Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (French:[ʒɑ̃maʁiɡystavləklezjo]; 13 April 1940), usually identified asJ. M. G. Le Clézio, of French, Mauritian, and British nationality, is a writer and professor. The author of over forty works, he was awarded the 1963Prix Renaudot for his novelLe Procès-Verbal and the2008 Nobel Prize in Literature for his life's work, as an "author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization".[1]
Le Clézio's mother was born in theFrench Riviera city ofNice, his father on the island ofMauritius (which was a British possession, but his father was ethnically Breton, in France). Both his father's and his mother's ancestors were originally fromMorbihan, on the south coast ofBrittany.[2]His paternal ancestor François Alexis Le Clézio fled France in 1798 and settled with his wife and daughter onMauritius, which was then a French colony but would soon pass into British hands. The colonists were allowed to maintain their customs and use the French language. Le Clézio has never lived in Mauritius for more than a few months at a time, but he has stated that he regards himself both as a Frenchman and a Mauritian.[3][4] He has dual French and Mauritian citizenship (Mauritius gained independence in 1968) and calls Mauritius his "little fatherland".[5][6]
Le Clézio was born in Nice, his mother's native city, duringWorld War II when his father was serving in theBritish Army in Nigeria.[7] He was raised inRoquebillière, a small village near Nice until 1948 when he, his mother, and his brother boarded a ship to join his father inNigeria. His 1991 novelOnitsha is partly autobiographical. In a 2004essay, he reminisced about his childhood in Nigeria and his relationship with his parents.
After studying at theUniversity of Bristol in England from 1958 to 1959,[8] Le Clézio finished his undergraduate degree at Nice's Institut d'études littéraires.[9] In 1964 Le Clézio earned a master's degree from theUniversity of Provence with a thesis onHenri Michaux and the mystical experience.[10]
After several years spent in London and Bristol, Le Clézio moved to the United States to work as a teacher. In 1967 he served as an aid worker inThailand as part of his national service, but was quickly expelled from the country for protesting against child prostitution and sent toMexico to finish his national service. From 1970 to 1974, he lived with theEmbera-Wounaan tribe inPanama. He has been married since 1975 to Jémia Jean, who is Moroccan, and has three daughters (one by his first marriage with Rosalie Piquemal). Since the 1990s they have divided their residence betweenAlbuquerque, Mauritius, and Nice.[11]
In 1983 Le Clézio wrote a doctoral thesis on colonial Mexican history for theUniversity of Perpignan, on the conquest of thePurépecha people who inhabit the present-day state ofMichoacán. It was serialized in a French magazine and published in Spanish in 1985.[12]
Le Clézio has taught at a number of universities around the world. A frequent visitor toSouth Korea, he taught French language and literature atEwha Womans University inSeoul during the 2007 academic year.[13][14] In November 2013, Le Clézio joined Nanjing University in China as a professor.[15]
Le Clézio began writing at the age of seven; his first work was a book about the sea. He achieved success at the age of 23, when his first novel,Le Procès-Verbal (The Interrogation), was thePrix Renaudot and was shortlisted for thePrix Goncourt.[6] Since then he has published more than thirty-six books, including short stories, novels, essays, two translations on the subject ofNative American mythology, and several children's books.
During the late 1970s, Le Clézio's style changed drastically; he abandoned experimentation, and the mood of his novels became less tormented as he used themes likechildhood, adolescence, and travelling, which attracted a broader audience. In 1980, Le Clézio was the first winner of the newly created Grand PrixPaul Morand, awarded by theAcadémie Française, for his novelDésert.[16] In 1994, a survey conducted by the French literary magazineLire showed that 13 per cent of the readers considered him to be the greatest living French-language writer.[17] His works have been translated to over 30 different languages.[18]
Horace Engdahl announces Le Clézio winning the Nobel Prize for Literature on 9 October 2008
TheNobel Prize in Literature for 2008 went to Le Clézio for works characterized by theSwedish Academy as being "poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy" and for being focused on the environment, especially the desert.[1] TheSwedish 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."[19] Le Clézio used his Nobel prize acceptance lecture to attack the subject of information poverty.[20] The title of his lecture wasDans la forêt des paradoxes ("In the forest of paradoxes"), a title he attributed toStig Dagerman.[21]
Gao Xingjian, a Chinese émigré writing inMandarin, was the previous French citizen to receive the prize (for 2000); Le Clézio was the first French-language writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature sinceClaude Simon for 1985, and the fourteenth sinceSully Prudhomme, laureate of the first prize of 1901.
Le Clézio is a staunch defender of Mama Rosa, director of a Mexican shelter raided by the police in July 2014 when children were found eating rotten food and kept against the will of their parents. He wrote an article inLe Monde arguing that she is close to sanctity.[22]
^Tahourdin, Adrian (21 April 2006)."A Frenchman and a Geographer".5th paragraph. London: review is taken from the TLS. Archived fromthe original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved9 December 2008."Le Clézio's family were originally from Morbihan on the west coast of Brittany. At the time of the Revolution, one of his ancestors, who had refused to enlist in the Revolutionary Army because they had insisted he cut his long hair, fled France intending to reach India, but disembarked on Mauritius, and stayed there
^"Internet might have stopped Hitler". comcast.net. 7 December 2008. Archived fromthe original on 9 December 2008. Retrieved12 December 2008.Though he was born in France, Le Clézio's father is British and he holds dual nationality with Mauritius, where his family has roots
^"A Frenchman and a geographer".Adrian Tahourdin. London: The Times Literary Supplement. 21 April 2006. Archived fromthe original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved11 December 2008."Le Clezio regards himself as Franco-Mauritian
^abBremner, Charles (9 October 2008)."Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio wins the 2008 Nobel Literature Prize".Times Online. London. Archived fromthe original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved9 October 2008.Le Clézio, who was born in Nice and has lived in England, New Mexico and South Korea, said that he was touched by the honour. He mentioned his British father, a surgeon, and his childhood in Mauritius and Nigeria. "I was born of a mix, like many people currently in Europe," he said.
^Tahourdin, Adrian (21 April 2006)."A Frenchman and a geographer".5th paragraph. London: review is taken from the TLS. Archived fromthe original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved9 December 2008."Le Clezio received the Academie Francaise's Grand Prix Paul Morand in 1980 for Desert, a novel that revealed a move towards a more expansive and lyrical style. The book has a dual narrative. The first, dated 1909–10, chronicles the tragic fate of a Tuareg clan fleeing across Morocco from their French and Spanish colonial oppressors ("les chrétiens")".
^"Prix Valery Larbaud". Prix littéraires. 2009. Archived fromthe original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved16 February 2009.Pour l'ensemble de son oeuvre
^"Prix Jean Giono" (in French). Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent. 2009. Archived fromthe original on 5 January 2009. Retrieved16 February 2009."Grand Prix Jean Giono". Prix littéraires. 2009. Archived fromthe original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved16 February 2009.
^pour l'ensemble de son œuvre, à l'occasion de la sortie de Poisson d'or 2008
^"Ritournelle de la faim – Jean-Marie-Gustave Le Clézio".Ses Prix et Récompenses (in French). ciao.fr. 2008. Retrieved16 February 2009.pour l'ensemble de son œuvre, à l'occasion de la sortie suédoise de Raga. Approche du continent invisible
^"Simone Veil, Zidane et Lagardère décorés".C.M. (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP (in French). lefigaro.fr. 1 January 2009. Retrieved14 April 2009.Le Clézio est pour sa part élevé au grade d'officier
.jpg)
