Name: The Open Road
SKU: 53676295
Price: 578.00 TWD
Availability: InStock
Author: Jean Giono
ISBN: 9781681375106

Type

Physical Book

Author

Jean Giono

Translated by

Paul Eprile

Preface by

Jacques Le Gall

Publisher

New York Review of Books

Year

2021

Language

English

Pages

224

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

20.1x12.7x1.8 cm

Weight

0.25 kg.

ISBN13

9781681375106

Synopsis "The Open Road"

A nomad and a swindler embark on an eccentric road trip in this picaresque, philosophical novel by the author of The Man Who Planted Trees. The south of France, 1950: A solitary vagabond walks through the villages, towns, valleys, and foothills of the region between northern Provence and the Alps. He picks up work along the way and spends the winter as the custodian of a walnut-oil mill. He also picks up a problematic companion: a cardsharp and con man, whom he calls "the Artist." The action moves from place to place, and episode to episode, in truly picaresque fashion. Everything is told in the first person, present tense, by the vagabond narrator, who goes unnamed. He himself is a curious combination of qualities--poetic, resentful, cynical, compassionate, flirtatious, and self-absorbed. While The Open Road can be read as loosely strung entertainment, interspersed with caustic reflections, it can also be interpreted as a projection of the relationship of author, art, and audience. But it is ultimately an exploration of the tensions and boundaries between affection and commitment, and of the competing needs for solitude, independence, and human bonds. As always in Jean Giono, the language is rich in natural imagery and as ruggedly idiomatic as it is lyrical.

Jean Giono

(Author)

View Author's Page

Jean Giono (Manosque, 1895–1970) was a prominent French writer whose work is characterized by a deep love for nature and a focus on the rural life of Provence. A self-taught and convinced pacifist after his experience in World War I, Giono developed a lyrical and humanist narrative that made him a central figure in 20th century French literature

Among his most recognized works are Hill (1929), Return to Love (1930), A King Without Diversion (1947), The Horseman on the Roof (1951), and The Man Who Planted Trees (1953). His novel Hill received the Brentano Award in 1929, and Return to Love won the Northcliffe Prize in 1930. In 1954, he was elected a member of the Goncourt Academy, and in 1953 he received the Prince Pierre of Monaco Literary Prize for his entire body of work

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