Frenchman Wins Nobel Laureate
Angela Doland - Associated Press
Oct 09, 2008
PARIS - Reports of the death of French culture are greatly exaggerated, at least according to this year's winner of the Nobel Prize in literature.
Frenchman Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, author of novels, essays and short stories, says he was surprised to hear Thursday that some observers believe France's arts world has lost its footing - as in Time magazine's story last year entitled "The Death of French Culture."
"I deny it," said the globe-trotting writer, who spends much of his time in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "It's a very rich, very diversified culture. There's no risk of decline."
Le Clezio himself is symbol of France's diversity. Though he was born in France, his father is British and he has dual nationality with Mauritius, where his family has roots. During a news conference, he said the Indian Ocean island is the place he feels most at home, and he flipped comfortably between French, English and Spanish.
The 68-year-old author said he was reading a book by Swedish writer Stig Dagerman when he got a call informing him he had won. He said he felt "some kind of incredulity and then some kind of awe and then some kind of joy and mirth."
He said the academy's description of him - as "an author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization" - was "very laudatory."
"I'm not sure I deserve that," he said. "But in the end, why not?"
Le Clezio said "there were a lot of other names that were being mentioned, people for whom I have a lot of respect."
"I was in good company. And for luck or destiny or other reasons, I got it," he said.
Le Clezio, known for his unconventional, poetic books, was the 14th French writer to win since the Nobel Prizes began in 1901.
Given the ongoing debate about whether French culture is lounging on its laurels, France's leaders were quick to single him out as a sign of France's worldwide influence.
"Through him, the most luminous humanist values are celebrated, the same ones that France has promoted in the international community: the refusal of injustice and oppression, tolerance, respect for civil liberties and the rights of minorities, the essential role of culture and the flourishing of the individual," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.
Le Clezio said one of the reasons why French culture is so rich is because it has been influenced by French-speaking countries around the world.
"French culture is one of cross-cultural fertilization," he said.
Last week, Swedish Academy Permanent Secretary Horace Engdahl told The Associated Press that the United States is too isolated and ignorant to challenge Europe on the world's literary scene.
But Le Clezio singled out one American writer he said deserved to win a Nobel - Philip Roth.
"Philip Roth is a very great writer, I think he will certainly have the prize," Le Clezio said. "But even if he doesn't get it, he's still a very great writer."
The Nobel laureate felt American literature was so varied it was difficult to define.
"I don't think you can say, American literature is such-and-such," Le Clezio said. "It's a very multifaceted literature."
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Copyright 2008 by Associated Press
