Containment and its corollary, the necessary and happy reopening of bookstores, alone explain the incredible success of
L'Anomalie
, the science fiction novel by Hervé Le Tellier, which received, on November 30, the Goncourt 2020?
In an interview with our colleagues from
Le
Parisien,
Hervé Le Tellier, with the modesty that characterizes him, was surprised at this triumph: “
It's pretty crazy what's going on.
I have no logical explanation.
This phenomenon escapes me.
"
Read also: Hervé Le Tellier, 2020 Goncourt Prize with
L'Anomalie
It must be said that the circulation of some 820,000 copies of
L'Anomalie
is already in itself a record since it now places Hervé Le Tellier's novel in second place, tied with
Les Bienveillantes
by Jonathan Littell, behind
L 'Lover
of Marguerite Duras, who since his coronation at Goncourt in 1984, has sold 1.6 million copies.
Three ingredients for a triumph
What looks like a veritable bookstore triumph has, besides the confinement that has certainly prompted people to rediscover the pleasure of reading, several rational explanations.
First Gallimard, and its editor Karina Hocine, supports Goncourt 2020 with as much caution as perseverance.
After a first printing of 12,000 copies, the publishing house accompanied each thrill with a strong reprint of around 100,000 copies, thus reaching the record figure of 820,000 copies on January 4.
The second reason for the success of
L'Anomalie
surely lies in the fact that the coronation of Goncourt on November 30, postponed and postponed because of the health crisis, has come closer to Christmas.
Thus, placing this novel at the foot of the tree seemed a natural idea to a good number of French people who saw it as an intelligent means of giving the possibility to those they love to escape from a boring daily life.
Finally, and this is perhaps the true explanation of the phenomenon, Hervé Le Tellier's novel titillates the reader's imagination in a singular way.
The Anomaly
features the occupants of an airplane who will have to live with their double.
The story is daring, virtual, almost absurd, but it has this fundamental virtue, that of allowing us to escape, at least for some time, from ourselves.
It combines poetry and scientific rigor.
It is the work of a writer who will have been at the same time a mathematician, doctor of linguistics and professor of journalism.
An "
anomaly
" that is his genius.
Hervé Le Tellier, happy and astonished to receive the Goncourt
