J. M. G. Le Clézio

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
Le Clézio, a few hours before Nobel announcement on 9 October 2008
Born	13 April 1940 (1940-04-13) (age 68) Nice, France
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	French
Ethnicity	French
Citizenship	French & Mauritian
Writing period	1963 -
Genres	novel, short story, essay, translation
Subjects	Exile, Migration, Childhood, Ecology
Notable work(s)	Le Procès-Verbal, Désert
Notable award(s)	Nobel Prize in Literature 2008

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, better known as J. M. G. Le Clézio (born 13 April 1940) is a Franco-Mauritian novelist.^[1] The author of over forty works, he was awarded the 1963 Prix Renaudot for his novel Le Procès-Verbal and the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature.^[2]

1 Biography 2 Works and writing 3 Bibliography 3.1 Books translated into English 3.2 Books written in English 3.3 French language Editions of his Novels 3.4 French language Editions of his Essays 3.5 French language Editions short stories 3.6 French language Editions of his Travel Diaries 3.7 Translated by the Author into French 3.8 French language Editions of his Books for Children 4 Awards 5 References 6 External links

Le Clézio was born in the Riviera city of Nice^[3] to a Mauritian doctor with British citizenship^[1] and a French mother.^[4][5] His ancestors emigrated from Brittany to the île Maurice—today's Mauritius—in the 18th century. During World War II, the family was separated, his father being unable to join his wife and children in Nice.^[6] Le Clézio moved with his family at age 8 to Nigeria^[7] where his father served as a surgeon in the British army.^[8]

After studying at University of Bristol in England from 1958 to 1959 ^[9] , he finished his undergraduate degree at Nice's Institut d’études littéraires.^[7] After several years spent in London and Bristol, he moved to the United States to work as a teacher. He was assigned to Thailand in 1967 for his military service, but was quickly expelled for protesting against child prostitution and sent to Mexico to finish his military obligation. From 1970 to 1974, he lived with the Embera-Wounaan tribe in Panama.

Le Clézio earned a master's degree with a thesis on Henri Michaux from the University of Aix-en-Provence in 1964,^[10] and wrote a doctoral thesis in 1983 on Mexico’s early history for the University of Perpignan (he is a specialist on Michoacán).^[7] He has been married since 1975 to Jémia, who is Moroccan, and has two daughters (one by a first marriage). Since the 1990s they have divided their residence between Albuquerque, New Mexico, Mauritius, and Nice.^[11]

He has taught at a number of universities around the world. A frequent visitor to South Korea, he taught French language and literature at Ewha Womans University in Seoul for two semesters in 2007 and 2008.^[12][13]

Le Clézio 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 Procès-Verbal (The Interrogation), which was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt and for which he was awarded the Prix Renaudot in 1963.^[3] Since then he has published more than thirty-six books, including short stories, novels, essays, two translations on the subject of Native American mythology, prefaces and reviews as well as contributions to collective publications. He is also the author of several children's books.

From 1963 to 1975, Le Clézio explored themes such as insanity, language, writing and devoted himself to formal experimentation in the wake of such contemporaries as Georges Perec or Michel Butor. His 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, and traveling, which attracted a broader, more popular audience. In 1980, Le Clézio was the first winner of the newly created Grand Prix Paul Morand, awarded to Désert by the Académie Française. In 1994, a survey conducted by the French literary magazine Lire showed that 13 percent of the readers considered him to be the greatest living French language writer.^[14]

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2008. Gao Xingjian, a Chinese emigré, was the last French citizen to win the prize (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 Clézio an "author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization."^[15]

French Title	Year	Title in English	Translated into English by
"Le Procès-Verbal"	1963	"The Interrogation"	Daphne Woodward	Atheneum,New York [16]
"La Fièvre"	1965	"Fever"	Daphne Woodward.	New York : Atheneum [17]
"Le Déluge"	1966	"The Flood"	Peter Green	H. Hamilton, London [18] [19]
"Terra amata"	1969	"Terra Amata"	Barbara Bray	H. Hamilton ,London [20] [21]
"Le Livre des fuites"	1969	"The Book of Flights: An Adventure Story"	Simon Watson	Cape,London ;Atheneum,New York [22]
"La Guerre"	1970	"War"	Simon Watson Taylor	Cape,London [23][24]
"Les Géants "	1973	"The Giants "	Simon Watson Taylor	Cape,London; Atheneum,New York[25]
"Le Chercheur d'or"	1975	"The prospector"	Carol Marks	David R. Godine,Boston [26][27]
"Onitsha"	1991	"Onitsha "	Alison Anderson	University of Nebraska Press,Lincoln :[28]
"Étoile errante "	1975	"Wandering Star : a Novel "	C. Dickson.	Curbstone Press, Willimantic, CT [29][30]
"La Ronde et autres faits divers "	1982	"The Round & Other Cold Hard Facts "	C. Dickson.	University of Nebraska Press,Lincoln[31][32]
"Mondo et autres histoires"	1978		Deborah Treisman	One story from this book "The Boy Who Had Never Seen the Sea" has been translated and published in the New Yorker magazine 27th of Oct 2008[33]
"Le Rêve mexicain ou la pensée interrompue"	1982	"The Mexican Dream"	Teresa Lavender	University of Chicago Press,Chicago[34]

