Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
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Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (born 13 April 1940 in Nice) is a French novelist and Prix Renaudot winner.
[edit] Biography
His family emigrated from Brittany to the Île de France — today's Mauritius — in the 18th century. The island came under British rule in 1810, settlers being allowed to retain their property and the use of the French language while claiming the British nationality. The family lived for a time in Africa where his father served as a surgeon in the British army [1]. During the second world war, the family was separated, his father being unable to join his wife and children in Nice[2] where Le Clézio studied at the Collège littéraire universitaire. After graduation, he moved to the United States as a teacher.
A great traveler, J.M.G. Le Clézio has been writing since age seven or eight. After majoring in French literature, he became famous at 23 with his first novel, Le Procès-Verbal (The Deposition), which was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt and for which he was awarded the Prix Renaudot in 1963.
Since then he has published about thirty books, including short stories, novels, essays, two translations on the subject of Indian mythology, countless prefaces and reviews as well as a few contributions to collective publications.
His writing career may be divided into two main periods:
- From 1963 to 1975, Le Clézio explored themes like insanity, language, writing, devoting himself to formal experimentation in the wake of such contemporaries as Georges Perec or Michel Butor). Le Clézio's public image was that of an innovator and a rebel, drawing praise from Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze.
- In the late 1970s, Le Clézio's style underwent a drastic change; he abandoned experimentation and the mood of his novels became less tormented as he broached themes like childhood, adolescence or traveling, attracting a broader, more popular audience. In 1980, Le Clézio was the first winner of the newly created Prix Paul Morand, awarded to Désert by the Académie française.
In 1994 a survey conducted by the French literary magazine Lire showed that 13% of the readers considered him to be the greatest living French language writer.[3]
[edit] Bibliography
- Procès-verbal (Prix Renaudot 1963) (The Deposition)
- La Fièvre (Fever)
- Déluge (The Flood) (1966)
- L'Extase matérielle (Material Ecstasy) (1967)
- Terra Amata (novel) (Beloved Earth) (1967)
- Le Livre des fuites (The Book of Escapes)
- La Guerre (War)
- Haï (1971)
- Mydriase (1973)
- Les Géants (The Giants) (1973)
- Voyages de l'autre côté (Journeys Beyond) (1975)
- Les Prophéties du Chilam Balam (Chilam Balam Prophecies) (1976)
- Vers les icebergs (Essai sur Henri Michaux) (To the Icebergs; an essay on Henri Michaux)(1978)
- Mondo et autres histoires (Mondo and other stories) (1978)
- L'Inconnu sur la Terre (The Stranger on the Earth) (1978)
- Trois villes saintes (Three Holy Cities)
- Désert (novel) (1980) (Desert)
- La Ronde et autres faits divers The Round and other cold hard facts
- Relation de Michoacan
- Le Chercheur d'Or (The Prospector)
- Diego et Frida (Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo)
- Voyage à Rodrigues (Journey to Rodrigues)
- Le Rêve mexicain ou la pensée interrompue (The Mexican Dream or Broken Thought)
- Printemps et autres saisons (Spring and other Seasons)
- Onitsha (novel) (a reference to the African city of Onitsha)
- Étoile errante (Wandering Star)
- Pawana
- La Quarantaine (Quarantine)
- Poisson d'or (The Golden Fish)
- Gens des nuages (with Jémia Le Clézio) (The Cloud People)
- La Fête chantée (Sung Celebration)
- Hasard (suivi d'Angoli Mala) (Serendipity)
- Cœur Brûle et autres romances (Burnt Heart and other romances)
- Révolutions
- L'Africain (2004) (The African)
- Ourania (2006)
[edit] References
- ^ See L'Africain (2004)
- ^ (French) Amin Maalouf interviews J.-M. Le Clézio
- ^ Lire, "Le Clézio N° 1" , 1994, 22s.
- This article was initially translated from the Wikipedia article Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio.
