“I told them, my children, if we can’t decide, we’ll have dinner there, we’ll have breakfast there, I’m not against it, the table is good, but everyone is waiting for the result.” And this is how in the 14th round, President Didier Decoin used his double voice. “In a deadlock situation,” he told us, “the regulations do not allow but require the president to use his double voice, which I happily did because there, he was my candidate.” At 12:50 p.m., Camille Laurens came to announce the news at the bottom of the stairs at Drouant: Jean-Baptiste Andrea is the 121st winner of the Goncourt prize. A few minutes earlier, at 26 rue Jacob, at l’Iconoclaste, the publishing house of the crowned future, we were preparing to pop the champagne of defeat, seeing nothing coming… when the phone call came from Françoise Rossinot, general delegate of the Goncourt academy, around 12:46 p.m. Cries, hugs, the editor Laurent Beccaria, husband of Sophie de Sivry, the boss of the house who died on May 31 at the age of 64, and his daughters, Alba and Constance, explode with joy.
Return to Drouant, in the holy of holies, or to the Goncourt salon on the 1st floor. Despite the 14 rounds of voting, the atmosphere seems calm, unlike last year, when two clans clashed at loggerheads over two titles. Kremlin Mage (Gallimard) the Italian-Swiss author Giuliano da Empoli from (Gallimard) and Live fast by Brigitte Giraud (Flammarion). Already, Didier Decoin had used his double voice in the 14th round, but the atmosphere was much more tense. Despite the fierce duel of pro-Eric Reinhardt for his novel Sarah, Susanne and the writer (Gallimard) and pro-Jean-Baptiste Andrea, author of Watch over hersmiles are in order, everyone agreeing on the great potential of this great popular novel, “in the good sense of the word”, that goes without saying.
At 1:05 p.m., as fast as lightning, the lucky winner arrives, black suit, blue scarf, and his editor, Laurent Beccaria. Polite applause, loud flashes, and a few words of thanks from the 52-year-old Cannes resident. “The dream of a kid who dreamed forty-three years ago of becoming a writer, I think of all the kids who have this dream and to whom I want to say “be unreasonable”, I think very hard of Sophie, my editor, without whom I would not be here today, it is also a publishing house that you have rewarded today. This story was born from my relationship with Italy, the country of my ancestors, and my appetite for art which I associate with absolute freedom – writing for me has really been that, conquering my freedom – and then there is a great love story, which makes the world go round, No ?”
Already sold more than 50,000 copies as of November 7 (a very good score in these times), Watch over her, the 4th very beautiful novel by Jean-Baptiste Andrea has just benefited from a new print run of 200,000 copies, bringing the total print run to 380,000 copies. Of course, everyone, its publishers and the members of the Goncourt jury first and foremost, are expecting sales going well beyond this implementation, the Goncourt 2022 (Live fastby Brigitte Giraud) having gleaned just under 300,000 copies, versus Goncourt 2021 by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (The Most Secret Memory of Mennearly 500,000 copies) and that of Pierre Lemaitre, Goncourt 2013 (Goodbye up there, 460,000) to which jurors often compare this novel. Small tour of the latter, a few minutes after the vote.
“It proves that this jury is not under influence”
Didier Decoin : “It really came down to Reinhardt and Andrea. I must say that the arguments on each side were very strong, it was a beautiful literary battle. The deliberations were friendly, even warm. For Andrea, I argued speaking of the indisputable charm of this book, when he says that you have to see Angelico’s frescoes in stormy weather with lightning, that made me climb the curtain because I thought that you had to see Angelico by quiet time. There are stylistic flashes, images that touch me a lot. And it’s a pleasure to crown a small publishing house. I think it’s a novel that will score well and that will please its readers.”
