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Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
Pen name	J.M.G. Le Clézio
Occupation	Writer and translator
Nationality	French & Mauritian
Genre	novel, essay, novella
Notable works	Le Procès-Verbal (translated as The Interrogation)
Notable awards	Prix Renaudot 1963 grand prix Paul Morand 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature 2008

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, or J.M.G. Le Clézio (born 13 April 1940) is a French and Mauritian novelist. The author of over forty works, he was awarded the 1963 Prix Renaudot and the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Biography

Le Clézio was born in the French Riviera city of Nice to a French Mauritian doctor and a French Mauritian mother. 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. Le Clézio moved with his family at age 8 to Nigeria where his father served as a surgeon in the British army.

After studying at Bristol University from 1958 to 1959, he finished his undergraduate degree at Nice's Institut d’etudes Litteraires. 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 Indians in Panama.

Le Clézio earned a master's degree with a thesis on Henri Michaux from the University of Aix-en-Provence in 1964, and wrote a doctoral thesis in 1983 on Mexico’s early history for the University of Perpignan (he is a specialist on Michoacán). 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.

He has taught at numerous 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 from 2007 to 2008.

Works and writing

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.

Since then he has published about thirty 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 Clézio 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 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, 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% 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 Clézio an "author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization."

Bibliography

Novels and Novellas

• Le Procès-Verbal
  • Gallimard, « Le Chemin », Paris, 1963, 250 p.
  • winner of Prix Renaudot
    • published in English as The Interrogation
    • translated from the French by Daphne Woodward. – New York : Atheneum, 1964.
    • ISBN 0140028633
• Le Jour où Beaumont fit connaissance avec sa douleur
  • Mercure de FranceL'écharpe d'Iris, Paris, 1964
• La fièvre
  • Novellas, Gallimard, « Le Chemin », Paris, 1965, 237 p.
    • published in English as Fever
    • translated from the French by Daphne Woodward. – New York : Atheneum, 1966
• Le déluge
  • Gallimard, « Le Chemin », Paris, 1966, 288 p.
    • published in English as The Flood
    • translated from the French by Peter Green. – London : H. Hamilton, 1967
    • H. Hamilton, 1967
• Terra amata
  • Gallimard, « Le Chemin », Paris, 1967, 248 p.
    • published in English as Terra Amata
    • translated from the French by Barbara Bray. – London : Hamilton, 1969 ; New York : Atheneum, 1969
    • "Terra Amata" is an archaeological site near the French town of Nice.
• Le Livre des fuites
  • Gallimard, « Le Chemin », Paris, 1969, 290 p.
    • A book about escapes
    • published in English as The Book of Flights: An Adventure Story
    • translated from the French by Simon Watson Taylor. – London : Cape, 1971 ; New York : Atheneum, 1972.
• La Guerre
  • Gallimard, « Le Chemin », Paris, 1970, 295 p.
    • published in English as War
    • translated from the French by Simon Watson Taylor. – London : Cape, 1973
• Les Géants
  • Gallimard, « Le Chemin », Paris, 1973, 320 p.
    • published in English as The Giants
    • translated from the French by Simon Watson Taylor
    • London : Cape, 1975 ; New York : Atheneum, 1975
• Voyages de l'autre côté
  • Novellas, Gallimard,
    • Voyages de l'autre côté=Journeys to the other side
  • « Le Chemin » , Paris, 1975, 308 p.
• Mondo et autres histoires
  • Novellas, Gallimard, Paris, 1978, 278 p.
• Désert (novel)
  • Gallimard, « Le Chemin »
  • Paris, 1980, 410 p.
  • awarded the Grand prix de littérature Paul-Morand by theAcadémie française
• La Ronde et autres faits divers
  • Novellas, Gallimard, « Le Chemin » , Paris, 1982, 235 p.
    • published in English as The Round & Other Cold Hard Facts = La ronde et autres faits divers
    • translated by C. Dickson.
    • Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
• Le Chercheur d'or
  • Gallimard, Paris, 1985, ; David R. Godine, 1993
    • published in English as The Prospector
    • translated from the French by Carol Marks. – Boston : David R. Godine, 1993
• Voyage à Rodrigues
  • Gallimard, « Le Chemin » , Paris, 1986
• Printemps et autres saisons
  • Gallimard, « Le Chemin » , Paris, 1989, 203 p.
    • Spring and other Seasons
• Onitsha
  • Gallimard, Paris, 1991, 250 p.
    • a reference to the African city of Onitsha
    • published in English as Onitsha
    • translated by Alison Anderson. – Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 1997
    • ISBN 0803279663
• Étoile errante
  • Gallimard, Paris, 1992, 339 p.
    • published in English as Wandering Star : a Novel
    • translated by C. Dickson.
    • Willimantic, CT : Curbstone Press, 2004.
• Pawana
  • Gallimard, Paris, 1992, 54 p.
• La Quarantaine
  • Gallimard, Paris, 1995, 464 p.
• Poisson d'or
  • Gallimard, 1997, 255 p.
    • ISBN 087923976X
• Gens des nuages
  • co-authored by Jémia Le Clézio and published with photographs by Bruno Barbey
  • Stock, « Beaux Livres », 1997
  • this novel describes a journey
    • The French term Gens des nuages"means The Cloud People in English
• Hasard suivi de Angoli Mala
  • Gallimard, Paris, 1999, 290 p.
• Cœur brûle et autres romances
  • Gallimard, Paris, 2000, 187 p.
• Révolutions
  • Gallimard, Paris, 2003, 554 p.
• Ourania
  • Gallimard, « Collection Blanche », Paris, 2005, 297 p.
• Ritournelle de la faim
  • Gallimard, « Collection Blanche », Paris, 2008

Essays

• L'Extase matérielle
  • Gallimard, « Le Chemin », Paris, 1967, 229 p.
    • Material Ecstasy
• Haï
  • Albert Skira; (exclusivité Weber,)
  • « Les Sentiers de la création », Genève, 1971, 170 p.
• Mydriase
  • an essay published with drawings by Vladimir Velickovic
  • Éditions Fata Morgana, Saint-Clément-la-Rivière, 1973
  • éd. définitive, 1993, 62 p.
• Vers les icebergs
  • A Fata Morgana published under the title « Explorations »by Montpellier, 1978, 52 p.
  • Vers les icebergs"" includes an essay called d’Iniji written by Henri Michaux
• L'Inconnu sur la Terre
  • Gallimard, « Le Chemin » , Paris, 1978, 325 p.
• Trois Villes saintes
  • Gallimard, Paris, 1980, 81 p.
• The Mexican Dream, Or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations
  (French: Le Rêve mexicain ou la pensée interrompue)
  • Gallimard, published under the title « NRF Essais », Paris, 1988, 248 p. and University of Chicago Press, 1993
    • published in English as The Mexican Dream, Or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations: Or, the Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations"
    • translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan. – Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1993
    • ISBN 0226110028
• Diego et Frida
  • Stock« Échanges », Paris, 1993,
  • a biography of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo)
• La Fête chantée
  • Gallimard, « Le Promeneur », 1997, 256 p.
    • Sung Celebration
• Raga. Approche du continent invisible
  • Éditions du Seuil published under the title « Peuples de l'eau », Paris, 2006, 135 p.
• Ballaciner
  • Gallimard, 2007

Collections

• Les Prophéties du Chilam Balam
  • this edition by J.M.G. Le Clézio, Gallimard
  • published under the title « Le Chemin », Paris, 1976, 201 p.
• Sirandanes
  • co-written by Jémia Le Clézio
• Livres hebdo
  • A directory including J.-M G. Le Clézio
  • Editions professionnelles du livre, France Imprints Periodicals - 1982

Books for Children

• Lullaby
  • Gallimard, 1970
• Voyage au pays des arbres
  • drawings by Henri Galeron, Gallimard
  • « Enfantimages », Paris, 1978, 27 p.
• Relation de Michoacan
  • this edition by J. M. G. Le Clézio, Gallimard
  • « Tradition », Paris, 1984, 315 p.-[10] p. de pl.

Short Story

• L'Africain
  • published by Mercure de France, a French gazette and literary magazine
  • under the title « Traits et portraits », Paris, 2004, 103 p.
    • short autobiographical story with a piece about J.M.G. Le Clézio's father
    • Not yet published in English The African (Short Story)

Awards

Horace Engdahl announces Le Clézio winning the Nobel Prize for Literature on 9 October 2008

• 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

External links

• Template:Worldcat id
• 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
• "French Writer Wins Nobel Prize ", by Sarah Lyall, New York Times, October 9, 2008.

See Also

• List of Nobel laureates by country#France
• List of French language authors