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Category: Books
Posted on: October 9, 2008 7:20 AM, by Chad Orzel
The 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature goes to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, "author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization."
I'll be honest, I've got nothing on this one. Anyone who knows anything about his work, please tell me about it in comments. My knowledge of French literature is limited to laboriously translating Le Petit Prince in class twenty years ago, so I've never even heard of this guy.
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Comments
# 1 | Romeo Vitelli | October 9, 2008 8:53 AM
The Nobel prize in literature isn't supposed to go to someone you've heard of. That's part of the snob appeal.
# 2 | Ian | October 9, 2008 8:53 AM
It's French. That's all you need to know! Especially given what Horace Engdahl has said:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95537900
# 3 | staifkop | October 9, 2008 9:10 AM
The biggest online bookseller in the Netherlands, Bol.com, has one title in store, that is to say, it offers 2 second-hand books of this literary laureate.
I'd say it's mainstream literature. The gut probably needs the prize to make a living...
# 4 | Jonathan Vos Post | October 9, 2008 10:11 AM
What? Once again they failed to give the Nobel Prize in Literature to Bob Dylan?
At least once in a while it goes to someone who's published Science Fiction.
# 5 | Nitin | October 10, 2008 6:25 AM
He's strictly speaking Franco-Mauritian (he has 2 nationalities, French and Mauritian). I'm myself Mauritian, so you'll hopefully easily excuse my pedantry. I read his books when I was 15, and they are fantastic works. I gather you can read French, so I'll recommend "Le Procès-verbal" (his first major work, published when he was only 23), "Mondo et autres histoires", and "Désert".
Vitelli: He's one of the most celebrated contemporary French writers, and a most wonderful humanist. Some of his works have been translated, but seemingly this didn't help you in being less ignorant about French literature, if I judge from your rather mediocre comment .
staifkop: I cannot answer for Le Clézio, but I would say he doesn't really need the prize-money. He has received many accolades, he travels regularly, and is a very respected writer in all places he goes to, and he manages a good living with his skills and publications. But such a prize is certainly welcome in those uncertain times when credit crunch hits your bank.