The Prospector

by J.M.G. Le Clézio

Book Overview

From master storyteller J. M. G. Le Cl zio: winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
"A novel of intense beauty."--Review of Contemporary Fiction

The Prospector is the crowning achievement from one of France's preeminent novelists and a work rich with sensuality and haunting resonance. It is the turn of the century on the island of Mauritius, and young Alexis L'Etang enjoys an idyllic existence with his parents...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 087923976X
• ISBN13: 9780879239763
• Release Date: September 1994
• Publisher: Verba Mundi
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.7" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

An Exquisite Dream

The title of this mesmerizing novel is misleading. The original French, LE CHERCHEUR D'OR, means literally "the seeker for gold." THE PROSPECTOR is an over-literal translation for such a poetic book, quite without metaphorical resonance. More important, it is a forward-looking word, whereas Le Clézio's protagonist is entirely concerned with looking BACK, trying to regain entry to an Eden from which he was expelled as a child. Fortunately the Gauguin pictures reproduced on both the paperback and hard-bound editions are perfect in their evocation of an almost unreal tropical paradise; if you respond to them, you are likely also to be drawn into the spell of this book. The action, such as it is, is simply told. When the novel opens in 1892, Alexis L'Etang is a boy of 7, living on the coast of Mauritius, roaming the island with a native friend or sharing dreams with his beloved elder sister Laure. It is an idyllic life for a child, but it comes to an end when his father, a man of greater vision than business sense, is ruined by a devastating hurricane. After years of living in poverty, Alexis journeys by sailing ship to the distant island of Rodrigues, to pursue his father's tales of treasure concealed there by the Unknown Corsair. On the sea, and later living in a remote part of the island, he makes different discoveries from those he had expected. He also falls in love with a native girl, Ouma, who like him has turned back to nature after a convent education. World War I intervenes, and Alexis goes off to Ypres and the Somme, but returns to the islands to discover the true meaning of his quest. Le Clézio does not so much describe things as evoke them by incantation. In reviewing ONITSHA, his masterpiece, I thought that his fondness for the heroic roll-call came from Homer, but the first influences on the young Alexis are less elevated: the adventure stories of H. Rider Haggard, the author of SHE: --- Zweeke the sorcerer said, "You ask me, my father, to tell you of the youth of Umslopogaas, who was named Bulalio the Slaughterer, and of his love for Nada, the most beautiful of Zulu women." Each one of those names was buried deep in me, like the names of living people. Throughout the book, Alexis conjures with the sheer sound of naming things: islands, mountains, rivers, trees, plants, birds. The book is written entirely in the first person, with very little dialogue, giving the rhapsodic effect of a waking dream, even amid the horrors of the Western Front: --- What do these rivers we are always talking about look like... the Yser, the Marne, the Meuse, the Aisne, the Ailette, the Scarpe? They are rivers of blood flowing under low skies, thick, heavy water carrying debris from the woods, burned beams, and dead horses. Or here, near the end, when the author merges past and present in timeless simplicity: --- Our life on Mananava, far from other people, is like an exquisite dream. [...] At dawn we glide into the forest, which is heavy with dew,

Growing up the hard way

Even in translation this novel by Nobel Prize winner, Le Clezio, paints exquisite pictures of the fauna, flora and peoples of the land and sea somewhere in the Indian Ocean. The story is a metaphor. It describes many aspects of the human condition, lives of plenty, of poverty, of servitude and near slavery- the human condition. It describes the trials of growing up, an overlong growing up and finally finding some resolution as adulthood descends. Along the way are views of Africa, the interaction of the whites and blacks. And then there is a very powerful description of soldiers in the first world war. A must read.

The two characters in The Prospector

The Prospector has in essence only two fully developed characters, the prospector himself and the Mascarene Islands. The author, who obviously loves the place, treats the islands off the African coast in the Indian Ocean as a beloved character describing in delicious detail the ocean, mountains, wildlife and plants. I usually tire easily of too much detail; however, it never seemed to be too much. The image of the angry birds coming to challenge the visitors and then coming to accept them is haunting. The vivid images of English Cove, that seems to be a creation of the author, made me feel like I was there. The translation is superb, comparable to effort in Saramago's Baltasar and Blimunda, leading one to forget that it is, in fact, a translation. I wonder if we give enough credit to these talented men and women who make the Nobel laureates and others accessible to a wide audience. Concerning the second character, I had the feeling that Le Clézio was trying to create the purest character imaginable in Alexis similar to Doestoevky's effort in The Idiot. His devotion to his sister and mother, unsullied by the usual drives to the opposite sex, was trumped only by his obsession with the Corsair and finding the hidden treasure. His purity blends with that of another pure figure, a young woman who saves his life and goes on to teach him to forget about the treasure. Read it; you'll like it.

The Prospector

I read three of the nobel prize winner's novels: The Prospector as well as Wandering Star and one other. I thought Wandering Star was the best but The Prospector was excellent.

Lovely use of words

An interesting book with great use of language. The plot is not riveting, but interesting in that it took me to a time and place I never imagined before.