Voting Station

J. M. G. Le Clezio

Please vote to return to collections.

Author

The Resume

    (April 13, 1940- )
    Born in Nice, France
    Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
    Authored over Forty literary works
    Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 2008
    Best known works are 'Les Proces-Verbal' (The Interrogation, 1963) and 'Desert' (1980)
    Other works include 'Le Deluge,' 'The African,' 'La Guerre,' 'The Mexican Dream, Or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations,' 'Onitsha,' 'Terra Amata,' 'La Chercheur D'Or' (The Prospector), and 'Voyages de l'autre Cote' (Journeys to the Other Side)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was called French literature's Steve McQueen.
    Hay was made out of his being the first French-born, French-language writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize, since 1985, even though he doesn't identify as 'French' (he has dual citizenship, preferring to identify as Mauritian).
    He only decided to write in the French language after publishers rejected the English detective stories he submitted.
    His Vietnam War story, 'War,' was panned by Martin Amis as 'a torment to read.'
    Adam Gopnik said that his lower-quality work came off sounding 'like the narration of a Unicef documentary.'
    The post-Colonial theme of his writing tends to trickle into the content of his interview responses (saying 'Being European, I'm not sure of the value of my culture, because I know what it's done').
    He wrote a controversial article defending the directors of a Mexican shelter who were accused of child abuse after the police raided the premises (Aug. 2014).
    He was expelled from Thailand, allegedly for distributing copies of Mao's 'little red book' to students at a Buddhist university campus.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He's a private individual who eschews publicity.
    He was born to a Mauritian/Breton-French mother and a British doctor father.
    He has an exotic background, with cultural ties to Thailand, Mexico, and Nigeria (between his father's traveling profession and his own travels as a young man).
    His first published work, 'The Interrogation,' won the prestigious Renaudot Prize, in 1963.
    He was photographed and profiled as a generational icon by Henri Cartier-Bresson.
    He drew literary comparisons to Albert Camus on his publishing debut.
    He was the first recipient of the Grand Prix Paul Morand, awarded by the Académie Française, for his novel Désert (1980).
    He moved from an experiment surrealism in his early years to a form of realism reflecting his extensive world travels (they have been called almost lyrical).
    A 'Le Monde'-'Lire' survey had 13% of the readers name him 'the greatest living French-language writer.'
    He extensively studied the Indian civilizations of pre-Columbian Mexico and has published several translations of Mayan sacred texts/envocations.
    He used his Nobel Prize acceptance speech to attack 'informational poverty' in third-world countries.
    He may have been expelled from Thailand for denouncing the sexual trafficking of children in a French newspaper interview (the Mao charge just serving as a pretext).

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying