Prix Goncourt

Corswandt

Corswandt

FAFO
3ème sélection for this year's Goncourt:

  • La part du fils de Jean-Luc Coatalem
  • Tous les hommes n’habitent pas le monde de la même façon de Jean-Paul Dubois
  • Soif d’Amélie Nothomb
  • Extérieur monde d’Olivier Rolin
First two are unknown to me. As for Nothomb, not a single one of her books has been translated into PT and published here for more than 10 years now; before that she had a half dozen or so of her novellas come out in PT. Olivier Rolin's books on the other hand keep getting published here; he seems to have developed a good relationship with Portugal.

The 2018 winner was one of those whose rights weren't picked up by any PT publisher BTW. A bit disappointed in that, as it doesn't happen very often and I would have liked to read it.
 
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Corswandt

Corswandt

FAFO
Google translation of part of a recent PT article on Olivier Rolin's highlighting his relation with Portugal, with slight revisions to make it readable:

"At the author's request, the latest book by Frenchman Olivier Rolin was published simultaneously in France by Gallimard and in Portugal by Sextante, an imprint of Porto Editora. Among other reasons, because it was partially written at a literary sojourn of Rolin in Cascais, at the invitation of the Dom Luís I Foundation, but above all because of Rolin's affection for our country, where he has good friends and is always well received. The title of the work in Portuguese, “Peregrinação” [the title of Fernão Mendes Pinto's account of his travels and adventures in Asia in the 16th century], was the writer's choice - the original title is “Extérieur monde” -, paying tribute to Portuguese literature and language."

jornaleconomico.sapo.pt

“Peregrinação”, o novo livro de Olivier Rolin

Eis a sugestão de leitura desta semana da livraria Palavra de Viajante: memórias em jeito de divagações pela pluma de Rolin, um livro perfeito para viajar no sofá.
jornaleconomico.sapo.pt jornaleconomico.sapo.pt
 
Corswandt

Corswandt

FAFO
Winner is Jean-Paul Dubois ("Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon"), with 6 votes, over Nothomb, with 4 votes.

First two are unknown to me.
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He said, because he couldn't be arsed to look up Jean-Paul Dubois' name on a local online bookstore and find out that he has three books published in Portugal, going all the way back to 2005, and including the recent La Succession.
 
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Corswandt

Corswandt

FAFO
Daniel del Real said:
Consider yourselves lucky. We keep getting every year a piece of trash by this woman.
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Several of Nothomb's novellas got translated and published here in the early noughties, but that didn't last long; I think the last one was Acide Sulfurique, back in 2007. I actually assumed this wasn't just due to her books not having been successful here (don't really know if they were or not) but to her becoming less relevant, but judging by the coverage I read about this year's Goncourt it seems that she's bigger than ever, and she was apparently considered a frontrunner (due to her notoriety?).
 
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Stevie B

Stevie B

Current Member
I liked Fear and Trembling by Nothomb. Having been a gaijin in Japan, I could relate to the main character and the fish-out-of-water situations.
 
DouglasM

DouglasM

Reader
I've read many works on ethnopsychiatry by Tobie Nathan. Didn't know he also writes fiction, I'm curious now.
 
Corswandt

Corswandt

FAFO
Cleanthess said:
Carole Martinez is another good writer on that list.
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I went to check and she was a finalist in 2011 with Du Domaine des Murmures, losing to Alexis Jenni's L'Art Français de la Guerre, a book that doesn't seem to have made much of an impact (it wasn't translated to PT when every single Goncourt winner still was). Du Domaine des Murmures is yet another one of those Goncourt contenders whose synopsis makes it sound extremely interesting and that I'd probably enjoy reading (see post #60 in the previous page for other examples).

I'll try to get some info about the books on this year's longlist as soon as I can.
 
Corswandt

Corswandt

FAFO
The prize should have been awarded yesterday, but the Académie Goncourt decided (in the 29th of October) not to do so in solidarity with bookstore owners who had to shut down their businesses during the new lockdown in France. So the announcement of the prize has been postponed; there is no set date for it now, but the academy has said that it will happen before Christmas in any case.

The final shortlist:

L’Anomalie de Hervé Le Tellier
Thésée, sa nouvelle vie de Camille de Toledo
L’Historiographe du royaume de Maël Renouard
Les Impatientes de Djaïli Amadou Amal
 
Dante

Dante

Wild Reader
In the end, 2020 Prix Goncourt will be awarded this November 30th, first day in which bookstores will be finally considered an "essential service" during the lockdown and they'll be able to sell books again in France.
 
Dante

Dante

Wild Reader
The winner of the 2020's prix Goncourt, the leading French literary prize, it's L'anomalie by Hervé Le Tellier. He is also the first member of the Oulipo to win the Goncourt.
 
Corswandt

Corswandt

FAFO
Dante said:
L'anomalie by Hervé Le Tellier is now number two in top-selling Goncourt-winner's list of all times. 633.000 copies sold…
This prize always provides a shocking sales boost.
More details here: https://www.livreshebdo.fr/article/...-deuxieme-goncourt-le-plus-vendu-de-lhistoire
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The PT translation, released about a month ago, is also a hit. Right now it's #2 in the "fiction" bestseller list of the online FNAC stores and top 10 in the overall bestseller list of the Wook online bookstore. The only way books become hits in Portugal is through word-of-mouth, so this means people are actually reading it and recommending it to their friends.

I read it a couple of weeks back. It's well crafted and quite fun. Of those occasions the Goncourt went pop/middlebrow (so to speak) in this century (2004, 2013, 2020), it seemed to me to be the most interesting pick - and with Au revoir là-haut I had liked both book and film. About what happened in 2004 I'd rather not talk about.
 
Dante

Dante

Wild Reader
Here you'll find the first longlist of 2021 Prix Goncourt. I didn't read any of these titles yet, but I've appreciated David Diop's previous book.
Also, I've heard good things about La plus secrète mémoire des hommes by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr. Probably it'll be the first one I'll check out.
 
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