by a vague sense of unease, feeling pursued and watched. To understand what is happening around him, he begins to write down his observations, blurring the lines between present and past. Through his writings, the ordinary becomes mysterious and threatening, transforming the city into a mythical labyrinth. Gradually, he becomes a victim of his own thoughts, and the chaos of the metropolis is reflected in the madly brilliant structures of his narrative. "Passing Time" is a crime novel without a crime, where Revel embarks on a quest for lost time. It serves as a dark allegory of the city, employing the literary techniques of modernism. Michel Butor is one of the significant French writers of the 20th century, known for co-founding the "Nouveau Roman."