Le Clézio L’Îlien, ou Comment J.M.G. S'Est Insularisé

Abstract

Islands are integral to Le Clézio's worldview: Mauritius, Rodrigues, Flat Island, and Libertalia resonate in his writing like the refrain of a chanson creole. Many studies confirm the central importance of the Mascarene Islands in his work, emphasizing key themes relating to exoticism, nostalgia, multicultural identities, postcolonial issues, and the problems of globalization. Since receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2008, Le Clézio has foregrounded his Franco-Mauritian identity more explicitly, in both personal contexts and politico-cultural initiatives. This article examines the evolution of the author's “islanded” identity, drawing on interviews and textual analysis, as well as recent developments in “islanding” theory. It traces Le Clézio's journey towards an expiatory utopia where his French colonial past is reconciled in the multicultural future of Mauritius.

Keywords:

• J.M.G. Le Clézio
• Île Maurice
• Insularité
• Expiation
• Utopie

Notes

1 Hawkins souligne que Le Chercheur d'or « has since become a classic of Mauritian literature and its author an influential figure in the island's recent literary development, even though his more recent texts have resumed their nomadic subject-matter and have little direct relevance to his publicly declared Mauritian identity. In this respect, he is probably representative of the extensive Mauritian diaspora, and his work symbolically opens up the postcolonial questioning of the relevance of national identification » (103–104). Jean-Louis Joubert le classe pourtant comme écrivain français : « Il est bien clair que J.M. Le Clézio appartient à la littérature française » (183).

2 Jean-Xavier Ridon observe un phénomène semblable à travers Raga : Approche du continent invisible (2006) où le projet de Le Clézio se dirige vers l’île Pentecôte : « Il y a dans Raga la même nécessité du discours historique afin de resituer l'archipel à l'intérieur de l'histoire de l'extension des empires coloniaux européens mais dans le cadre d'une expérience personnelle » (77).

3 Voir aussi sa conférence Nobel « Dans la forêt des paradoxes » où il dédie ce prix à Malcolm de Chazal, à Abhimanyu Unnuth, au chanteur réunionnais Danyèl Waro, parmi d'autres écrivains du monde entier.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jacqueline Dutton

Jacqueline Dutton is Associate Professor in French Studies at the University of Melbourne. She has published widely on contemporary French literature, including a monograph on J.M.G. Le Clézio, Le Chercheur d'or et d'ailleurs: L’Utopie de J.M.G. Le Clézio (L'Harmattan, 2003). Her research on competing temporalities in travel writing (Nottingham French Studies), the futures of Francophonie (Australian Journal of French Studies), and comparative and postcolonial utopianism (Utopian Studies Journal) has resulted in editorship of special issues on these topics. She also co-edited volumes on counterculture (M/C Journal) and dark travel and postcolonial cultures (Postcolonial Studies). She is currently writing a book on the cultural history and geopolitics of wine in Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne.