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| Peripatetic Nobel with a Heart in Mexico |
| His affection for the Mayan people induced a French translation of the Prophecies of Chilam Balam |
| Dr. Jake Watts |
 Mérida,
Ocober 13, 2008.- The French are known for three things: food, wine and
insularity. Our newest Nobel Laureate for Literature, the Frenchman,
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, shatters that mold into a thousand
pieces. He is a speaker of at least a half dozen languages, three of
which are pre-Colombian, including Maya, which he learned while living
in a Yucatecan village during the 70’s. His affection for the Mayan
people induced a French translation of the Prophecies of Chilam Balam.In
addition to Yucatan, Le Clezio, has lived and taught in Zamora,
Michoacan at the Colegio Michoacan. There he wrote two works, “La
Conquista divina de Michoacán” and “El sueño mexicano o el pensamiento
interrumpido” published by the Fondo de Cultura Económica. He is quoted
as saying he considers himself an Indian, something he discovered
living in Mexico for 12 years.
Le Clezio has also found solace in the cultures of Japan and Korea, where he taught French. From 1970 to 1974, he lived with the Embera-Wounaan Indians in Panama.
A constant traveler, he received word of his award in Paris while on stopover between South Korea and Canada.
Prior to winning the Nobel Prize, Le Clezio was awarded the newly created grand prix Paul Morand by the Academie francaise in 1980 for the novel Desert, his most popular. The story is based on the experiences of European immigrants of a lost Tuareg civilization in the Sahara.
Le Clezio was born in Nice in 1940 to a Mauritian doctor with British citizenship and French mother. He spent his youth in Africa where his father served as surgeon in the British Army. He returned to France and wrote a doctoral thesis in 1983 on Mexico’s early history for the University of Perpignan. Currently, Le Clezio, divides his time between Albuquerque, New Mexico, Nice and Mauritania.
When asked about his devotion to native cultures, Le Clezio replied: "The dawn of peoples is important because we seem now to be living in the dusk. You have the sense that we are getting near the end."
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