Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

Bronwen Martin (Birkbeck, University of London)

Ed. by David Houston Jones, University of Exeter
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.07: French Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (University of Western Australia), Hugo Azerad (University of Cambridge), Patrick ffrench (King's College London), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London), Siobhán McIlvanney (King's College London), Sinan Richards (King's College London), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born 13 Apr 1940
Activity 1963-ongoing

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Children's/Young Adult writer
Essayist
Novelist
Story-writer

Resources

Le Clézio's Works

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Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio is widely regarded as one of the greatest living writers in the French language. He is the author of at least forty books, including novels, short stories, philosophical essays, translations from Amerindian texts and numerous prefaces and articles as well as children's stories. His writings represent a powerful critique of Western materialist societies and are characterised by an openness towards other cultures and towards more spiritual, less rational worldviews. Focusing on the poor and marginalised, Le Clézio's texts condemn all forms of exploitation and slavery as well as the ideologies that underpin warfare, colonial expansion and economic globalisation. His work is essentially poetic, bringing to the fore the role of memory and of the imagination in…

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2326 words

Citation: Martin, Bronwen. "Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 May 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12495, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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