Melville

Jean Giono

Contents (4)

JEAN GIONO (1895–1970) was born and lived most of his life in the town of Manosque, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Largely self-educated, he started working as a bank clerk at the age of sixteen and reported for military service when World War I broke out. He saw action in several battles, including Verdun, and was one of only two members of his company to survive. After the war, he returned to his job and family in Manosque and became a vocal, lifelong pacifist. After the success of Hill, which won the Prix Brentano, he left the bank and began to publish prolifically. During World War II Giono’s outspoken pacifism led some to accuse him, unjustly, of defeatism and of collaboration with the Nazis; after France’s liberation in 1944, he was imprisoned and held without charges. Despite being blacklisted after his release, Giono continued writing and achieved renewed success. He was elected to the Académie Goncourt in 1954.

PAUL EPRILE is a longtime publisher (Between the Lines, Toronto), as well as a poet and translator. He is currently at work on the translation of Jean Giono’s 1951 novel, The Open Road (forthcoming from NYRB), and lives on the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario, Canada.

EDMUND WHITE is the author of twenty-five books, including The Unpunished Vice: A Life of Reading, which will be published in the spring of 2018.

MELVILLE

A Novel

JEAN GIONO

Translated from the French by

PAUL EPRILE

Introduction by

EDMUND WHITE

NEW YORK REVIEW BOOKS

New York

THIS IS A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOK

PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014

www.nyrb.com

London

Cover design: Katy Homans

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Giono, Jean, 1895–1970, author. | White, Edmund, 1940– writer of introduction. | Eprile, Paul, translator.

Title: Melville : a novel / by Jean Giono ; introduction by Edmund White ; translated by Paul Eprile.

Other titles: Pour saluer Melville. English

Description: New York : New York Review Books, 2017. | Series: New York Review Books Classics

Identifiers: LCCN 2017008613 (print) | LCCN 2017008639 (ebook) | ISBN 9781681371375 (paperback) | ISBN 9781681371382 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Melville, Herman, 1819–1891—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Biographical. | FICTION / Literary. | FICTION / Psychological.

Classification: LCC PQ2613.I57 P6513 2017 (print) | LCC PQ2613.I57 (ebook) | DDC 843/.912—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017008613

ISBN 978-1-68137-138-2
v1.0

For a complete list of titles, visit www.nyrb.com or write to: Catalog Requests, NYRB, 435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014

Biographical Notes

Melville

CONTENTS