[2][5] After his studies, he was engaged in teaching French for two years in Médéa, Algeria as an alternative to conscription;[2][5] he henceforth decided to devote himself to literature, considering cinema to be technically and financially too demanding.

Subsequently, he published Monsieur (a novel that earned a large following in Japan and Asia) and L'Appareil-photo in the late 1980s which confirmed his status as a writer[8] and allowed him to start a parallel career as a filmmaker.

During a writing residency in Berlin[5] in 1997 he wrote his most ironic and "subtly comic" novel La Télévision[9] which won the Prix Victor-Rossel in Belgium.

Along with Jean Echenoz, Laurent Mauvignier, Marie NDiaye or Éric Chevillard, Jean-Philippe Toussaint is associated with the so-called « Style [des éditions de] Minuit ».

[11][12] « Cycle of Marie » As a photographer, he held his first major exhibition in 2001 in Osaka, Japan then later obtained a residency in 2006 in Toulouse, France where he extended his work to installations mixing neons, films, photos and books as supports.