Title	Year	Publisher	Length	Notes
"In the Eye of the Sun: Mexican Fiestas "	November 1996	W. W. Norton & Company [35]	96 pages	Foreword (an essay):J. M. G. Le Clezio Introduction: Richard Rodriquez Photographer:Geoff Winningham
Geoff Winningham began photographing the popular fiestas of Mexico in 1984. Returning to the same Mexican villages several times a year, he formed personal relationships with families who permitted him to photograph them in the intimacy of their homes, and local officials who gave him special access to all phases of the celebrations. The fiestas provide tangible links to the pre-Hispanic cultures of middle America, intertwining some of the great Pagan festivals of these ancient peoples with catholic ritual and tradition.[36]

Title	Year	Publisher	Length	Notes
"Le Procès-Verbal"	1963	Gallimard, « Le Chemin »[37]	250 pages	Le Proces-Verbal, unsuccessful in the Prix Formentor but since awarded the Prix Renaudot in France. [38]
This novel, according to its author, belongs to the category of roman-jeu or roman-puzzle, a total fiction aimed at setting up reverberations in the reader's mind.The novel has little rational development, but reads like a very intelligent collection of random ideas and even styles.
"Le Jour où Beaumont fit connaissance avec sa douleur"	1964	Mercure de France Collection Bleue[39]	87 pages	Nouvelle édition (22 mars 1985)
The first time that Beaumont found out what real pain was, he had to read,and find out how pain is like an invisible hand that wraps and wreathes around the body.
"Le Déluge"	1966	Gallimard, « Le Chemin »[40]	285 pages	Reprint Gallimard, 1994;Translated as "The Flood"by Peter Green and published by H. Hamilton, London
"Terra amata"	1967	Gallimard, « Le Chemin »[41]	248 pages	Terra Amata is an archaeological site near the French town of Nice.
The work centers on the perceptions and activities of its protagonist, Chancelade, whose pronounced interest in small, seemingly insignificant things leads him and the novel's narrator through numerous sensorial and contemplative adventures which yield unexpected insights on humankind's situation in the universe.[42]
Le Livre des fuites	1965	Gallimard, « Le Chemin »[43]	284 pages	Sub-Title "roman d'aventures"
An expirimental novel. In search for the ever evasive freedom,the author tries new forms of writing.
"La Guerre"	1970	Gallimard, « Le Chemin »[44]	288 pages	Le Clezio terms this work a "roman"
Speaks of "the war of crimes and insults, the fury of glances, the explosion of thoughts"
"Voyages de l'autre côté"	1975	Gallimard, « Le Chemin »[45]	250 pages	reprinted byGallimard, 1995.This could be translated as " Journeys to the Other Side"
Watasenia and Naja Naja go on a journey and find out about water (in the rain,on the seas....etc) and how water is on a never-ending cycle.
"L'Inconnu sur la Terre"	1978	Gallimard,Collection L'Imaginaire [46]	325 pages	Reprint 1 September 2001
"Désert"	1980	Gallimard, « Le Chemin »[47]	410 pages	This novel was awarded the Grand prix de littérature Paul-Morand by the   Académie française.
In this novel a young nomad woman, Lalla, from the Sahara becomes a famous photo model, but she returns to the desert to give birth to her child. A parallel story tells of the crushing of the Tuaregs in the beginning of the 20th century by the French colonizers. [48]
"Le Chercheur d'or"	1988	Gallimard, Folio[49]	375 pages	......
"For as long as I can remmber, I was waiting for the sea"The child recalls the sea around the island of Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean. The author situated the plot of this book in the village of Anse aux Anglais.
"Printemps et autres saisons"	1991	Gallimard, Folio[50]	250 pages	......
"Onitsha"	1993	Gallimard, Paris[51]	288 pages	......
The story of Fintan, a youth who travels to Africa in 1948 with his Italian mother to join the English father he has never met.Depicts a childhood in the semi-autobiographical style.
"Étoile errante"	1992	Gallimard, Paris[52]	339 pages	......
Set first in the village of Saint-Martin in southeast France, then in the refugee camp of Nour Chams, Étoile Errante (Wandering Star) tells the story of two teenage girls on the threshold and in the aftermath of World War II: Esther, a French Jew who flees for Jerusalem with her mother, Elizabeth, just before the German occupation; and Nejma, a young Arab orphaned and unable to return to the ancient city of her birth, Akka, after the Israeli declaration of statehood.[53]
"Pawana"	2003	Gallimard, Paris[54]	127 pages	illustrated by Georges Lemoine
Book for children.John is a sailor from Nantucket.Will he ever forget the cry from the main on the railings ?
"La Quarantaine"	1995	Gallimard, Paris[55]	464 pages
"Poisson d'or"	1997	Gallimard,Folio, Paris[56]	323 pages	Goldfish
"Hasard suivi de Angoli Mala"	1999	Gallimard, Paris[57]	290 pages	Two novels "Hasard" and "Angoli Mala" in one book
"Fantômes dans la rue"	?	Elle, Aubin Imprimeur, Poitiers[58]	48 pages
"Révolutions"	2003	Gallimard/folio[59]	532 pages
"Ourania"	2007	Gallimard,« collection "Blanche" et "Folio"» Paris[60]	349 pages
"Ritournelle de la faim"	2008	Gallimard,« Collection Blanche » Paris[61]	? pages	"Ritournelle de la faim" could be translated into English as "The Same Old Story about Hunger"

