About this item
"Hats off to one of the most inventive writers of French literature. . . . Hubert Haddad concocts a colorful novel, funny and inventive, as clever as the Fox sisters themselves." - Jean-Franois Delapr, Saint Christophe bookstoreThe Fox sisters grew up just outside of Rochester, NY, in a house that had a reputation for being haunted, due in large part to a series of strange "rappings" or "knockings" that plagued its inhabitants. Fed up by whatever was responsible for the knockings, the youngest of the sisters (who was twelve at the time) challenged the ghost and ended up communicating with the spirit of Charles Haynes, who had been murdered in the house and buried in the cellar.Thanks to the enthusiasm of one Isaac Post, the Fox sisters became instantly famous for talking to the dead, launching the Spiritualist Movement in the US. After taking Rochester by storm, the sisters moved to New York where they were the most famous mediums of the time, giving sances for hundreds of people.Then, it all fell apart, and the sisters were exposed as frauds. Nevertheless, even today the Fox sisters are considered to be the founders of Spiritualism, one of the most popular religious movements of the past couple centuries (consider the success of Long Island Medium and the hundreds of thousands who visit Lily Dale every year).Rich in historical detail, Rochester Knockings novelizes the rise and fall of these most infamous of mediums.Hubert Haddad was born in Tunisia, and is the author of dozens of works, including the novels Palestine (winner of the Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie), Tango chinois, and La Condition magique (winner of the Grand Prix du Roman de la Socit des Gens de Lettres).
About the Author
Born in Tunis in 1947, Hubert Abraham Haddad followed his parents into exile in France several years later, first to Belleville, Ménilmontant, and then to the housing projects. His first collection of poems, Le Charnier déductif (Deductive Mass Grave) , appeared in 1967. Starting with Un rêve de glace (Albin Michel, 1974; Zulma, 2005) , he has continuously produced novels and collections of stories, alternating with essays on art or literature, plays, and collections of poems.After investigating the realm of the fantastic in a wild, hyper-realistic light, the author of L'Univers (The Universe) , a dictionary novel (Zulma, 1999 / 2009) also ventured into the critical territory of history through myth and legend, notably with fictional investigation of contemporary myth: La Condition magique (The Magical Condition) , SGDL's Grand Prix for the Novel, Zulma, 1998) or topical current events: Palestine, Zulma, 2007, Opium Poppy, Zulma, 2011, Corps désirable, Zulma, 2015.Haddad's use of different genres and subjects combined with his extensive experience with writing workshops led him to write Le Nouveau Magasin d'écriture (The New Writing Workhouse) , Zulma, 2006, a sort of action encyclopedia of literature and the art of writing, including a number of new literary games in addition to reflections on books and authors. This volume was followed in 2007 by the Nouveau Nouveau Magasin d'écriture (The New New Writing Workhouse) , devoted to the splendors of the imaginary world, with two hundred engravings selected for their evocative power.Hubert Haddad has received literary prizes for a number of his works, including the 1983 Georges Bernanos Prize for Les Effrois; the 1991 Maupassant Prize for Le Secret de l'immortalité; the 1998 SGDL (Société des gens de lettres/ Literary Society) Grand Prix for the Novel for La Condition magique; the 2008 Five Francophonie Continents Prize and the 2009 Prix Renaudot Poche for Palestine, the 2013 Prix Louis Guilloux and the 2014 Prix des littératures Océans France Ô for Le Peintre d'éventail.
