Mondo and Other Stories

Mondo and Other Stories

Cover of English translation
Author J. M. G. Le Clézio
Original title Mondo et autres histoires
Country France
Language French
Genre Short story collection
Publisher Gallimard, Paris
U of Nebraska P, Lincoln
Publication date
 1978 (French)
2011 (English)
Pages 379 pp
ISBN 9782070386765 (1st French ed.
9780803230002 (English translation)
OCLC 299465126

Mondo et autres histoires is a 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" was the basis for the movie of the same name by Tony Gatlif[3] "Peuple du ciel" and "Les Bergers" were also published separately.[4]

Publication history

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". 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. 1 2 "Mondo & other stories = Mondo et autres histoires /". www.buffalolib.org. Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. 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.
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