- BBC
Documentary
Source: YouTube
- BBC article, 2008
French novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio awarded 2008 Nobel Prize for
Literature.
The 68-year-old has been honoured with the 10m
kronor (£820,810) award for his distinguished life's work. The Swedish Academy describes him as "an
author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy." It goes on to call him "an explorer of a
humanity beyond and below the reigning civilisation." Le Clezio's breakthrough as a novelist came in
1980 with Desert, a work the Swedish academy praised for its "magnificent
images of a lost culture in the North African desert."
Philosopher
His
most recent works include 2007's Ballaciner, a work the academy called a
"deeply personal essay about the history of the art of film". The
author has also included several books for children, among them Lullaby in 1980
and Balaabilou in 1985. He has won a
number of literary honours in his native France, among them the Prix Larbaud in
1972 and the Grand Prix Jean Giono in 1997. Born in Nice in 1940, Le Clezio spent two
years as a child in Nigeria and has taught in universities in Bangkok, Boston
and Mexico City. An avid traveler,
French novelist and essayist Le Clézio has written more than 40 books about
exile and self-discovery, and the clash between modern civilization and
traditional cultures. In announcing the prize, the Swedish Academy called Le
Clézio an author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy,
explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization. He is joined
in conversation by The New Yorkers Adam Gopnik.
- Conversation with Adam
Gopnik
Source: The PEN, A World Association of
Writers. www.pen.org
On his first major U.S. appearance since being awarded the 2008 Nobel for
Literature, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio is joined in conversation by The New
Yorker's Adam Gopnik.