Works by
Jean-Claude Izzo
(Poet, Playwright, Screenwriter, Writer)
[June 20, 1945 - January 1, 2000]

Fiction

• A Sun for the Dying (2008)
  Rico has been banished to society’s margins; he has neither a roof over his head nor a steady income on which to depend. When a friend and fellow clochard dies of exposure after a night spent in the Paris metro, Rico decides to flee the northern cold for his beloved south, for Marseilles and the Mediterranean. From the celebrated author of the Marseilles Trilogy, this is both an affecting on-the-road novel and a tender exploration of love’s power both to heal and to destroy.

• The Lost Sailors (2007)
  From one of France’s best-known authors comes this evocative meditation on the human comedy. A freighter is impounded in the port of Marseilles when its owners declare bankruptcy. On board, the men are divided: wait for the money owed them—money that might never come—or accept their fate and abandon ship? This may be Captain Abdul Aziz’s last commission and he is determined to save his charge and stand by his men. Diamantis, his second-in-command, is in search of a woman he has never stopped loving and who may now be living in Marseilles. In these close quarters charged with physical and emotional tension, each of these marooned sailors’ life stories begins to resemble a chapter in the complex, colorful, and tragic story of the Mediterranean Sea itself—rich with romance, legend, passion and drama.
  
  The Lost Sailors is a richly textured and bittersweet tribute to Mediterranean life. It is the novel in which Jean-Claude Izzo most completely expresses his vision of human history and how it has been played out on the shores of this sea since the beginnings of time. This is a novel for anyone who loves the sea, for anyone who is attracted to the dark passions it can provoke, for anyone who feels drawn to the rich blend of races, religions and individual stories to be found in port cities the world over. It is, at the same time, a story of the prodigious forces at play in all human destiny.

Marseilles Trilogy

1. Total Chaos (1995)
   This first installment in the legendary Marseilles Trilogy sees Fabio Montale turning his back on a police force marred by corruption and racism and taking the fight against the mafia into his own hands.

2. Chourmo (2000)
   In this second installment of Jean-Claude Izzo's legendary Marseilles Trilogy-which includes Total Chaos,Chourmo, and Solea-Fabio Montale has left a police force riddled with corruption, racism, and greed to follow the ancient rhythms of his native town: the sea, fishing, the local bar, hotly contested games of belote. But his cousin's son has gone missing, and Montale is dragged back onto the mean streets of a violent, crime-infested Marseilles.

3. Solea (2001)
   The third and final installment in the remarkable Marseilles Trilogy (including Total Chaos and Chourmo), Solea continues Jean-Claude Izzo's distinctive brand of vibrant crime writing, skillfully evoking a time and place that have captured the hearts and imaginations of readers the world over. Marseilles' simmering issues of race, politics, organized crime, and big business come to a rolling boil. Ex-cop, loner, and would-be bon vivant, Fabio Montale is back. His heartfelt cry against the criminal forces devastating his beloved Marseilles provides the touching conclusion to a trilogy that epitomizes the aspirations and ideals of the Mediterranean noir movement.

See also:

• Biography - Izzo, Jean-Claude (1945-2000): An article from: Contemporary Authors
  This digital document, covering the life and work of Jean-Claude Izzo, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 951 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

  • Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)

  • Family members

  • Education

  • Professional associations and honors

  • Employment

  • Writings, including books and periodicals

  • A description of the author's work

  • References to further readings about the author