Nobel Prize Announced
By Kristen on Oct 10, 2008 in Literary News
photo credit: benfurneaux
In case you didn’t hear yesterday, the Nobel Prize for Literature was announced: Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio. After the comments circulating last week, it’s no surprise that the winner is not an American. 
One of my readers, Cynthia, passed along a recommendation of where to start: Wandering Star, about two teenage girls set during WWII.
She also passed along this bio from Words Without Borders:
J. M. G. Le Clézio was born in 1940 in Nice, where he did his primary, secondary, and university studies. In 1963, he scored a major success with his first novel, Le Proces Verbal, which received the coveted Prix Renaudot. From 1967 to 1970, he spent several periods of time living with a tribe of Embera Indians in the Panamanian jungles and learned their language. His interest in Indian culture is expressed in several works, including Hai. He later moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he taught literature at the University of New Mexico and translated Native American myths. In 1978, he published Mondo et autres histoires [Mondo and other Stories], which became a landmark of contemporary French literature. The author of over twenty-seven books, his latest novel is Peuple du ciel. He returned to Nice in 1996.
Thanks, Cynthia!
Has anyone else read one of his works before?
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I haven’t heard of him before, but I do have to say it’s a refreshing thought they aren’t going with Joyce Carol Oates or another seemingly commercial writer. It’s not that those writers aren’t good writers, but it does seem they write for the masses rather than for the sake of good writing.
Thanks for linking to those other sites. Very interesting thoughts.
Rebecca Reid | Oct 11, 2008 | Reply
I read Le Chercheur d’Or (The Prospector) while studying in France but don’t remember too much about it, probably because it was a bit beyond my level of the language at the time. I do remember that the French professor teaching the course spoke about the beauty of the writing, which of course was lost on many of us who were struggling just to understand the basic meaning of the plot! I would love to go back and read it now when I could understand and appreciate it more.
Monica | Oct 12, 2008 | Reply
Thank you, Rebecca — Interesting comment regarding commercial writers… I completely see why we could consider Oates commercial — she is so prolific, too! I wonder if she considers herself commercial?
Kristen | Oct 12, 2008 | Reply
Thank you for the recommendation, Monica! I would love to hear how well the beauty of the writing translates into English, too?
Kristen | Oct 12, 2008 | Reply
Again, I’m not saying Oates isn’t good–she did win the Pulitzer for one of her novels, after all! I guess I just don’t see proflic writing and commercial success as a requisite for the Nobel prize. I mean, Winston Churchill didn’t exactly write to make any money. He wrote speeches and histories because he did. And his writing was award worthy.
I read another article here and apparently Le Clézio is quite prolific as well–a work a year for the past decade.
Rebecca Reid | Oct 13, 2008 | Reply
Great article, Rebecca! Thank you — “blue eyed elegant cowboy” sounds pretty good
And one per year is pretty darn prolific…
I better check him out!
Kristen | Oct 13, 2008 | Reply
I don’t think being a prolific writer should be a prerequisite for winning the Nobel prize either.
What makes a writer worthy of the Nobel prize? I haven’t looked at the official guidelines, but for me, I think a writer should be nominated for the Nobel because his or her work is international in some respect and has a global impact. It does seem that most writers who win the Nobel prize have lived in many places outside his or her own country, that the books written do have an international flavor.
blacklin | Oct 13, 2008 | Reply
Thank you for your comment, blacklin! Good point about the global aspect…
Kristen | Oct 13, 2008 | Reply
I agree, blacklin, although I think actual writing should receive the highest consideration, above subject matter. For the Nobel writers I’ve read, I think their writing has been good, even the times when I didn’t like the subject matter.
Rebecca Reid | Oct 13, 2008 | Reply