Michel Butor's enduring reputation may well rest on his four early novels, published from 1954 to 1960. Although he has not, since Degrés of 1960, published a work that resembles a novel in the generally accepted definition of the genre, he has produced what might be termed "semi-fictions," and he has continued to elaborate on the experimentation initiated by his novels in so many literary forms and to such an extent that he may be considered in the future as one of the most radical and persuasive innovators of the twentieth century.

The son of Emile and Anne Brajeux Butor, Michel Butor was born 14 September 1926 in Mons-en-Baro, a suburb of the city of Lille, in the northeast corner of France near the Belgian border. His father was a railway official who was also an amateur artist, which might help explain Butor's later interest in both timetables and the arts...