The Roots of Heaven (novel)
 1956 French edition | |
| Author | Romain Gary |
|---|---|
| Original title | Les Racines du ciel |
| Translator | Jonathan Griffin |
| Language | French |
| Publisher | Éditions Gallimard |
Publication date | 5 October 1956 |
| Publication place | France |
Published in English | 1958 |
| Pages | 510 |
The Roots of Heaven (Template:Lang-fr) is a 1956 novel by the French writer Romain Gary. It received the Prix Goncourt for fiction.[1]
Set in French Equatorial Africa, the book is the story of a crusading environmentalist, Morel, who labors to preserve elephants from extinction, but which narrative is actually a metaphor for the quest for salvation for all humanity. He is assisted in the task by Minna, a nightclub hostess, and Forsythe, a disgraced British military officer seeking redemption.
John Huston directed and Darryl Zanuck produced a 1958 Hollywood film with the same title based on the novel. It was actually shot in the malaria-infested Belgian Congo and starred Trevor Howard as Morel, Errol Flynn as Forsythe, and Juliette Gréco as Minna.
See also
References
- ^ "Le Palmarès". academie-goncourt.fr (in French). Académie Goncourt. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
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