It is extraordinarily cold.
You don't take your scarf off in the venerable 19th century institution, but soon the warm atmosphere brings down the masks and coats.
Last year, given the health crisis, the Prix des Deux Magots had to give up taking place in this famous brasserie in the 6th arrondissement.
This Tuesday, January 25, even if we are far from the influx of sunny days, the jury has returned to its tradition, which since 1933, exchange readings and small canapes while waiting for the announcement of its winner.
Around a tight table, the eleven jurors are still deliberating at noon while a latecomer is expected: Jean Chalon.
When, finally, Étienne de Montety, the president of the jury, takes the floor and announces, first with humor "in front of a delirious crowd", then with solemnity
"The 89th Prix des Deux Magots has been awarded to Louis-Henri de La Rochefoucauld, for
“
Sand Castles
”
, published by Robert Laffont.
He won with 7 votes against 4 for Jérôme Chantreau and his novel Bélhazar (Phébus).
»
Arriving shortly after the award was announced, Louis-Henri de La Rochefoucauld was greeted by a myriad of flashes and photos.
“I am very happy to have this award, which has writers that I admire, such as Blondin and Weyergans, on its list.”
Still stunned by the result, the lucky winner adds:
“But I am only a mouse next to this literary mountain.”
How does he explain this price?
"Current literature is not always illustrated by its humor and perhaps that played a role..."
Louis-Henri de La Rochefoucauld is a music and literary columnist for the magazines Technikart and Lire.
He is the author of nine novels, including Châteaux de sable (Robert Laffont).
It recounts with humor and subtlety the life of Louis-Henri, a young father, who feels out of step with his time, his prestigious ancestry – he comes from a family of guillotines during the Revolution – and his current precarious situation.
Taking advantage of a nocturnal stroll in Paris, he meets Louis XVI in a bar.
The opportunity to revisit the history of France...
Les Deux Magots have a Parisian café tradition that is in tune with this book.
There is a fantasy, a joy in this story that everyone liked
Stephen of Montety
A work of “undeniable literary quality” for Étienne de Montety.
“Les Deux Magots have a Parisian café tradition that is in line with this book. There is a fantasy, a joy in this story that everyone liked.
A joke that did not fail to raise the jurors.
“There is a jubilation, a tone that feels good in this gloomy and confined period”
, added Jean-Luc Coatalem.
“This novel has a crazy charm,
added Pauline Dreyfus
. It is both funny and very endearing.
Marianne Payot for her part underlined
the “irony, intelligence and self-mockery”
shown by the author.
In
Le Figaro Littéraire
of last September 9, Sébastien Lapaque had these laudatory words:
“
“
Châteaux de sable
”
is a real novel, a historical and critical meditation on the greatness and misery of the nation France since January 21, 1793 and its impossibility since this day to reconcile tradition and freedom.
It is not doing too much honor to the author to place his reflection in line with that of Chateaubriand of
“
Mémoires d'outre-tombe
”
.
The Prix des Deux Magots jury is chaired by Étienne de Montety, director of
Figaro Littéraire
, and is made up of Laurence Caracalla, Jean Chalon, Jean-Luc Coatalem, Éric Deschodt, Pauline Dreyfus, Pierre Kyria, Marianne Payot, Anne Pons, Benoît Duteurtre and Isabelle Carré.