J.M.G. LE CLEZIO'S TERRA AMATA: A MICRO-FICTIONAL AFFECTION FOR THE REAL.(Critical Essay) From: The Romanic Review | Date: May 1, 1999| Author: Racevskis, Roland | COPYRIGHT 1999 Columbia University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

In 1967, with Terra Amata, J.M.G. Le Clezio posed a venerable literary question--that of how to live--in a new way. As its title suggests, this novel is about the earth and more specifically about a certain way of approaching the world's concrete realities. The work centers on the perceptions and activities of its protagonist, Chancelade, whose pronounced interest in small, seemingly insignificant things leads him and the novel's narrator through numerous sensorial and contemplativ...