TY  - BOOK
AU  - Bronwen Martin
PY  - 2023
CY  - Oxford, United Kingdom
PB  - Peter Lang Verlag
SN  - 1422-9005
SN  - 9781803740683
TI  - The Ecological Vision of J.M.G. Le Clézio
DO  - 10.3726/b20410
UR  - https://www.peterlang.com/document/1288797
N2  - This book presents a close reading of four texts by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, guided by Gilles Deleuze’s concept of metamorphosis, «becoming-animal». In his critique of anthropocentrism and Western reason, Le Clézio dismantles the opposition between mind and matter, language and life, developing Henri Bergson’s notion of the living, «le vivant». A philosophical and ecological role is accorded poetic, sensorial expression, which is the means of communication between the multiple forms of life. For instance, the protagonist may become a bird: in their flight they form intercultural relations calling to mind the texts of Édouard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau. Importantly, Le Clézio never divorces the poetic from the socio-political. The text Bitna, sous le ciel de Séoul, for example, unfolds against the background of the war between North and South Korea. Through the figure of the war-traumatised homeless Algerian, Béchir, The Story of Dodo emerges as one of the most powerful critics of nationalism and capitalism ever written.
KW  - ‘becoming animal’, poetic, sensorial expression, bird, imagination, Relation, music, The Ecological Vision of J.M.G. Le Clézio, Bronwen Martin
LA  - English
ER  -