“I retain a great amazement!”
Didier Decoin, president of the Goncourt academy, still cannot believe it, almost three months after the turbulence which had shaken the jury, on Thursday November 3, 2022, when the prize awarded to Brigitte Giraud for
Vivre vite
was announced (Flammarion).
Barely a minute after the proclamation, while the winner, all smiles, was welcomed by Didier Decoin, Tahar Ben Jelloun, member of the jury, breaks a tradition: he dissociates himself from the announced choice by affirming loud and clear that he did not like the crowned novel and that he preferred his competitor,
The Magus of the Kremlin
, by Giuliano da Empoli, crowned a few days earlier with the grand prize for the novel of the French Academy.
His words are harsh.
He claims that the Goncourt Academy made a
"mistake".
Other jurors think the same thing (Pierre Assouline, Pascal Bruckner, Patrick Rambaud), but we hear them less.
The deliberations were extremely tense, and fourteen all of…
This article is for subscribers only.
You have 93% left to discover.
Cultivating your freedom is cultivating your curiosity.
Keep reading your article for €0.99 for the first month
I ENJOY IT
Already subscribed?
Login