Evidence, surprises and a few astonishing omissions.
The first list of the Goncourt academy, now chaired by Didier Decoin, brought a lot of lessons this Tuesday.
Logically we find Emmanuel Carrère, at the head of sales with “Yoga”, a slightly romanticized introspection of three rowdy years during which he went through a violent depression.
Very prominent, also, the authors Carole Martinez for "Les Roses fauves", Lola Lafon for "Chavirer" or Sarah Chiche for "Saturne" will have their say.
Note that six finalists out of fifteen are women.
Hervé Le Tellier for "L'Anomalie", Miguel Bonnefoy for "Héritage", Irène Frain for "A crime of no importance", Tobie Nathan for "The Society of Beautiful People", or Mohammed Aïssaoui for "Les Funambules" are serious competitors in ambush.
But it is surprising that the Goncourts - who include among them two newcomers, Camille Laurens and Pascal Bruckner - have left aside authors such as Serge Joncour, Grégoire Delacourt or Alice Zeniter… In a way and in the light of a production rich in beautiful texts, including among newcomers, this list is quite lazy, very clean on it and above all a bit unfair.
We will have to wait two more selections for this list to be reduced to four names a few days before November 10, the date on which the prince of prizes will be awarded.
The fifteen still in the running
Mohammed Aïssaoui
: "Les Funambules" (Gallimard)
Djaïli Amadou Amal
: "Les Impatientes" (Emmanuelle Collas)
Miguel Bonnefoy
: "Heritage" (Shores)
Emmanuel Carrère
: "Yoga" (POL)
Sarah Chiche
: "Saturn" (Threshold)
Irène Frain
: "A Crime of No Importance" (Threshold)
Lola Lafon
: "Capsize" (Actes Sud)
Hervé Le Tellier
: "L'Anomalie" (Gallimard)
Jean-Pierre Martin:
"My Fools" (L'Olivier)
Carole Martinez:
"Wild Roses" (Gallimard)
Tobie Nathan
: "The Society of Beautiful People" (Stock)
Camille Pascal
: "The Chamber of Fools" (Plon)
Maël Renouard
: "The Historiographer of the Kingdom" (Grasset)
Maud Simonnot:
“The Celestial Child” (The Observatory)
Camille de Toledo
: "Theseus, his New Life" (Verbier)