From the original Atheneum edition jacket, 1964."J.M.G. Le Clézio, revelation of the literary year" ran the headline of the Paris Express after last year's prizes had been awarded. The Goncourt jury was locked five to five until its president used his double vote to give the prize to the older candidate. Ten minutes later the Renaudot jury elected the candidate they thought they might lose to the other prize. Most of the literary sections ran their prize news putting the Renaudot first, in order to feature the twenty-three-year-old discovery that was rocking Paris literary circles.What is The Interrogation? Most likely a myth without distinct delineations. A very solitary young man, Adam Pollo, perhaps the first man, perhaps the last, has a very remarkable interior adventure. He concentrates and he discovers ways of being, ways of seeing. He enters into animals, into a tree.... He has no business, no distractions; he is at the complete disposal of life. All of life, that is, except the society of his own species -- and so the story ends."This is the next phase after the 'the new novel,'" wrote the critics. Kafka they said; a direct descendant of Joyce, they said. Beckett they said. Like nothing else, they said. One hundred thousand Frenchmen bought it. They said it was strange and beautiful. Finally the real voice of the young, said the critics. "I like J. D. Salinger," said Mr. Le Clézio, and that was all he said. His remarkable first book will soon be published all over the world and much more will be said.

The Interrogation

Literature & Fiction

J.M.G. Le Clézio

Contemporary

Penguin

War,

CAPE.

About the Author\nLe Clezio has been writing since age seven; his first work was a book about the sea. After majoring in French literature, he became well-known at age 23 with the publication of his first novel, Le Proces-Verbal (The Interrogation), which was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt and for which he was awarded the Prix Renaudot in 1963. Since then he has published about 30 books, including short stories, novels, essays, two translations on the subject of Native American mythology, countless prefaces and reviews as well as a few contributions to collective publications. In addition he is the author of several children's books. From 1963 to 1975 Le Clezio explored themes like insanity, language, writing and devoted himself to formal experimentation in the wake of such contemporaries as Georges Perec or Michel Butor. Le Clezio's public image was that of an innovator and a rebel, drawing praise from Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze.In the late 1970s Le Clezio'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, and traveling, which attracted a broader, more popular audience. In 1980 Le Clezio was the first winner of the newly created grand prix Paul Morand, awarded to Desert by the Academie francaise. 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. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2008. Other French citizens to receive the prize include Gao Xingjian in 2000; he is the first French-language writer to win since Claude Simon in 1985. The Swedish Academy, in announcing the award, called Le Clezio an author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization.

L'Africain (Nobel Prize Literature 2008) (French Edition)

French & European Pubns

Pawana (Nobel Prize Literature 2008) (French Edition)

French and European Publications Inc

War - in the mind of the fragile Bea B., in the infinite icy landscape she journeys through, in Vietnam, in 10,000 years of human history. The war of the title is not merely a war of arms but a generalised state of violence permeating every atom of Le Clezio's creation. Bea B. searches for clues for the origin of the evil. Under her searching gaze the most everyday objects - advertisements, cars, light bulbs - reveal extraordinary dimensions, as the earth trembles on the brink of cataclysmic explosion.

History

Military

Atheneum

The Giants

Upon an immense stretch of flat ground at the mouth of a river bathed in sunlight rises Hyperpolis. It stands there, surrounded by its four asphalt car-parks, to condemn us - a huge enveloping supermarket. Each of us will see ourselves reflected in the characters who move mindlessly about Hyperpolis, but The Giants is a call to rebellion. This bold and inventive novel is the work of a tremendously talented writer and both an intoxicating and exhilarating read.

About the Author\nLe Clezio has been writing since age seven; his first work was a book about the sea. After majoring in French literature, he became well-known at age 23 with the publication of his first novel, Le Proces-Verbal (The Interrogation), which was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt and for which he was awarded the Prix Renaudot in 1963.\nSince then he has published about 30 books, including short stories, novels, essays, two translations on the subject of Native American mythology, countless prefaces and reviews as well as a few contributions to collective publications. In addition he is the author of several children's books.\nFrom 1963 to 1975 Le Clezio explored themes like insanity, language, writing and devoted himself to formal experimentation in the wake of such contemporaries as Georges Perec or Michel Butor. Le Clezio's public image was that of an innovator and a rebel, drawing praise from Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze.\nIn the late 1970s Le Clezio'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, and traveling, which attracted a broader, more popular audience. In 1980 Le Clezio was the first winner of the newly created grand prix Paul Morand, awarded to Desert by the Academie francaise.\nIn 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.\nHe was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2008. Other French citizens to receive the prize include Gao Xingjian in 2000; he is the first French-language writer to win since Claude Simon in 1985. The Swedish Academy, in announcing the award, called Le Clezio an author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization.

Désert (Nobel Prize Literature 2008) (French Edition)

Galllimard

The French writer and Nobel Literature laureate J. M. G. Le Clézio is one of the most translated authors in the world and widely considered a living legend of French literature. He also harbors a keen interest in Korea that not only prompted him to learn and master the Korean language on his own but also inspired his new novel. BITNA: UNDER THE SKY OF SEOUL is Le Clézio's portrait of Seoul--its people and its places--rendered with an intimate familiarity and attention to detail that few non-Korean writers, not to mention non-natives of Seoul, could replicate. It is a story of life in the city as it is being lived today.

