Checking Out: The Investigation of the Everyday in Sophie Calle's L’Hôtel

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Notes

Notes

1.  See Sheringham 2006.

2.  For example “La Filature,” where Calle hired a private detective to record a day in her life or Douleur exquise, where she explores via personal narratives, the experience of being jilted.

3.  I will be referring to the 1998 edition of L’Hôtel, as vol. V in Doubles-Jeux. The main text is unchanged but there are a few modifications to the photographs. In addition, as Doubles-Jeux was assembled in response to Paul Auster's 1992 novel Leviathan where the character Maria, inspired by Calle, is an artist to whom are ascribed many of Calle's projects, each volume, including L’Hôtel, has an additional text that explains this genesis and quotes the relevant passage from Auster.

4.  Olivier Rolin, inspired directly by Perec, and perhaps indirectly by Calle, develops his own fascination with inventorying hotel rooms and their denizens in his 2004 “autofiction” Suite à l’Hôtel Crystal.