Synopses & Reviews
“His chef-d’oeuvre. A bolt of lightning.”—Le Monde
“An astonishingly rich, mythic new direction in modern French narrative.”—Guy Davenport
“Michon demonstrates the independence of voice that marks a true writer. . . . His supple prose, dappled with chiaroscuro effects, is used in straight forward chronicles. But his writing can at any time lift or lower into semi-hallucinatory effects that recall Arthur Rimbaud’s assaults on conventional perception.”—Roger Shattuck, The New York Review of Books
"The emotion, the forceful claims of the imagery, the painting of the starry night: Mr. Michon achieves what other writers wouldn't try, licensed as he is by keen regret and transfigured loss. More than other writers, Mr. Michon misses the poetry of the past, and in missing it he possesses it."—Benjamin Lytal, The New York Sun
In Lives Under Glass, recipient of the Prix France Culture, Pierre Michon paints portraits of eight inspiring individuals living in his native village of Creuse. In this evocative poetic narrative, the quest to breathe life into the stories of these individuals becomes an exploration of Michon’s own voice and memory.
Born in 1945 in the Creuse region of France, Pierre Michon attended university at Clermont-Ferrand and wrote his Master’s thesis on Antonin Artaud. He has received the Grand Prix SGDL de literature (2004), the Prix Décembre (2002), the Prix Louis Guilloux (1997), and the Prix de la Ville de Paris (1996).
Jody Gladding is a translator and poet. Her translations include Jean Giono’s The Serpent of Stars (Archipelago Books), among others, and her Stone Crop appeared in the Yale Younger Poets Series. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award in poetry. Gladding has a collection of poetry forthcoming from Milkweed Editions.
Synopsis
Pierre Michon's Lives Under Glass was called "his chef-d'oeuvre" by Le Monde.
Synopsis
Small Lives (Vies minuscules), Pierre Michons first novel, won the Prix France Culture. Michon explains that he wrote it "to save my own skin. I felt in my body that my life was turning around. This book born in an aura of inexpressible joy and catharsis rescued me more effectively than my aborted analysis." Le Monde calls it "his chef doeuvre. A bolt of lightening." In Small Lives, Michon paints portraits of eight individuals, whose stories span two centuries in his native region of La Creuse. In the process of exploring their lives, he explores the act of writing and his emotional connection to both. The quest to trace and recall these interconnected lives seared into his memory ultimately becomes a quest to grasp his own humanity and discover his own voice.
About the Author
Pierre Michon, born in Cards, France, in 1945, is one of Frances foremost contemporary writers. He was awarded the French Academy¢s Grand Prix du Roman for The Eleven (2009), the Prix Décembre for his short novels Abbés and Corps du roi, the Prix Louis Guilloux for La grande beaune (The Origin of the World), and the Prix de la Ville de Paris in 1996 for his body of work.
Jody Gladding is a poet and translator. Her most recent collection of poetry is Rooms and Their Airs. She has translated over twenty books from French, including The Serpent of Stars by Jean Giono. She teaches in the MFA program at Vermont Collegeof fine Arts, and lives in Vermont.
After devoting a part of her life to specialized horticulture, Elizabeth Deshays, now works as a teacher and translator. She is the author of a study on bilingual education, LEnfant Bilingue. In addition to Michon¢s novels, she translated Julien Gracq¢s La Presqu¢ile (The Peninsula). She lives in Provence.