Nobel winner J.M.G Le Clézio

[Prospect]

I been looking all over for ebooks by today’s nobel literature prize winner J.M.G Le Clézio, and it seems that there are some books available but only as pdfs in French.

Does anybody know if translations to English (or any of the Scandinavian languages) is avaialbe?

[Slite]

Originally Posted by Prospect

I been looking all over for ebooks by today’s nobel literature prize winner J.M.G Le Clézio, and it seems that there are some books available but only as pdfs in French.

Does anybody know if translations to English (or any of the Scandinavian languages) is avaialbe?

If there isn't now, wait a couple of weeks, then everyone want to cash in on this years Nobel-prize winner.

[RANTMODE ON]

Incidently, then Nobel-comitee who chooses the winners are considered a big joke here in sweden. Especially for the Literture prize winner. They go out of their way to find the most obscure writer they can find that the majority of readers have never heard of and give them the prize.

And the publisher here that has that writer "signed" opens up the champagne, cause everyone and his mother goes out to buy everything ever written by that person just so they can say "Of course I read him/her...."

[/RANTMODE OFF]

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by Slite

Incidently, then Nobel-comitee who chooses the winners are considered a big joke here in sweden. Especially for the Literture prize winner. They go out of their way to find the most obscure writer they can find that the majority of readers have never heard of and give them the prize.

Googling a list of prize winners; I'd say about 50% were unknown to me - which is probably fair enough considering it's a global award.

What used to bug me was that many awards seemed to be motivated by political considerations rather than literary ones (but I actually think there's less of that now).

[vivaldirules]

Amazon has these three titles for the Kindle:

-Wandering Star
-The Prospector
-The Mexican Dream: Or, the Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations

I do not have to say how many are available from Sony.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Prospect

I been looking all over for ebooks by today’s nobel literature prize winner J.M.G Le Clézio, and it seems that there are some books available but only as pdfs in French.

Does anybody know if translations to English (or any of the Scandinavian languages) is avaialbe?

Yes, there are quite a number of his novels and a collection of short stories available in English. --- I should say, they were translated and were published; whether they have been republished (before the Award) is problematic.

Look for a bunch of his titles to become available again, most probably in trade paper editions.

I read LeClezio back in the mid-70s when I was experimenting with many French writers. This was about the same time I discovered Claude Simon.

LeClezio's books are not for everyone. They're "science fictionish" in one sense, but for me personally they transcend that genre. If you want linear plots and characters that one can easily identify with, then I would have to say that his writing may not be favored.

I love his writing, which to me is somewhat decadent and dream-like. The characters move "randomly" through immobilized cities where advertising is King.

His writing is an acquired taste, but I like it a lot.


Don

[Prospect]

Vivaldi: I can not find these titles in the Kindle store. Can you provide a link?
(For me it does not matter since I am not aware of a way of transferring Kindle books from Amazon to my Cybook in Norway ;-)

Dr.Drip: Thanks for your comment. Appreciated. Here in Norway Mr Le Clézio is a known author, and several of his books are available in Norwegian. When his name was brought to my attention by the award today I did some research (as I always do on the literature Nobel prize winners) and found that he seemed like an interesting author. However I was not able to get hold of any of his books in ebook format this evening in a language that is understandable to me.

Slite is of course correct that the industry will seize the moment and make sure that Le Clézios work will be available. However, as spoiled ebook reader, I want his books now and not in two weeks. (In two weeks the price of the ebooks introduced will probably also be higher because of marked dynamics).

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by Prospect

Vivaldi: I can not find these titles in the Kindle store. Can you provide a link?
(For me it does not matter since I am not aware of a way of transferring Kindle books from Amazon to my Cybook in Norway ;-)

My bad. Searching Kindle Books for 'le Clezio' returns a page with the three pbooks on it but it clearly says at the top of the page that no matches for Kindle books were found. Sorry. And, well, I guess I can not hate Sony quite so much since Amazon is just as bad in this one tiny, insignificant instance.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Slite

Incidently, then Nobel-comitee who chooses the winners are considered a big joke here in sweden. Especially for the Literture prize winner. They go out of their way to find the most obscure writer they can find that the majority of readers have never heard of and give them the prize.

I don't think that's true for the science prizes. They seem to go to people who've done genuinely groundbreaking work. Eg, I don't think you'd find too many people who'd argue that Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier don't deserve the prize for medicine for discovering that the HIV virus is the virus responsible for AIDS.

[Slite]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't think that's true for the science prizes. They seem to go to people who've done genuinely groundbreaking work. Eg, I don't think you'd find too many people who'd argue that Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier don't deserve the prize for medicine for discovering that the HIV virus is the virus responsible for AIDS.

True, I should have said in regards to the literature price, my bad

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Slite

True, I should have said in regards to the literature price, my bad

Generally, I completely agree with you - who the heck has every heard of most of the people who win? They do have the occasional flash of sanity - last year's literature prize going to Doris Lessing was pretty sensible, I though.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Generally, I completely agree with you - who the heck has every heard of most of the people who win?

Out of curiosity, I looked at the winners for the past twenty years; 9 were unknown to me before they won:
JEAN-MARIE GUSTAVE LE CLÉZIO
ORHAN PAMUK
ELFRIEDE JELINEK
IMRE KERTÉSZ
GAO XINGJIAN
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA
KENZABURO OE
OCTAVIO PAZ
CAMILO JOSÉ CELA

I had heard of the other 11:
DORIS LESSING
HAROLD PINTER
JOHN MAXWELL COETZEE
V. S. NAIPAUL
GUNTER GRASS
JOSE SARAMAGO
DARIO FO
SEAMUS HEANEY
TONI MORRISON
DEREK WALCOTT
NADINE GORDIMER

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Out of curiosity, I looked at the winners for the past twenty years; 9 were unknown to me before they won:
JEAN-MARIE GUSTAVE LE CLÉZIO
ORHAN PAMUK
ELFRIEDE JELINEK
IMRE KERTÉSZ
GAO XINGJIAN
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA
KENZABURO OE
OCTAVIO PAZ
CAMILO JOSÉ CELA

I had heard of the other 11:
DORIS LESSING
HAROLD PINTER
JOHN MAXWELL COETZEE
V. S. NAIPAUL
GUNTER GRASS
JOSE SARAMAGO
DARIO FO
SEAMUS HEANEY
TONI MORRISON
DEREK WALCOTT
NADINE GORDIMER

You're obviously better educated with respect to modern literature than I am. The only ones from that list I've heard of are:

DORIS LESSING
HAROLD PINTER
GUNTER GRASS
SEAMUS HEANEY

[Prospect]

I think that Slite’s comment regarding the prize being considered as a joke is correct for many people, just like a lot of people think that most of the modern arts is strange and of no value.

Very few people have ever heard of the people getting prices in the science disciplines, but accepts that the prices are awarded by a committee with special knowledge in that specific field.

[vivaldirules]

Speaking of Nobel winners, I've been wanting to read Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann (1929 Nobel winner) for years. It was first published in 1901 but the earliest English translation I can find was published in 1924 which means it's not in the public domain in the U.S. and since the translator (Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter) died in 1963, it won't make it to the public domain in Canada, for example, for another 5 years. Since Sony (nor Amazon) doesn't sell it in ebook format, I'd have to go buy the pbook (yuck). Does anyone know of an earlier translation?

[HarryT]

There's an interesting article on the BBC News web site about the Nobel winner:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7677013.stm