Melville: A Novel - Couverture souple

Giono, Jean

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1681371375 ISBN 13 : 9781681371375

Editeur : NYRB Classics, 2017

A propos du livre

Revue de presse :

"An intelligent and moving translation by Paul Eprile...Giono’s book is, as Eprile maintains, 'A Novel,' a rich and haunting 'voyage imaginaire,' shedding light not just on its ostensible subject, but on its author, love and loss, and the process and calling of artistic creation...an extraordinary book which richly deserves this belated attention and fine translation. " —Nicholas Hewitt, TLS

“A giddy fantasia on the life of Herman Melville...It’s a fetching little tale.” —Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

"For Giono, literature and reality overlap the way that waves sweep over the shore, one ceaselessly refreshing the other and, in certain wondrous moments, giving it a glassy clearness.” —Ryu Spaeth, New Republic
"This lyrical novel reimagines Herman Melville’s life and adds a hauntingly atmospheric spin....This isn’t your typical fictionalized life of a writer—instead, it’s an unexpected meditation on the convergence of two literary lives.” —Kirkus Reviews 

"Giono illustrates how an author’s artistic output enriches and illuminates his life, in ways that historical facts cannot provide...Giono expands Melville’s context, painting him as a transatlantic heir to Milton and Shakespeare. At the same time, he also expands Melville’s own influence, cementing his impact on French culture, which has been considerable.” —Adam Fales, Los Angeles Review of Books

“Giono’s writing possesses a vigor, a surprising texture, a contagious joy, a sureness of touch and design, an arresting originality, and that sort of unfeigned strangeness that always goes along with sincerity when it escapes from the ruts of convention.” –André Gide, unpublished letter, 1929

“Melville is a powerful testament to the magic of words.” —Edmund White, The New York Review of Books

“After reading Pour saluer Melville, which is a poet’s interpretation of a poet—‘a pure invention,’ as Giono said in a letter—I was literally beside myself. How often is it the foreigner who teaches us to appreciate our own authors!” —Henry Miller

Biographie de l'auteur :

Jean Giono (1895–1970) was born and lived most of his life in the town of Manosque, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Largely self-educated, he started working as a bank clerk at the age of sixteen and reported for military service when World War I broke out. He saw action in several battles, including Verdun, and was one of only two members of his company to survive. After the war, he returned to his job and family in Manosque and became a vocal, lifelong pacifist. After the success of Hill, which won the Prix Brentano, he left the bank and began to publish prolifically. During World War II Giono’s outspoken pacifism led some to accuse him, unjustly, of defeatism and of collaboration with the Nazis; after France’s liberation in 1944, he was imprisoned and held without charges. Despite being blacklisted after his release, Giono continued writing and achieved renewed success. He was elected to the Académie Goncourt in 1954.

Paul Eprile is a longtime publisher (Between the Lines, Toronto), as well as a poet and translator. He is currently at work on the translation of Jean Giono’s 1951 novel, The Open Road (forthcoming from NYRB), and lives on the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario, Canada.

Edmund White is the author of twenty-five books, including The Unpunished Vice: A Life of Reading, which was published in the spring of 2018.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: NYRB Classics
• Date d'édition: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1681371375
• ISBN 13: 9781681371375
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 128