It was his last battle as a juror of the Goncourt Academy: Patrick Rambaud leaves the prestigious jury after its last deliberation on Thursday November 3 which saw Brigitte Giraud win the Prix Goncourt after fourteen ballots and the double voice of the president .
As we knew, the author of
La Bataille
, one of the rare historical doubles (Goncourt, Grand Prix of the novel of the French Academy in 1997) was not in good health and wanted to move away from literary contests.
It is now done, the thing was made public via a press release from the literary society on Twitter:
"The Goncourt Academy announces the appointment for health reasons of Patrick Rambaud as an honorary member."
In other words, he will no longer sit on the jury, at 76, he will leave his cover, number 5, that of Daniel Boulanger, but also of Aragon and J.-H.
Young Rosny, to another juror.
Patrick Rambaud leaves at a time when the assembly led by Didier Decoin seems more divided than ever – as we saw after the last deliberation (see our edition of November 4).
Agree on the profile of the one who will succeed him will not be easy after the oppositions of November.
Especially since the Goncourt Academy will also renew its office (president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer) during its first lunch of the year, which should be held on January 3 or 10.
A somewhat gruff man, who makes no particular effort to please but arouses sympathy, Rambaud had joined the Goncourt Academy at the same time as Tahar Ben Jelloun, it was in May 2008. The opportunity for Bernard Pivot, sworn at the time, to make a good word, very funny, which undoubtedly would pass less today:
"The proof that the Académie Goncourt is not racist, it elected an Arab and a Negro!",
reference to his activity as author-collaborator, as we now say, to mean that Rambaud had written a great deal for others.
He had been chosen
"for his banter, his outspokenness, his love of good food"
, in the words of the president at the time, Edmonde Charles-Roux.
We don't know if it's legal, but it's customary for the next juror to be chosen unanimously.
Because, and it is a tradition at the Académie Goncourt, each juror has a right of veto: a black ball means categorical refusal, there have already been a few.
A unifying profile is essential.