Bitna: Under the Sky of Seoul

Literary

Seoul Selection

The Swedish Academy, in awarding J.M.G. Le Clezio the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature, praised Desert as Le Clezio's definitive breakthrough as a novelist. Published in France in 1980, Desert received the Grand Prix Paul Morand from the Academie Francaise, was translated into twenty-three languages, and quickly proved to be a best-selling novel in many countries around the world. Available for the first time in English translation, Desert is a novel composed of two alternating narratives, set in counterpoint. The first takes place in the desert between 1909 and 1912 and evokes the migration of a young adolescent boy, Nour, and his people, the Blue Men, notorious warriors of the desert. Driven from their lands by French colonial soldiers, Nour's tribe has come to the valley of the Saguiet El Hamra to seek the aid of the great spiritual leader known as Water of the Eyes. The religious chief sends them out from the holy city of Smara into the desert to travel still further. Spurred on by thirst, hunger, and suffering, Nour's tribe and others flee northward in the hopes of finding a land that can harbor them at last. The second narrative relates the contemporary story of Lalla, a descendant of the Blue Men. Though she is an orphan living in a shantytown known as the Project near a coastal city in Morocco, the blood of her proud, obstinate tribe runs in her veins. All too soon, Lalla must flee to escape a forced marriage with an older, wealthy man. She travels to France, undergoing many trials there, from working in a brothel to success as a highly paid fashion model, but she never betrays the blood of her ancestors.

Desert

ATLANTIC BOOKS *

“Wandering Star is a luminous lesson in humanity amid the ruins of civilization and intelligence.”—Le Figaro “Wandering Star can unquestionably be ranked among the very great novels. This is true not only because of the precision and evocative power of the writing, the subtlety and balance of the construction, the magnitude and loftiness of the subject, but also because of the stature and the trajectory of the protagonist, Esther Greve, who survives the Holocaust only to be confronted in the land of her dreams with another tragedy.”—L’ Humanité "Those unfamiliar with Mr. Le Clézio and his work should know that he is considered that rare beast by the French: an artist and a best-selling author."—Dallas Morning News "This novel brilliantly depicts the universality of human suffering, but it also affirms the existence of kindness and understanding...Le Clézio rises above politics and religious and cultural differences to express the girls' humanity in the struggles they both face."—MultiCultural Review "...the beauty of Le Clézio's language belies the horror of his subject...We can only hope that Esther and Nejma might someday walk out of these pages, meet once more, and plant and nourish the garden that others battle so feverishly to destroy."—Bloomsbury Review "Striking a delicate balance between despair and dignity, between incantation and prayer, in [Wandering Star], Le Clézio touches upon each of the many themes he has addressed during his thirty years as a novelist, mixing and weaving them together into a story that combines elements of adventure, literary epic, confession, and history. It is at one and the same time a painful cry and peaceful sigh."—Télérama "From page one, I knew I was in capable hands. J.M.G. Le Clézio's novel of a young Jewish girl coming of age in wartime France is compelling."—Baltimore Jewish Times "Beautifully written and seamlessly translated by C. Dickson, Wandering Star is both a coming-of-age story and a powerful tale of survival. For readers hoping to better understand the world we live in, this book also helpt shed light on current events in the Middle East."—MoorishGirl "Le Clézio goes beyond politics, cultural differences, and historical moments to cast light on the universal feelings in experiences of suffering and the struggles, desires, and dreams growing out of such experiences."—Midwest Book Review "Le Clézio has fashioned an intimate, searching novel about the price of war and exile."—Stewart O'Nan "[An] exquisitely written story...I was struck by the beauty in the midst of the searing pain."—Penny Rosenwasser, author of Voices from a Promised Land J.M.G. Le Clezio is that rare combination of best-selling author and artist of the highest order. Wandering Star (A Lannan Translation Selection) received extraordinary critical praise in France. Pierre Lepape extolled it in Le Monde, noting that Le Clezio neither moralizes nor takes a political stance: “He goes much farther than that, much deeper; he seeks the signs of human misery and of potential peace at the very heart of life, in a confrontation with time and the elements; with the sun and the earth, with birth and death, with the mystery of origins and the enigma of the future, with the necessity of both remembering and forgetting, without which nothing can be healed." Wandering Star tells two discrete stories of two young girls, one Jewish and one Palestinian, who meet once briefly by chance. Their stories are connected by substance, rather than plot. Each is a wandering star in search of a homeland—Esther escaping the Nazi Holocaust, and Nejma, who experiences the horrors of life in the camps. Yet through this novel of dark times and human suffering, affirmation shines as the characters encounter the beauty of nature and instances of human kindness and love. Author of over thirty novels, essays, story collections, and translations, J.M.G. Le Clezio and his wife share their time between Albuquerque, New Mexico, the island of Mauritius, and Nice, France. He is the winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Wandering Star (Lannan Translation Selection Series)

Genre Fiction

Curbstone Press

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