Voyage à Rodrigues
Signed presentation inscription: “Pour Madame Sylvie Genevoix, Le Clézio,” with a drawing of three birds in flight.
Inspired by the life of his grandfather, Léon, and drawing on both biblical and literary myths, this first-person journal follows on from Le Chercheur d’or (The Prospector). Le Clézio — descended from a Breton family who emigrated to Mauritius in the eighteenth century — had traced in that earlier book the quest for a treasure buried on the island of Rodrigues, northeast of Mauritius.
In April 2018, Le Clézio unveiled a plaque on the island, engraved with this passage from Voyage à Rodrigues: “Il y a un hors du temps, ici, à Rodrigues, qui effraie et tente à la fois, et il me semble que c’est bien le seul lieu du monde où je puisse penser à mon grand-père comme à quelqu’un de vivant. Visibles encore, comme s’ils dataient de la veille, les coups de pioche qu’il a donnés sur la paroi du ravin, au fond du cul-de-sac, à droite et à gauche.”
A fine presentation copy inscribed to Sylvie Genevoix: a discreet but influential literary figure, she began a career in publishing after studying classics at the Sorbonne. She started at Plon as press attaché for the 10/18 imprint, then coordinated the literary departments at Plon-Perrin-Julliard, becoming director of publications at Julliard. From 1992 to 2005 she was literary director at Albin Michel, before being appointed to the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA).