Michel Tournier

Idris, een jonge Berber, vertrekt naar Frankrijk om in het bezit te komen van de foto die een blonde toeriste van hem heeft gemaakt. Volgens de overlevering verhuist een stukje ziel van een geportretteerde naar de afbeelding en Idris wil de eenheid van zijn persoonlijkheid herstellen. In Parijs, een wereld vol vreemde beelden, verliest hij zijn talisman, de Gouden Druppel, en belandt hij in een spiraal van duizelingwekkende avonturen.

Friday, winner of the 1967 Grand Prix du Roman of the Académie Française, is a sly, enchanting retelling of the legend of Robinson Crusoe by the man the New Yorker calls "France's best and probably best-known writer." Cast away on a tropical island, Michel Tournier's god-fearing Crusoe sets out to tame it, to remake it in the image of the civilization he has left behind. Alone and against incredible odds, he almost succeeds. Then a mulatto named Friday appears and teaches Robinson that there are, after all, better things in life than civilization.

Jean and Paul are identical twins. Outsiders, even their parents, cannot tell them apart, and call them Jean-Paul. The mysterious bond between them excludes all others; they speak their own language; they are one perfectly harmonious unit; they are, in all innocence, lovers. For Paul, this unity is paradise, but as they grow up Jean rebels against it. He takes a mistress and deserts his brother, but Paul sets out to follow him in a pilgrimage that leads all around the world, through places that reflect their separation--the mirrored halls of Venice, the Zen gardens of Japan, the newly divided city of Berlin. The exquisite love story of Jean-Paul is set against the ugliness and pain of human existence. " Gemini" is a novel of extraordinary proportions, intricate images, and profound thought, in which Michel Tournier tells his fascinating story with an irresistible humor.

Robinson não poderá nunca voltar ao mundo que deixou. Então, palmo a palmo, edifica o seu pequeno reino. Tem uma casa, fortalezas para se defender e um criado, Sexta-Feira, que lhe é dedicado de alma e coração. Tem mesmo um cão, que envelhece calmamente ao sol de Speranza. A ilha é um pequeno baluarte de civilização e tudo parece ir pelo melhor. A verdade é que todos três se aborrecem. Sexta-Feira nada compreende da organização, das leis, dos rituais que tanto agradam a Robinson. Escapa-lhe a razão de ser dos campos cultivados, dos rebanhos, das fortalezas. Mas então dá-se um acontecimento inesperado. Esta obra é uma versão adaptada de «Vendredi ou Les Limbes du Pacifique», do mesmo autor.

Displaying his characteristic penchant for the macabre, the tender and the comic, Michael Tournier presents the traditional Magi describing their personal odysseys to Bethlehem--and audaciously imagines a fourth, "the eternal latecomer"' whose story of hardship and redemption is the most moving and instructive of all. Prince of Mangalore and son of an Indian maharajah, Taor has tasted an exquisite confection, "rachat loukoum," and is so taken by the flavor that he sets out to recover the recipe. His quest takes him across Western Asia and finally lands him in Sodom, where he is imprisoned in a salt mine. There, this fourth wise man learns the recipe from a fellow prisoner, and learns of the existence and meaning of Jesus.

Robinson Crusoé est le seul survivant du naufrage du navire « La Virginie ». Échoué sur une île déserte, il tente par tous les moyens de survivre en conservant des règles de vie propres à sa culture et en implantant des lois dans ce milieu sauvage. Un jour, il sauve un autochtone destiné au sacrifice par une tribu. Reconnaissant à Robinson, l'homme, prénommé Vendredi, se plie à l’organisation instaurée en obéissant aux règles rigides de son sauveur. Une explosion vient cependant inverser les rôles. Tandis que le système établi par Robinson s’effrite, Vendredi impose son influence. Devenus solidaires, ils vivent ainsi des années de bonheur au rythme de l’île, jusqu’à ce qu’un navire apparaissant à l’horizon place Robinson devant un dilemme : retourner chez lui ou rester sur l'île. Cette version des aventures de Robinson oppose la nature vierge aux sociétés dites évoluées en comparant, sans que ce soit explicite, les qualités des différentes cultures. Le roman suscite également la réflexion sur les valeurs liées à la liberté et à l’obéissance. Des chapitres très courts marquent le rythme du récit d’aventures, tandis qu’une écriture descriptive, au vocabulaire recherché, expose avec précision les évènements ou les sentiments du personnage. Des illustrations naïves en noir et blanc ponctuent le texte. Cette édition se complète d’un supplément proposant un dossier informatif sur les robinsonnades ainsi que des jeux associés au texte.