Lecture géopoétique de "La Quarantaine" de J.-M.G. Le Clézio
Geopoetic reading of the novel entitled "La Quarantaine" by J.-M.G. Le Clézio

Author(s): Natalia Nielipowicz
Subject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, French Literature, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Le Clézio; La Quarantaine; Kenneth White; geopoetics; ecology; engaged literature
Summary/Abstract: Various civilisations and cultures are a breeding ground in the search of a harmonious life in agreement with the natural world, which is a feature of the characters in J.-M.G. Le Clézio’s novels. This is the case with the narrators of La Quarantaine, which will be read here through the prism of the philosophy of Kenneth White, a theoretician of geopoetics. According to geopoetic ideas the return journey, presented in the novel’s central story, for the narrator, is a vivid and sensual experience of new places. However the opening of the surrounding space becomes possible not only thanks to this physical experience but also thanks to the knowledge, both scientific and mythological, which the narrator acquires about the «opening» place. The article is an attempt to answer the question whether this new presence in the world, described by Le Clézio, will allow La Quarantaine to be assigned to the trend of ecologically engaged literature.

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