Jean-Baptiste Andrea won the Goncourt on Tuesday for “Veiller sur elle,” a more than 500-page fresco combining 20th-century Italy’s history, thwarted love and passion for art, published by a small house press, The Iconoclast became.
The 52-year-old writer was elected in the 14th round, evidence of the disagreements within the jury of the most prestigious French-language literary prize, chaired by Didier Decoin, whose vote counts twice.
He faced the most prestigious French-language literary prize, Éric Reinhardt, who is considered the favorite, Gaspard Koenig and Neige Sinno, who received the Femina Prize on Monday.
“It’s an extraordinary moment and I didn’t think I would ever experience this in my life,” exclaimed Jean-Baptiste Andrea at lunchtime near Drouant, the Paris restaurant where the Goncourt has traditionally been awarded since 1914.
“I think of all the children who dream about it and say to themselves: I can’t do it. I want to tell them: Be unreasonable.” “Art is freedom. I have always believed in romance, romance never died,” he added.
Veiller sur elle is the fourth novel by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, who made his first steps in the cinema before devoting himself to literature late in life, six years ago.
This fresco about sculpture and Italy was awarded the Fnac Prize at the beginning of the school year.
The work traces the story of two characters: Mimo, who was born poor and apprenticed to a stone sculptor, and Viola Orsini, ambitious heiress to a respected family, who enter into a love affair in the midst of Italy’s upheaval under fascism.
The Goncourt Prize guarantees significant sales in the last two months of the year, the most important for booksellers. On average they reach around 400,000 copies.
But Goncourt 2022, Vivre vite by Brigitte Giraud, disappointed in this regard, falling short of 300,000 copies.
Last round
Last year, too, the winner was only determined in the very last round; the most influential publisher of French letters, Gallimard, was overtaken at the last minute. Éric Reinhardt, the author who was a favorite of Sarah, Susanne and the writer for many, was published by this publisher.
Immediately after Goncourt and also in the Drouant restaurant, the Renaudot jury announced its 2023 prize, which will be awarded to Ann Scott, 58, for her novel “Les Insolents” (Calmann-Lévy editions).
The novel tells of the arrival “in the middle of nowhere” of Alex, a film music composer, who decides to leave the capital to reinvent herself and live “elsewhere and alone.” The character is a fictional double of the author, a former Queen of Paris Nights based in Brittany.
Born to a Russian photographer and a French art collector, Ann Scott grew up in Paris before moving to London at 17. She was a model and a drummer in a punk band. She began writing at the age of 29, notably the novel Asphyxia and then Superstar.
The essay prize went to Jean-Luc Barré for the first volume of more than 900 pages of an extensive biography: De Gaulle, a life: the man of no one (1890-1944), published by Grasset.