Also author of "Privileged Moments" in the Novels and Short Stories of J. M. G. Le Clézio (2008), Moser (Mississippi State Univ.) takes the reader on a journey through globalization as depicted in Le Clézio's works. In five chapters, Moser identifies the key theme in the French-Mauritian's fiction: globalization and its ill effects—marginalization and exploitation, conflicts between cultures, destruction of the environment and of community. With support from specialists across disciplines, he is able to construct a vision of the global village that is in direct contrast to the model created by Marshall McLuhan. According to Moser, rather than focus on the 'happy few' who have benefitted from the labors of the many, Le Clézio calls for a return to petitesse (smallness) to create a global village that will be sustainable. The book concludes with Moser's interview of Le Clézio, and this conversation enriches the content of the book by allowing the reader direct access to Le Clézio's thoughts on globalization. Included are notes for each chapter. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through faculty.

Choice Reviews

We can immediately see that talking about Moser’s work is to leave literature and to arrive in a very different realm, which is that of social progress. . . .Moser seeks to inscribe the modern day relevance of his work [J.M.G. Le Clézio] in light of the numerous challenges that globalization poses today.

Dalhousie French Studies

As a contribution to scholarly research on Le Clézio in English, J.M.G. Le Clézio: A Concerned Citizen of the Global Village is most welcome, with Moser providing access to both Le Clézio’s
writings and recent criticism in French through his translations in the text. Moser’s twin passions for the Nobel laureate’s work and its potential to highlight a better way of being in the
world combine to make this book an engaging adventure in the growing field of Le Clézio studies.

Modern and Contemporary France

The fictional and philosophical works of 2008 Nobel Laureate J.M.G. Le Clézio have never been more relevant than in the world of today, and this book shows why. In an introduction that sets the methodological framework for the chapters that follow, Keith Moser advocates for an interdisciplinary and humanistic approach to the current crisis of globalization and its attendant ecological issues. Moser argues effectively for 'the dire significance of literature and of the humanities in general' (xii) for altering the potentially disastrous course upon which humanity has embarked in the wake of industrialization. . . .This timely and stimulating discussion complements a fine book that discovers ample new territory in Le Clézio studies, a field that will continue to grow.

Contemporary French Civilization

This book is extremely well written and organized; it is an excellent survey of Le Clézio criticism . . . which permits specialists and lay readers alike to perceive Le Clézio’s work from another angle. But, what is most remarkable about Moser’s work is that it highlights . . . what a literary work can do by correctly showing that literature is a space that allows for reflection about our socioeconomic system which also facilitates communication amongst cultures in order to explore possible solutions to our problems.

Les Cahiers Le Clézio

This ambitious study aims to do justice to the wide range of Le Clézio’s work, the urgency of the crises that inspire him – globalization, exploitation and poverty, the loss of authentic communities, intercultural conflict, the destruction of the environment – and the powerful imaginative vision that animates his fiction. Keith Moser efficiently documents the testimony of specialists and compiles readings of the novels and meditative essays, translating extracts from many works which are not available elsewhere in English. By setting Le Clézio’s writing within key fields of contemporary ethical debates, this book offers insights into one of the significant authors which the twentieth-century has bequeathed to the twenty-first.

David H. Walker, Department of French, University of Sheffield