Feature Articles

Claude Simon (1913-2005)
by Francoise Crowell, Manager, Collection Development, International Division

I first read Claude Simon in 1966 in college. The book was La Route des Flandes (Flanders Road) and was part of my reading list for an independent course in the French New Novel (Le Noveau Roman). Along with Claude Simon, I read novels by Alain Robbe-Grillet, Marguerite Duras, Raymond Queneau, Nathalie Sarraute and others. It was an exciting time for me because I could easily follow the narrative and did not feel trapped by the lack of literary conventions such as paragraphs, punctuation and plot. I was young enough to unconditionally accept the novel as written by these innovative writers and it has shaped my reading since then. I was surprised to read in the various obituaries for Claude Simon the frequent references to the difficulty one has in reading him. The New York Times referred to several different reviews of his work and cited the style or lack of it. In Claude Simon's novels there is often no chronology: the present is blended with memories. Rather than feeling intimidated by this style, I felt that it actually represented the way we think and act. Our subconscious is actively working and processing thoughts while we speak or write of other things.

Claude Simon died on July 6, 2005 at the age of 91. In 1985 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first Frenchman to do so since Jean Paul Sartre refused the honor in 1964. Simon was born in Madagascar, a French colony at the time, and was raised in Perpignan in the south of France. Besides writing, Simon painted, published a book of photographs and grew wine grapes. In his twenties he joined the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. His book, Les Georgiques (The Georgics), written in 1981, depicts his experiences there. He fought in World War II, was taken prisoner, escaped and joined the French Résistance. La Route de Flandes (Flanders Road) is set during World War II. In all he wrote fifteen novels and some works of non fiction, including his last work Le Tramway (The Trolley), a book of childhood memories, written in 2001.

Below is a list of titles by and about Claude Simon available from YBP and Baker & Taylor.

Claude Simon: Adventures in Words