- Dans la forêt des paradoxes
-
"In the forest of paradoxes" Author(s) J. M. G. Le Clézio
Translated by Alison AndersonOriginal title "Dans la forêt des paradoxes" Country France Language French Genre(s) Essay Publisher Svenska Akademien Publication date December 7, 2008 Pages 1 pp "Dans la forêt des paradoxes" is an essay written by French author and Nobel laureate J. M. G. Le Clézio in French[1] and translated into English by Alison Anderson as In the forest of paradoxes[2].
Contents
Purpose
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio delivered his Nobel Lecture,"Dans la forêt des paradoxes"(In the forest of paradoxes), 7 December 2008, at the Swedish Academy, Stockholm.[3]
Introduction
Le Clézio was introduced by Horace Engdahl, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy.
In his comments to reporters after the announcement that the Nobel Prize this year was going to Le Clézio, Engdahl again struck a cosmopolitan note. Le Clézio, he said approvingly, "is not a typical Frenchman; he is a nomadic writer. He doesn't belong anywhere."[4]
— Jonathan Derbyshire
The Lecture was dedicated to...
“To the Africans:
- Wole Soyinka
- Chinua Achebe
- Ahmadou Kourouma
- Mongo Beti
- to Alan Paton’s Cry, The Beloved Country
- to Thomas Mofolo’s Chaka
- To the great Mauritian author Malcolm de Chazal
- who wrote, among other things, Judas
- To the Hindi-language Mauritian novelist Abhimanyu Unnuth[5], for ‘Lal passina’ (Sweating Blood)
- to the Urdu novelist Qurratulain Hyder
- for her epic novel Ag ka Darya (River of Fire).”
— Le Clézio[6]
French
The lecture was delivered in French.[7] There is an English translation published on the web-page of the Nobel prize in Literature.[2]
"Dans la forêt des paradoxes"
French version on the Nobel Lecture web-page[1]
as published by THE NOBEL FOUNDATION 2008
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, winner of that year's Nobel Prize for Literature, gives a lecture about the "forêt des paradoxes", which "is, precisely, the realm of writing, the place from which the artist must not attempt to escape". Speaking about his own influences and the global importance of literature in translation, the french-mauritian laureate quotes Stig Dagerman, claiming after the following quote that the very name and concept of the "forêt des paradoxes" is taken from "The Writer and Consciousness", one of the swedish author's political essays.[8].
"How is it possible on the one hand, for example, to behave as if nothing on earth were more important than literature, and on the other fail to see that wherever one looks, people are struggling against hunger and will necessarily consider that the most important thing is what they earn at the end of the month? Because this is where he (the writer) is confronted with a new paradox: while all he wanted was to write for those who are hungry, he now discovers that it is only those who have plenty to eat who have the leisure to take notice of his existence."
— Stig Dagerman, "The Writer and Consciousness", as quoted by J-M.G. Le Clézio[9]
English translation
Translated by Alison Anderson with the title "In the forest of paradoxes"[2]
Calls on publishers to boost efforts to disseminate books in all languages
Publishers must support literary translation and act creatively so that books are no longer an inaccessible luxury for many
— Le Clézio speaking at the Swedish Academy,reported by the guardian [10]
Mentions Hitler
Who knows, if the Internet had existed at the time, perhaps Hitler's criminal plot would not have succeeded – ridicule might have prevented it from ever seeing the light of day.
— J. M. G. Le Clézio[11]
Criticism
"If there is one virtue which the writer's pen must always have, it is that it must never be used to praise the powerful, even with the faintest of scribblings."
— Le Clézio, Brittany, 4 November 2008 translated by Alison Anderson
Clay Risen's derision of Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio's acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize for Literature"Really? In my humble experience, sometimes powerful people can do great good [...]and poor people can do great evil."[12]
Permission to re-publish
"General permission is granted for the publication in newspapers in any language after December 7, 2008, 5:30 p.m. (Swedish time). Publication in periodicals or books otherwise than in summary requires the consent of the Foundation. On all publications in full or in major parts the above underlined copyright notice must be applied".[2]
— THE NOBEL FOUNDATION 2008
Publication history
- 2008, Brittany,France,THE NOBEL FOUNDATION 2008 Svenska Akademien
References
- ^ a b Le Clézio, Jean-Marie Gustave (2008-12-07). "Conférence Nobel" (in French). Conférence Nobel. LA FONDATION NOBEL 2008. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2008/clezio-lecture_fr.html. Retrieved 11 December 2008.
- ^ a b c d THE NOBEL FOUNDATION 2008 (2008-12-07). "THE NOBEL FOUNDATION 2008". Nobel Lecture. THE NOBEL FOUNDATION 2008. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2008/clezio-lecture_en.html. Retrieved 11 December 2008.
- ^ http://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=French_author_Le_Cl%C3%A9zio_wins_the_2008_Nobel_Prize_in_Literature&stable=1
- ^ "Rise of the new Anglo-world order". Books. New Statesman. 2008-12-18. http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2008/12/world-literature-french. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
- ^ "Interview with Jean-Marie Le Clézio". Interview conducted by Tirthankar Chanda Academic and contributor to Le Magazine littéraire. France-Diplomatie. 2008. http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/france_159/label-france_2554/label-france-issues_2555/label-france-no.-45_3724/literature_3732/interview-with-jean-marie-clezio_5092.html. Retrieved 18 December 2008. "Le Clézio said "I am thinking of the Mauritian novelist, Abhimanyu Unnuth, who I discovered recently when the new translation of his book "Lal Pasina" was published. This is a novel which in some ways reminds you of Eugène Sue. Unnuth uses the traditional novel form, but the better to subvert it by introducing epic elements, songs and a rhythm which belongs to Indian poetics. The result is The Wandering Jew or Les Mystères de Paris, Ramayana revisited!""
- ^ "Le Clézio dedicates Nobel Prize to Qurratulain Hyder, others". IANS. 2008-12-08. http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/le-clezio-dedicates-nobel-prize-to-qurratulain-hyder-others_100128633.html. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
- ^ Le Clézio, Jean-Marie Gustave (2008-12-07). "Dans la forêt des paradoxes". Nobel Lecture. THE NOBEL FOUNDATION 2008. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2008/clezio-lecture.html. Retrieved 11 December 2008. ""See a Video of the Nobel Lecture""
- ^ Le Clézio, Jean-Marie Gustave (2008-12-07). "Dans la forêt des paradoxes". Nobel Lecture. THE NOBEL FOUNDATION 2008. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2008/clezio-lecture_en.html. Retrieved 22 April 2011.. J.-M. G. Le Clézio is quoting from "a collection of political essays entitled Essäer och texter" he is "particularly fond of".
- ^ "Le Clézio travels into 'the forest of paradoxes'". Charlotte West news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518. The Local Swedens news in English. 2008-12-08. http://www.thelocal.se/16192/20081207/. Retrieved 2011-04-22.
- ^ Lea, Richard (2008-12-08). "Le Clézio uses Nobel lecture to attack information poverty". guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/dec/08/jmg-clezio-nobel-lecture. Retrieved 11 December 2008. ""Publishers must support literary translation and act creatively so that books are no longer an inaccessible luxury for many, he said.""
- ^ "The potential for tyranny is there in any era". Tom Sutcliffe. the Independent. 2008-12-08. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/thomas-sutcliffe/tom-sutcliffe-the-potential-for-tyranny-is-there-in-any-era-1058043.html. Retrieved 11 December 2008. ""Unfortunately he also, very briefly, mentioned Hitler. As a result a passing aside in his lecture won most of the headline space""
- ^ "Nobel Rot". Clay Risen. The New Republic. 2008-12-09. http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/12/09/nobel-rot.aspx. Retrieved 11 December 2008. "Really? In my humble experience, sometimes powerful people can do great good—i.e., Franklin Roosevelt—and poor people can do great evil. And vice-versa—the world is a crazy, complicated place. Most people I know gave up such reductive, proto-Marxism in their late teens."[dead link]
Works by J. M. G. Le Clézio Novels Le Procès-Verbal (The Interrogation) · Le Jour où Beaumont fit connaissance avec sa douleur · Le Livre des fuites (The Book of Flights: An Adventure Story) · Le déluge (The Flood) · Terra Amata · La Guerre (War) · Voyages de l'autre côté · Désert (Desert) · Le Chercheur d'or (The prospector) · Étoile errante (Wandering Star) · Onitsha · La Quarantaine · Poisson d'or · Hasard suivi de Angoli Mala · Fantômes dans la rue · Révolutions · Ourania · Ritournelle de la faim
Essays TreatiseMydriase · L'Extase matérielleInterviewConversations avec J.M.G. Le Clézio · AilleursLiterary criticismSur Lautréamont · Vers les icebergs (Essai sur Henri Michaux) · "Freedom to Dream" "Freedom to Speak" · On reading as true travelBiographySemi-AutobiographicalDans la maison d'Edith · "The African"Poetic essayL'Inconnu sur la TerreLectureDans la forêt des paradoxes (In the forest of paradoxes)Cinema essaysBallacinerHistorical analysisTravelogueHaï · Trois Villes saintes · Voyage à Rodrigues · Gens des nuages · Raga. Approche du continent invisibleLettersUne lettre de J.M.G. Le Clezio ·Short stories La fièvre"("Fever") · "Mondo et autres histoires" · "La ronde et autres faits divers" ("The Round and Other Cold Hard Facts") · "Printemps et autres saisons" · "Pawana" · "La Fête chantée et autres essais de thème amérindien" · "Cœur brûle et autres romances" · "Tabataba suivi de pawana"
Translations into French Books for children Les Géants (The Giants) · Lullaby · "La Grande Vie" ("The Great Life") · Peuple du ciel · Balaabilou · Villa Aurore · L'enfant de sous le pont · Celui qui n'avait jamais vu la mer (The Boy Who Had Never Seen the Sea) · La montagne ou le dieu vivant · Voyage au pays des arbres
Works attributed to other authors
with text by Le ClézioThe French language preface to Juan Rulfo's short story collection Le Llano en flammes · In the Eye of the Sun: Mexican Fiestas · Enfances
Categories:- 2008 essays
- Essays by J. M. G. Le Clézio
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