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Mondo et autres histoires is a 1978 short story collection by French author J. M. G. Le Clézio. The stories in this collection all concern adolescents who in one way or another leave their familiar (civilized) circumstances and have numinous experiences accompanied by a rite of passage or other initiation.

Contents and themes

In "Lullaby" a young girl leaves the busy town for the sea, and a meditative experience (compared to passages in Thoreau's Walden and Rousseau's Reveries of a Solitary Walker) lets her realize a transformed way of respiration after which a journey ensues along rocks with mysterious inscriptions, a bunker, a white villa, a Greek temple, and other places of self-discovery. An encounter with a threatening man prompts her to jump from a cliff and crawl back to her village just before she, apparently, is to understand the meaning of her journey.[1]

Likewise, "The Boy Who Had Never Seen the Sea" is a story of a boy "who runs away from school to be near the sea"; this story was translated into English and published by The New Yorker in 2008.[2]

Stories

  • "Mondo"
  • "Lullaby"
  • "La montagne du dieu vivant" ("The Mountain of the Living God")
  • "La roue d'eau" ("The Waterwheel")
  • "Celui qui n'avait jamais vu la mer" ("Daniel Who Had Never Seen the Sea")
  • "Hazaran"
  • "Peuple du ciel" ("People of the Sky")
  • "Les bergers" ("The Shepherds")

"Mondo" was the basis for the movie of the same name by Tony Gatlif.[3] "Lullaby", "Peuple du ciel", "Les Bergers", "Celui qui n'avait jamais vu la mer", and "La Montagne du dieu vivant" were also published separately.[4]

Publication history

  • First French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G (1978). Mondo et autres histoires (in French). Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 2-07-038676-7.
  • Second French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G (1987). Mondo et autres histoires (in French). Paris: Gallimard Education.
  • Third French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G (1996). Mondo et autres histoires (in French). Paris: Gallimard Education.
  • Fourth French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G (1982). Mondo et autres histoires (Collection Folio) (French Edition) (Mass Market Paperback) (in French). Prefaced by Christophe-Édouard Konaté and with an illustrated presentation by Isabelle Varloteaux. Paris: Gallimard Education. ISBN 978-2-07-037365-9. OCLC 281627788.12th re-Print Gallimard, Paris 2008 (With new author biography) and 2000 (Reprint: 1982 ed)
  • Fifth French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G (2006). Mondo et autres histoires (in French). Prefaced by Christophe-Édouard Konaté and with an illustrated presentation by Isabelle Varloteaux. Paris: Gallimard Education, Folioplus classiques, 67. ISBN 978-2-07-033785-9.
  • Sixth French edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G (2008) [1982]. Mondo et autres histoires (in French). Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 978-2-07-037365-9. With new author biography
  • First English edition: Le Clézio, J. M. G (2011). Mondo and Other Stories. Translated by Alison Anderson. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-80-322999-0.

Reception

Mondo has been generally well received. Booklist wrote "This collection of stories by the recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature may not be to everyone's goût, but no one who reads it will complain about the quality of the writing." and "Anderson's elegant translation conveys the detailed, physical, fluid, and complex lushness of the language, which may engage and satisfy readers of Garcia Marquez and other master stylists."[5] Publishers Weekly called it a"vivid, subtle collection".[5] The Washington Post described the stories as "strange, hypnotic, overtly poetic pieces" and concludes "In Le Clezio’s fictional universe, the world exists in a prelapsarian state of timeless grace, at least until the inevitably corrupt and destructive world of adults comes crashing in."[6] Library Journal found that "his quiet explorations of beauty and culture are freshly, conversationally written."[7]

References

  1. ^ Thibault, Bruno (2009). J.M.G. Le Clézio Et la Métaphore Exotique. Rodopi. pp. 75–83. ISBN 9789042026469. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  2. ^ Le Clézio, J. M. G. (27 October 2008). "The Boy Who Had Never Seen the Sea". The New Yorker. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  3. ^ "Mondo". IMDb. 1995. Retrieved 2008-11-07. In Gatlif's retelling, Mondo is alienated by the busy consumer society of Nice, France: he is always hiding from city officials who try to arrest him and he feels ill-at-ease in the bustling downtown area.
  4. ^ Le Clézio, J. M. G; Illustrated by Georges Lemoine (1990). La grande vie ;
    suivi de, Peuple du ciel     (in French). Paris: Gallimard Jeunesse. ISBN 978-2-07-055179-8.
  5. ^ a b "Mondo & other stories = Mondo et autres histoires /". www.buffalolib.org. Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. Archived from the original on April 26, 2016. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  6. ^ Lindgren, Michael (April 15, 2011). "3 short story collections: 'Mondo,' 'Bullfighting' and 'Pulse'". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  7. ^ Barbara Hoffert (January 5, 2012). "Good-bye 2011: Best Short Stories, Poetry Not To Miss, Fiction in Translation". www.libraryjournal.com. Media Source. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lullaby_(1980_novel)