Mydriasis Followed by To the Icebergs

by J.M.G. Le Clézio, Teresa Lavender Fagan (Translation)

While presenting the Nobel Prize in Literature to J. M. G. Le Clézio in 2008, the Nobel Committee called him the “author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization.” In Mydriasis , the author proves himself to be precisely that as he takes us on a phantasmagoric journey into parallel worlds and whirling visions. Dwelling on darkness, light, and human vision, Le Clézio’s richly poetic prose composes a mesmerizing song and a dizzying exploration of the universe—a universe not unlike the abysses explored by the highly idiosyncratic Belgian poet Henri Michaux.
 
Michaux is, in fact, at the heart of To the Icebergs . Fascinated by his writing, Le Clézio includes Michaux’s "poem of the poem," "Iniji," thereby allowing the poet’s voice to emerge by itself. What follows is much more than a simple analysis of the poem; rather, it is an act of complete insight and understanding, a personal appropriation and elevation of the work. Written originally in the 1970s and now translated into English for the first time, these two brief, incisive and haunting texts will further strengthen the reputation of one of the world’s greatest and most visionary living writers.
 

113 pages, Hardcover

First published April 2, 2014

About the author

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, better known as J.M.G. Le Clézio (born 13 April 1940) is a Franco-Mauriciano novelist. The author of over forty works, he was awarded the 1963 Prix Renaudot for his novel Le Procès-Verbal (The Interrogation) and the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Reviews

[Alan Reese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I was lost. Beautiful to read, but I felt alone and drifting in the cosmos. If that was the intended effect, then SUCCESS! A lot of it resonated with ideas I explore in my own poetry, but it went way beyond my own abstract evocations and ambiguity. There is much of zen and phenomenology in this little book, but don't wander in looking for something concrete and direct.

[Pallavi (pals_bookshelf)]

DNF after 10 pages

[Frédéric Bourgeon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, wow, wow. Fast, moving, different. This high-paced word-intensive novel swooshes through night and day, eyes and stones.