Mondo and Other Stories
|
Cover of English translation | |
| Author | J. M. G. Le Clézio |
|---|---|
| Original title | Mondo et autres histoires |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Short story collection |
| Publisher |
Gallimard, Paris U of Nebraska P, Lincoln |
Publication date |
1978 (French) 2011 (English) |
| Pages | 379 pp |
| ISBN |
9782070386765 (1st French ed. 9780803230002 (English translation) |
| OCLC | 299465126 |
Mondo et autres histoires is a short story collection by French author J. M. G. Le Clézio. The stories in this collection all concern adolescents who in one way or another leave their familiar (civilized) circumstances and have numinous experiences accompanied by a rite of passage or other initiation.
Contents and themes
In "Lullaby" a young girl leaves the busy town for the sea, and a meditative experience (compared to passages in Thoreau's Walden and Rousseau's Reveries of a Solitary Walker) lets her realize a transformed way of respiration after which a journey ensues along rocks with mysterious inscriptions, a bunker, a white villa, a Greek temple, and other places of self-discovery. An encounter with a threatening man prompts her to jump from a cliff and crawl back to her village just before she, apparently, is to understand the meaning of her journey.[1]
Likewise, "The Boy Who Had Never Seen the Sea" is a story of a boy "who runs away from school to be near the sea"; this story was translated into English and published by The New Yorker in 2008.[2]
Stories
- "Mondo"
- "Lullaby"
- "La montagne du dieu vivant"
- "La roue d'eau"
- "Celui qui n'avait jamais vu la mer" ("The Boy Who Had Never Seen the Sea")
- "Hazaran"
- "Peuple du ciel"
- "Les bergers"
"Mondo" was the basis for the movie of the same name by Tony Gatlif[3] "Peuple du ciel" and "Les Bergers" were also published separately.[4]
Publication history
- First French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G (1978). Mondo et autres histoires (in French). Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 2-07-038676-7.
- Second French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G (1987). Mondo et autres histoires (in French). Paris: Gallimard Education.
- Third French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G (1996). Mondo et autres histoires (in French). Paris: Gallimard Education.
- Fourth French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G; Prefaced by Christophe-Édouard Konaté and with an illustrated presentation by Isabelle Varloteaux (1982). Mondo et autres histoires (Collection Folio) (French Edition) (Mass Market Paperback) (in French). Paris: Gallimard Education. ISBN 978-2-07-037365-9. OCLC 281627788. 12th re-Print Gallimard,Paris 2008 (With new author biography) and 2000 (Reprint: 1982 ed)
- Fifth French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G; Prefaced by Christophe-Édouard Konaté and with an illustrated presentation by Isabelle Varloteaux (2006). Mondo et autres histoires (in French). Paris: Gallimard Education, Folioplus classiques, 67. ISBN 978-2-07-033785-9.
- Sixth French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G (2008 Reprint: 1982 ed. With new author biography). Mondo et autres histoires (in French). Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 978-2-07-037365-9. Check date values in:
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References
- ↑ Thibault, Bruno (2009). J.M.G. Le Clézio Et la Métaphore Exotique. Rodopi. pp. 75–83. ISBN 9789042026469. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
- ↑ Le Clézio, J. M. G. (27 October 2008). "The Boy Who Had Never Seen the Sea". The New Yorker. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
- ↑ "Mondo". 1995. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
In Gatlif's retelling, Mondo is alienated by the busy consumer society of Nice, France: he is always hiding from city officials who try to arrest him and he feels ill-at-ease in the bustling downtown area.
- ↑ Le Clézio, J. M. G; Illustrated by Georges Lemoine (1990). La grande vie ;
suivi de,Peuple du ciel (in French). Paris: Gallimard Jeunesse. ISBN 978-2-07-055179-8.
