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    The Prospector
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    The Prospector
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    The Prospector
    Ebook368 pages5 hours

    The Prospector

    By J. M. G. Le Clezio

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    ***J. M. G. Le Clézio is the Winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Fiction***

    On the isle of Mauritius at the turn of the century the young Alexis L'Etang enjoys an idyllic existence with his parents and beloved sister - sampling the pleasures of privilege, exploring the onstellations and tropical flora, and dreaming of treasure buried long ago by the Unknown Corsair. But with his father's death, Alexis must leave his childhood paradise and enter the harsh world of privation and shame.

    Years later, Alexis has become obsessed with the idea of finding the Corsair's treasure; and through it, the lost magic and opulence of his youth. He abandons job and family, setting off on a quest that will take him from the remote tropical islands to the hell of the First World War, and from a love affair with the mysterious Ouma to a momentous confrontation with the search that has consumed his life.

    By turns harsh and lyrical, pointed and nostalgic, The Prospector is a 'parable of the human condition' (Le Monde) by one of the most significant literary figures in Europe today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtlantic Books
    Release dateApr 7, 2016
    ISBN9781848873858
    Unavailable
    The Prospector
    Author

    J. M. G. Le Clezio

    J.M.G. Le Clézio, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature, was born in Nice in 1940 and is one of France’s best-known contemporary writers. He has written more than 40 fiction and nonfiction books, including works for children. His works are translated into 36 languages around the world. He currently divides his time between Albuquerque, New Mexico, Mauritius, and his house on the sea in Brittany, France.

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    Reviews for The Prospector

    4/5

    61 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This novel about a man's search for a lost treasure and personal fulfillment begins on the island of Mauritius in 1892, where the eight year old Alexis L'Estang lives with his parents and beloved older sister Laure in an isolated house, surrounded by rich foliage and close to the sea, which nurtures and draws him in every night. His older friend Denis, the son of the black cook who lives nearby, teaches him about the mysteries of the sea and the local flora in the mountainous forest above it. His father also passes on to him his dream to find the hidden treasure of the Unknown Corsair, through maps and stories.The family's idyllic existence is disrupted by tragedy, causing it to sink into poverty, and Alexis is forced to take on responsibilities in advance of his years. However, he does not abandon his father's dream, and he eventually travels to the island of Rodrigues to seek the treasure that will ensure his family's good standing. There he meets Ouma, the love of his life, but his search is disrupted by the onset of the Great War, and he must abandon his search, and Ouma. Eventually he is able to return, as an older man whose dream and love have not been diminished by time, but his family's continued poverty and changes in the region cause his dual goals to become more distant and seemingly unachievable.The Prospector is filled with evocative descriptions of the sea and island life, which was its main strength, along with the love that Alexis and Ouma shared for each other, and the description of the horrors of trench warfare. However, the other characters, especially Laure and Alexis' mother, were not portrayed as richly, and I had some difficulty in understanding Alexis' motivations and actions. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed, and would highly recommend, this beautifully told story.
    • 2/5
      Lots of symbolism (e.g., modern man's yearning to return to paradise lost; man's inhumanity to man, whether family member or stranger; the meaning/value of life; the grass is always greener elsewhere, etc.). Minimal plot and character development. Lovely images. Reminds me of Saramago's "The Cave".
    • 5/5
      Despite the lovely writing and imagery of Mautitius and its ocean in the opening sections, I had trouble getting in to this; I was bored. But then on page 14 of my copy Le Clézio writes: “Everything I felt and everything I saw seemed eternal. I did not know that soon all of it would be gone.” And that’s all it took to get me engaged through the end—through the narrator’s childhood experiences on Mauritius, his travels around the Indian Ocean islands, his long search for a lost treasure on an unnamed island (Rodrigues), and his somehow, for me, anti-climatic WWI experiences.I guess this in epic of sorts, without much a plot. We simply follow Alexis through his life and his continued search. His childhood serves as a mystical golden age, highlighted by a magically described natural world which he explores with Denis, a black descendant of escaped slaves, and Laure, his older sister. This life is abruptly halted when a typhoon ruins his father’s ongoing project in which he invested everything. Alexis is unable to come to terms with the change, and unable to live a normal life. So, his long search for treasure serves a purpose much different than a search for wealth. He is looking within himself, looking for the self he once was, and trying to find something that simply isn’t and can never be there—namely his past. Having ensnared me early on, Le Clézio could do no wrong. I rolled along the ocean waves with Alexis, explored the wondrous islands with him, searched for his treasure and loved the whole thing. He simply took me away with him.