THE FLOOD by J.M.G. Le Clézio. 300 pages. Afheneum. $5.95.
Not until page 45 of this vastly overpraised French novel does one learn that "this is the story of François Besson." This forthright statement is doubly reassuring, because it has been preceded by a weird and frenzied surrealistic opener in which the world crazily assumes the aspect of a petrified urban forest, "a deserted planet, full of signs and booby traps."
One of the booby traps is that this is yet another one of those opaque novels of the tired "new wave" school. J.M.G. Le...
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