The Song of the World
 First edition cover | |
| Author | Jean Giono |
|---|---|
| Original title | Le Chant du monde |
| Translator |
Henri Fluchère Geoffrey Myers |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Publisher | Éditions Gallimard |
Publication date | 16 May 1934 |
Published in English | 1937 |
| Pages | 318 |
The Song of the World (French: Le Chant du monde) is a 1934 novel by the French writer Jean Giono. The narrative is set around a river and portrays human vendettas as a part of nature. The story contains references to the Iliad. Its themes and view on nature were heavily inspired by Walt Whitman's poetry collection Leaves of Grass.[1] It was adapted into the 1965 film Le Chant du monde, directed by Marcel Camus.[2]
Publication
The novel was serialised in Revue de Paris from 1 March to 15 April 1934. Éditions Gallimard published the book on 16 May the same year.[1] An English translation by Henri Fluchère and Geoffrey Myers was published in 1937.[3]
Reception
John Chamberlain wrote in Scribner's Magazine: "Even in spite of the strained images Giono is always en rapport with his scene; he loves the river, the trees, and the hills of his country with a love that is fortunately nine-tenths curiosity. ... Even if you can't stand Homeric madmen you should be able to find much to your taste in The Song of the World." Chamberlain continued: "The real idiocy is not the story, but Giono's attitude towards his own product and his own world. The present time, he says, disgusts him; hence his desire to escape from contemporaneity to the far more 'natural' world of the primitive Basses-Alpes, where the peasants still live as they lived two or three hundred years ago. ... He seems to be telling us that primitive man lived a much less conventional and inhibited life than we moderns; he also implies, somewhat paradoxically, that values and order both exist for primitive people, whereas confusion and disorder make the world a hell for the people of 1937. Just why he should think thus is beyond me."[4]
References
- 1 2 "Histoire d'un livre : Le Chant du monde de Jean Giono". gallimard.fr (in French). Éditions Gallimard. Retrieved 2015-04-19.
- ↑ "Le Chant du monde". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 2015-04-19.
- ↑ "The song of the world". WorldCat. Retrieved 2015-04-19.
- ↑ Chamberlain, John (November 1937). "The Song of the World, by Jean Giono". Scribner's Magazine. p. 71-73. Retrieved 2015-04-19.
External links
- The Song of the World at the French publisher's website