What do you think?
Rate this book
Contes philosophiques du monde entier
Ces contes philosophiques anonymes viennent du monde entier. Ils sont zen ou soufis, chinois, juifs, indiens, persans ou africains, européens aussi, américains, contemporains. Ils sont souvent drôles, ou bien graves, ou même les deux à la fois. Ils sont parfois ambigus, et même inquiétants. Ils nous ressemblent.
Ces contes, qui traversent le temps, se rapportent à toutes les questions qui, un jour ou l'autre, nous ont agités. Et ils nous disent ce que seule la fiction, ce que seules les histoires peuvent dire.
Jean-Claude Carrière les a écrits et ordonnés comme s'il s'agissait d'un manuel de philosophie, la philosophie par les contes, un manuel où le chemin vers la sagesse serait hasardeux et plaisant, uniquement constitué des meilleures histoires du monde, qui forment une guirlande de voix que rien, jamais, n'a pu faire taire.
Ces contes, qui traversent le temps, se rapportent à toutes les questions qui, un jour ou l'autre, nous ont agités. Et ils nous disent ce que seule la fiction, ce que seules les histoires peuvent dire.
Jean-Claude Carrière les a écrits et ordonnés comme s'il s'agissait d'un manuel de philosophie, la philosophie par les contes, un manuel où le chemin vers la sagesse serait hasardeux et plaisant, uniquement constitué des meilleures histoires du monde, qui forment une guirlande de voix que rien, jamais, n'a pu faire taire.
384 pages, Pocket Book
Published August 26, 2021
3 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Jean-Claude Carrière
206 books88 followersJean-Claude Carrière is a writer, playwright and screenwriter, who has also written under the pseudonym Benoît Becker.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 12, 2025
Some of these stories are a pleasure to read. Others are not. A few I had known as jokes. I find that sometimes it is better to read a book just once, for an unspoiled pleasure and a good memory.
Someone has said that books are cold but sure friends. To keep it that way, I need to keep my distance from certain (Many?) books. I have given the example of Sons and Lovers; it is now the case for this collection of Very to extremely short stories.
Some have the pretense of offering the meaning (or lack thereof) of life.
In one, two Chinese wise men meet-one is telling a rather long tale of learning, understanding. When asked, the second old man says that he learned
“To try to do no harm and do good as much as possible”
The first sage is flabbergasted: “what?!?!” I told you a lot of my secrets and all you can come up with is this nonsense??
The second Chinese draws some other wise conclusion like: old, wise, but still unable to get a short, clever advice…
There are quite a few from the Jewish wisdom…for that matter there are African, Polish, Chinese, Sufi, Nastratin Hogea and other material.
Three Major Rabbis take a taxi and talk with humility about themselves and their achievements:
The first says I am so small, so humble
The second continues:
“I am nothing, nothing at all”
The last one says
“If you say that, there are no words to express my humility”
To that, the taxi driver responds:
What can I say if you all go on like this??
All of the rabbis react:
“Who does he think he is?!?”
A Jewish man from Poland is shown Paris, The Louvre and all the rest by Rothschild. In Poland, when Rot child gets invited, after a few days he is asked to pay 70 dollars for lodgings.
Rotchild is very upset, but the Polish Jew gets him over to the local rabbi, who decides that Rotchild has to pay.
At the very end, the Polish Jew explains:
You showed me all that Paris has to offer, what could I show you?
How stupid our rabbi can be…
An unusual, odd man was mocked and criticised by his family and friends.
He gets a stork, cuts its beak because it is too unusual.
The same for its too long feet…
At the end he throws it out and says now fly and enjoy…or something like that
This is in the category of “stupid wisdom”
My favorite story has been retold by Somerset Maugham and is the title of a book I have loved Appointment in Samarra
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threating getsture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
Someone has said that books are cold but sure friends. To keep it that way, I need to keep my distance from certain (Many?) books. I have given the example of Sons and Lovers; it is now the case for this collection of Very to extremely short stories.
Some have the pretense of offering the meaning (or lack thereof) of life.
In one, two Chinese wise men meet-one is telling a rather long tale of learning, understanding. When asked, the second old man says that he learned
“To try to do no harm and do good as much as possible”
The first sage is flabbergasted: “what?!?!” I told you a lot of my secrets and all you can come up with is this nonsense??
The second Chinese draws some other wise conclusion like: old, wise, but still unable to get a short, clever advice…
There are quite a few from the Jewish wisdom…for that matter there are African, Polish, Chinese, Sufi, Nastratin Hogea and other material.
Three Major Rabbis take a taxi and talk with humility about themselves and their achievements:
The first says I am so small, so humble
The second continues:
“I am nothing, nothing at all”
The last one says
“If you say that, there are no words to express my humility”
To that, the taxi driver responds:
What can I say if you all go on like this??
All of the rabbis react:
“Who does he think he is?!?”
A Jewish man from Poland is shown Paris, The Louvre and all the rest by Rothschild. In Poland, when Rot child gets invited, after a few days he is asked to pay 70 dollars for lodgings.
Rotchild is very upset, but the Polish Jew gets him over to the local rabbi, who decides that Rotchild has to pay.
At the very end, the Polish Jew explains:
You showed me all that Paris has to offer, what could I show you?
How stupid our rabbi can be…
An unusual, odd man was mocked and criticised by his family and friends.
He gets a stork, cuts its beak because it is too unusual.
The same for its too long feet…
At the end he throws it out and says now fly and enjoy…or something like that
This is in the category of “stupid wisdom”
My favorite story has been retold by Somerset Maugham and is the title of a book I have loved Appointment in Samarra
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threating getsture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
October 3, 2024
Presque 400 pages de vide sidéral. Seule une histoire sur dix est digne d'intérêt, mais TOUTES sont mal amenées et racontées de manière extrêmement ennuyeuse. Par moments, on ne sait même plus s'il s'agit d'un recueil d'histoires philosophiques ou d'une compilation de blagues... Je n'arrive pas à croire que j'ai payé 12 € pour ce livre que je n'ai même pas terminé tant il est mauvais, et pourtant je continue de le voir dans chaque librairie où je mets les pieds.
March 20, 2023
Read about half of it before giving up.
It is mostly uninteresting stories, narrated in a not so interesting way either, with a focus on details that does not add value to the narrative.
Some stories are just outrageous. I know it is supposed to be a collection of stories from around the world and different periods, but I am not sure I want to read that many racist or misogynistic stories. Can’t really enjoy a story where a husband beats his wife, even when presented as a 4-liner piece of culture from another country.
A couple of stories are actually good. Not amazingly good but enjoyable. Sadly it does not make up for the rest of it.
I am sorry but to me you have to be quite pretentious to actually like this book, and largely insensitive to current social issues.
It is mostly uninteresting stories, narrated in a not so interesting way either, with a focus on details that does not add value to the narrative.
Some stories are just outrageous. I know it is supposed to be a collection of stories from around the world and different periods, but I am not sure I want to read that many racist or misogynistic stories. Can’t really enjoy a story where a husband beats his wife, even when presented as a 4-liner piece of culture from another country.
A couple of stories are actually good. Not amazingly good but enjoyable. Sadly it does not make up for the rest of it.
I am sorry but to me you have to be quite pretentious to actually like this book, and largely insensitive to current social issues.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews