An Interpretation of Le Clezio's Novels

Born in a Franco-Mauritian family, the French novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio felt he belonged nowhere, not even in France, due to his juvenile vagrancy, and he was thus distressed by this lack of identity. The heroines in his novels are, as the author himself, constantly exploring an ideal country where they transcend nationality as well as the geographical bounds, and always trying to establish a new relationship with their native land through their wanderings. Le Clezio's novels do not have clear stylistic attributes, within which the rhythm of epics, chansons and Indian poems melt into one narration. His writings are bare and innocent, surpassing the functions of language and bringing the readers highly sensual enjoyment. Nomadic and drifting, uncertain and rootless, these qualities are neither a gesture nor an aesthetic caprice of the author, but the way he chooses to live out his spiritual and daily existence.