Joy of Man's Desiring
by Jean Giono
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"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, French author Jean Giono created men and women rooted in the folklore of provincial France. In this beautiful new edition of the originalQue Ma Joie Demeure--literally,That My Joy Remain--he tells the tale of a farmer couple in Haute Provence who find that the spark has somehow gone show more missing from their lives. One day, a stranger arrives who helps them discover how to rekindle their connection. The stranger tells them, "Youth is neither strength, nor a supple body, nor even youth as you conceive of it. Rather, youth is the passion for the impractical, the useless." The couple, with this guidance from the stranger, include friends and neighbors on their journey back to individual and collective happiness. They plant fields of flowers, a meadow of grain just for the birds, and they set their horses free. With a poet's grace and imagination, Giono weaves a grand story of the earth and of passion, of men and women, animals and weather, of the magic we now call the "laws of nature." show lessTags
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Member Reviews
4.5 stars. A strange, dreamy novel of farming. This had a folk tale quality to it, very earthy, lots of lyrical nature writing. I could see how it could feel long and dull if you don't go in for that sort of thing. After a strange new man arrives, an isolated rural community on a plateau starts spending more time together, letting themselves, their crops, and their livestock run wild. It did not end how I expected and from the beginning I kept a pencil at hand to note beautiful passages.
4.5 stars. A strange, dreamy novel of farming. This had a folk tale quality to it, very earthy, lots of lyrical nature writing. I could see how it could feel long and dull if you don't go in for that sort of thing. After a strange new man arrives, an isolated rural community on a plateau starts spending more time together, letting themselves, their crops, and their livestock run wild. It did not end how I expected and from the beginning I kept a pencil at hand to note beautiful passages.
Merveilleux livre!
Chef d'oeuvre! La nature et les hommes qui de façon immémoriale y ont vécu, y vivent, pourraient y vivre. La menace mécaniste, rationnelle, consumériste y est évoquée en creux.
Lyrisme torrentiel, avec luminosité, émotions,...la Joie, l'Amour, l'Amitié, mais aussi la Mort!
Chef d'oeuvre! La nature et les hommes qui de façon immémoriale y ont vécu, y vivent, pourraient y vivre. La menace mécaniste, rationnelle, consumériste y est évoquée en creux.
Lyrisme torrentiel, avec luminosité, émotions,...la Joie, l'Amour, l'Amitié, mais aussi la Mort!
Beautifully written, evocative of a time and place long gone.
En deux tomes illustrés par des bois originaux de Clément Serveau.
Dec 12, 2025French
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Author Information
203+ Works 6,955 Members
Jean Giono was born in France on March 30, 1985. He was an author about whom Germaine Bree and M. Guiton have written, "When Giono's first novel, Colline (Hill of Destiny) appeared in 1929, it struck a fresh, new note. . . . After Proust and Gide, Duhamel and Romains, Cocteau and Giraudoux, what could be more restful than a world of wind and sun show more and simple men who apparently had never heard of psychological analysis, never confronted any social problems, never read any books. . ." (An Age of Fiction). Raised by his shoemaker father in a small town in the south of France, Giono's fiction has its roots in the peasant life of Provence. Horrified by his experiences in World War I, Giono returned to the world of his youth, which became the world of his imagination. After the shock of World War II, his novels seemed to gain in stature. One of his best is Horseman on the Roof (1951), his chronicle of the great cholera epidemic of 1838. Giono was honoured with the Prince Rainier of Monaco literary prize in 1953, awarded for his lifetime achievements, was elected to the Académie Goncourt in 1954, and became a member of the Conseil Littéraire of Monaco in 1963. Giono died of a heart attack in 1970. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Joy of Man's Desiring
- Original title
- Que ma joie demeure
- Original publication date
- 1935
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Statistics
- Members
- 256
- Popularity
- 126,542
- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (4.19)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
- ASINs
- 12
