Since the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to J. M. G. Le Clézio in 2008 there has been a
wave of new interest in his oeuvre. This book traces the evolution of the writer's postcolonial
thought from his early works to his groundbreaking autobiographical novel Révolutions arguably
his most subversive text to date. The author shows how Le Clézio's critique of colonialism is
rooted in an early denunciation of capitalism and philosophical dualism and sheds new light on
the crucial roles played by Jean-Paul Sartre Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon in his development.
The author's close reading of Révolutions reveals a complex system of interconnections between
the colonial conflicts from the 1700s to the 1900s with recurrent patterns of violence
cultural repression and racism. The issue of neocolonialism is addressed and the persistence of
the colonial mindset in contemporary Europe and Westernized countries is shown to echo the
findings of Paul Gilroy Max Silverman and Étienne Balibar. The book concludes with an
examination of the utopian elements underpinning Révolutions establishing close affinities
with the work of Édouard Glissant and developing the notion of permanent revolution. Themes
explored include those of storytelling cultural memory cultural identity language
intertextuality and interculturality.
