Joy of Man's Desiring [Paperback]

Jean Giono (Author), Katherine Allen Clarke (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

An epic tale of the Provence countryside.

"In Giono's work is what every sensitive, full-blooded individual ought to be able to recognize at once as `the song of the world.'...The philosophy behind this symphonic production has no name: its function is to liberate, to keep open all the sluices of the soul, to encourage speculation, adventure, and passionate worship." -Henry Miller, The Books in My Life

"Peasant civilization possesses as a gift human qualities which philosophical civilizations spend centuries first defining, then desiring, and finally losing." -Jean Giono

A true forebear of magical realism, Giono creates men and women rooted in the folklore of provincial France. With a poet's grace and imagination, he weaves a grand story of the earth and of passion, of animals and weather, of the miracles we now call the laws of nature.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In Giono's work is what every sensitive, full-blooded individual ought to be able to recognize at once as the song of the world.'...The philosophy behind this symphonic production has no name: its function is to liberate, to keep open all the sluices of the soul, to encourage speculation, adventure, and passionate worship." —Henry Miller

“Giono’s sensuous eye for detail, his fine insight into human behavior and the scope and resonance of his language transform every landscape, every encounter between his characters, into an intimate, almost physical experience.” —The New York Times Book Review

“One of the twentieth century’s greatest and wisest novels.” —The Nation

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 460 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint; 1st Counterpoint paperback ed edition (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582430446
• ISBN-13: 978-1582430447
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael
McCurdy is one of AmericaÄôs outstanding wood engravers. He
has illustrated nearly 200 books for trade publications and as special fine-press
editions. His prints and drawings are also shown in galleries throughout
the country and at www.michaelmccurdy.com.
McCurdy lives in Springfield, Mass.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of *the* great books, June 3, 2000

By 

Franklin Einspruch - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joy of Man's Desiring (Paperback)

It's not hard to see why Giono was one of Henry Miller's favorite writers. This opera of rural life looks into the selves of people and animals; even the weather is an active character in the narrarative. The story meditates on the dependence of man on nature, which saddles him with the responsibility of joy on its own terms no matter how opposed they are to culture and modernity. There is a climactic battle between joy and death. All the while, it remains a readable, compelling, deceptively straightforward story.

Full of wisdom and humanity, The Joy of Man's Desiring is one of my favorite books of all time, and its return into print after a long absence is cause for gratitude.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Starry, starry night., October 4, 2002

By 

Jim Stewart (Western Australia.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joy of Man's Desiring (Paperback)

Jean Giono french novelist from Provence;father a cobbler. His work falls into two main sections;the pre-war novels (the best) and the post-war romances.This novel is from the former period and is rightly considered his masterpiece.It is a mysterious,ambiguous,lyrical account of the lives of simple folk, a story that must be told.In Bobi, the con-man saviour, Giono found a perfect surrogate for himself and his pastoral project.This book is alive with an epic sense of people living under the spell of and living in accordance with, the laws of nature. Bobi arrives in a small country community and through his prophetic homolies, distilations of the genuinely important aspects of daily life around them, brings forth their spiritual awakening .Seasons, and the changes wrought are exquisitly rendered in prose of great beauty.The act of eating with friends is described as an almost religious ritual, of communal empathy and staggering enlightenment. This is a book that will bind you in its own magic circle of seasonal change and renewal. Highly recommended.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars human life immersed in a living, animate land, October 10, 2004

By 

David Abram - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Joy of Man's Desiring (Paperback)

This book, and Giono's "Song of the World," are the two of the most beautiful, wise, transformative works of fiction that I know -- even in translation. The human characters in these novels are entirely a part of the breathing earth that enfolds them. And conversely there is no aspect of the land that is not alive; the wind, the forest, animals, the ground itself are all active participants in the unfolding of events.

The translations are excellent, yet Giono's writing, and his vision, are among the most ecological and eloquent to be found in any language. These books that gave me the impetus to be a writer. If you care for nature, and the prospect of humankind living in genuine participation and reciprocity with earthly nature, these are your books. An essential tonic for our collective ecological insanity...