Title	Year	Publisher	Length	Notes
"L'Extase matérielle"	2004	Gallimard, Paris[62]	315 pages	Reprinted as "L'Extase Materielle (Nobel Prize Literature 2008)"Gallimard,Folio ."L'Extase matérielle" could be translated as "Material Ecstasy"
"Haï"	1971	Editions d'art Albert Skira ,« Les Sentiers de la création », Geneva/Genève[63]	170 pages	reprinted by Flammarion,Paris in 1987
"Mydriase"	1973	Éditions Fata Morgana, Saint-Clément-la-Rivière,(éd. définitive, 1993)[64]	62 pages	Cowritten by Vladimir Velickovic
"Vers les icebergs (Essai sur Henri Michaux)"	1978	Montpellier [65]
To the Icebergs; an essay on Henri Michaux, the Belgian author of Miserable Miracle and The Major Ordeals of the Mind and the Countless Minor Ones.
"L'Inconnu sur la Terre"	1978	Gallimard, Paris[66]	325 pages
"Trois Villes saintes"	1980	Gallimard, Paris[67]	81 pages
"Le Rêve mexicain ou la pensée interrompue"	1965	Gallimard, Paris [68]	273 pages	1963
"Diego et Frida"	1995	Gallimard,Folio,Paris[69]		a biography of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo
"Ailleurs"	1997	Paris Arléa : Diffusion Le Seuil [70]		co-written by Jean-Louis Ezine with interviews on French cultural themes published by Paris Arléa : Diffusion Le Seuil, 1997

Title	Year	Publisher	Length	Notes
"La Fête chantée et autres essais de thème amérindien (Reliure inconnue)"	1997	Gallimard, « Le Promeneur »[71]	256 pages	"La Fête chantée" could be translated into English as "Sung Celebration"
"Mondo et autres histoires"	1978	Gallimard, Paris[72]	310 pages	Reprinted by Gallimard Education June, 2000
Mondo Lullaby La montagne du dieu vivant La roue d'eau ; Celui qui n'avait jamais vu la mer [73] Hazaran Peuple du ciel Les bergers Tony Gatlif brought the world of the author to the screen in Mondo (1995)[74]
"La ronde et autres faits divers (Le Chemin)"	14 april 1982	Gallimard,Le Promeneur, Folio[75]	245 pages
"La Fièvre"	1965	Gallimard, « Le Chemin »[76]	230 pages	translated as "Fever" 1966.Reprint Gallimard (12 april 1991)
A collection of nine short stories or novellas in which the author aludes to his own perception of the trouble and fear reigning in some cities in the western world.[77]
"Cœur brûle et autres romances"	2000	Gallimard, Paris[78]	188 pages	Reprinted by Gallimard Education,October 2002
Seven short stories drawing upon Spanish and Latin American culture.These stories could be described as "romances" like the lead story "Coeur brule," which tells of a woman being degraded, because hoodlums and drug-dealers can exploit her.[79]
"Raga. Approche du continent invisible"	2007	Éditions du Seuil /Points[80]	135 pages	published under the title « Peuples de l'eau »,
"Ballaciner"	2007	Editions Gallimard, Paris[81]	181 pages

Title	Year	Publisher	Length	Notes
"Gens des nuages"	1993	Gallimard, Collection : Beaux livres[82]	150 pages	Co-written by his wife Jémia with photographs by Bruno Barbey.
This book describes a journey though Saguia el Hamra in the Spanish Sahara.The French expression Gens des nuages could be translated as meaning The Cloud People
"Voyage à Rodrigues"	1986	Gallimard, « Le Chemin »[83]	135 pages	journal
Tells of how family feuds were resolved by recalling the adventure stories his grandfather told in a journey from Mauritus to Rodrigues.

Title	Year	Publisher	Length	Notes
"Les Prophéties du Chilam Balam"	1976	Gallimard, « Le Chemin » [84]	201 pages	.....
Le Clezio ... is a speaker of at least a half dozen languages, three of which are pre-Colombian, including Maya, which he learned while living in a Yucatecan village during the 70’s. [85]
"Relation de Michoacan"	1984	Gallimard, « Tradition », Paris,[86]	315 pages	Translated from Spanish
This codex,copied in the years 1539-1540, contains the narration of a Franciscan monk,whom the American historian Dr. Benedict Warren identified as Fray Gerónimo de Alcalá.[87]
"Sirandanes"	1988	Seghers,Paris[88]	93 pages	co-translated by his wife Jémia .
Includes a glossary entitled"Petit lexique de la langue créole et des oiseaux" meaning this glossagy is a small lexicon of a creole language and a guide to birds.

Title	Year	Publisher	Length	Notes
"Lullaby"	1970	Gallimard,Paris[89]	72 pages	Georges Lemoine (Illustrations)
"Les Géants"	1973	Gallimard, « Le Chemin »[90]	339 pages	Reprinted Gallimard, 1983
Written for children
"Voyage au pays des arbres"	1978	Gallimard, « Jeunesse  »Folio Cadet[91]	34 pages	with drawings by Henri Galeron
"Celui qui n'avait jamais vu la mer" and "La Montagne ou le dieu vivant".	1965	Gallimard, « Le Chemin » [92]	107 pages	Both titles published in one book published
"Villa Aurore"	1999	Gallimard, Paris [93]	89 pages	Illustrated by Georges Lemoine, MD "
"Villa Aurore" and "Orlamonde"	1998	Gallimard,Jeunesse Folio Junior Edition Spéciale[94]		Illustrated by Georges Lemoine, MD.Both titles published in one book
"La Grande Vie suivi de Peuple du ciel"	2002	Gallimard,Jeunesse Folio Junior Edition [95]		Illustrated by Georges Lemoine, MD.Both titles published in one book
"Peuple du ciel, suivi de 'Les Bergers" "	2002	Gallimard,Folio 2 [96]	132 pages	These two novellas "Peuple du ciel" and "Les Bergers" are also in the short story collection "Mondo et autres histoires"

• 1963: prix Théophraste-Renaudot
• 1972: prix littéraire Valery-Larbaud
• 1980: grand prix de littérature Paul Morand, awarded by the Académie française
• 1997: grand prix Jean-Giono
• 1998: prix Prince-de-Monaco
• 2008: Stig Dagermanpriset
• 2008: Nobel Prize in Literature

• Works by or about J. M. G. Le Clézio in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• J.M.G. Le Clézio (1940-), Biography, from `Books and Writers`.
• Interview with Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, in Label France No. 45 (English)
• J.M.G. Le Clézio, about his Breton origins.
• "Nobel Goes Global With Literary Prize", by Bob Thompson, Washington Post, October 10, 2008
• "A Nobel Undertaking: Getting to Know Le Clézio ", by Richard Woodward, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 30, 2008
• "J. M. G. Le Clézio, Nobel laureate": a collection of pieces on Clézio, from TLS, October 9 2008

v • d • e Nobel Laureates in Literature V. S. Naipaul (2001) · Imre Kertész (2002) · J. M. Coetzee (2003) · Elfriede Jelinek (2004) · Harold Pinter (2005) · Orhan Pamuk (2006) · Doris Lessing (2007) · Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (2008) Complete roster · 1901–1925 · 1926–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present

Persondata
NAME	Le Clézio, Jean-Marie Gustave
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	J. M. G. Le Clézio
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Nobel Prize in Literature 2008
DATE OF BIRTH	13 April 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH	Nice, France
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH