The Open RoadAuthor :
Paperback
Published : Tuesday 12 October 2021
Description
A nomad and a swindler embark on an eccentric road trip in this picaresque, philosophical novel by the author of The Man Who Planted Trees.
The south of France, 1950: A solitary vagabond walks through the villages, towns, valleys, and foothills of the region between northern Provence and the Alps. He picks up work along the way and spends the winter as the custodian of a walnut-oil mill. He also picks up a problematic companion: a cardsharp and con man, whom he calls “the Artist.”
The action moves from place to place, and episode to episode, in truly picaresque fashion. Everything is told in the first person, present tense, by the vagabond narrator, who goes unnamed. He himself is a curious combination of qualities—poetic, resentful, cynical, compassionate, flirtatious, and self-absorbed.
While The Open Road can be read as loosely strung entertainment, interspersed with caustic reflections, it can also be interpreted as a projection of the relationship of author, art, and audience. But it is ultimately an exploration of the tensions and boundaries between affection and commitment, and of the competing needs for solitude, independence, and human bonds. As always in Jean Giono, the language is rich in natural imagery and as ruggedly idiomatic as it is lyrical.
You may also like ...
by
Paperback
12 Oct 2021
Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary
€18.71
Extended stock – Dispatch 5-7 days
by
Hardback
01 Aug 2024
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000
€152.10
by
Paperback
30 Oct 2020
Classic fiction: general and literary
€5.84
Extended stock – Dispatch 5-7 days
by
Hardback
20 Aug 2020
History of art
€44.40
Extended stock – Dispatch 5-7 days
Reviews