Philippe Claudel: “We wondered a lot about literary genres, because we had selected novels, stories, hybrid texts on our first list; we don’t forbid anything at Goncourt, it’s the novel that normally has pre-eminence, but we can also crown another type of book. There we had the choice between Humus, by Koenig, a novel with extremely contemporary environmental themes with humor and comedy, a novel by an established writer like Reinhardt, who reflects on the creative processes and the transition from the person to a character, and a text which has been crowned, that of Andrea, which is a true popular novel in the noble sense of the term like that of Lemaitre in the past, which will satisfy a large number of readers. My first choice would have been Neige Sinno, but I refrain from crowning a book that has already been crowned (by Femina, Editor’s note). So secrecy of voting and total solidarity with the winner. I would add that I am very happy that it is a small publishing house, because there has been a malicious campaign orchestrated by journalists in recent weeks who said it is always Gallimard who wins, even though it has been eleven years since I am here, and in eleven years there have been 5 Actes Sud, 2 Gallimard, 1 Seuil, 1 Flammarion, 1 L’Olivier, 1 Philippe Rey. This proves that this jury is not under influence.”
Pierre Assouline : “I found that the four finalist books deserved to have the Goncourt, I cannot be disappointed, each had its qualities, Andrea’s is the bonus for imagination, for pure romance. It’s a book which is already successful and which will continue to be successful thanks to Goncourt. And then it is a sign of gratitude addressed to Sophie de Sivry in the afterlife. Today, we must have a thought for her, because Andrea owes her success to him, she supported him tirelessly. Four days before her disappearance, we had a long-term meeting and she only talked about Andrea.”
Christine Angot ; “I was excited about certain books on the list that didn’t make it to the end. But, at a certain point, it’s the law of the majority that counts, to which we side. This what is interesting is that there are differences in taste and aesthetics between people and therefore this requires, and this is really fascinating, arguments. This does not mean that you change of opinion but the difficulty is wealth.”
Pascal Bruckner : “We forget the weight of the Goncourt but during the final vote, we think about it, yes, because it is not a trivial prize, it is the prize which generates even greater sales than the Booker Prize, and so in the end we know that we have a magnificent responsibility. Readers will be able to put this book under the Christmas tree without blushing, accessible to everyone. It was my choice quite early on, I am very happy. I I think this will be a great popular novel like Pierre Lemaitre. And as much as we came to the brink of civil war last year, this year there were some very elegant debates.”
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt: “This year, it’s my choice, I’m happy, it’s the return of romance to Goncourt, it’s a fresco, there is a wonderful humanity expressed in this book. All the characters are extremely endearing , particularly the figure of Mimo, the main character, who is a large being enclosed in a small body, she is a figure of resilience. It is a book which moves without being pathetic.”
Tahar Ben Jelloun : “It’s a very good choice because it’s really the romantic book that had to be crowned to make us forget last year’s. I read it very early, at the end of May, and had it read around for me, most of my classmates were excited, I don’t remember seeing a negative note. And then there was this confrontation with Reinhardt and ultimately it was the popular book that won. We wouldn’t have couldn’t give the Goncourt to Triste Tigre de Neige Sinno, a very good book but a document. We don’t see people giving a book on incest at Christmas. This one is a real novel with very surprising characters with a magnificent hero, the sculptor and an impossible love story. It is important that we return to traditions, to the essential, the novel.”
Paule Constant : “I did not vote for this novel, but I am very happy because it will reach a very wide audience, it is more suitable than a slightly virtuoso and somewhat complex book like that of Reinhardt, it will be very popular. That said, I wish great success to Humus by Gaspard Koenig because this book enchanted me. So I’m meeting the high school students to Humus and moreover for Mokhtar Amoudi and even for Neige Sinno, because if the high school students voted for sad tiger after Femina, that would be extraordinary.”
Françoise Chandernagor : “It’s a prize that delights me, it’s a totally romantic novel, we sometimes miss that. People today tend to tell their lives or those of their loved ones, here we have a romantic book that takes place in Italy. We see the political events, the war of 14, fascism, etc., we meet Cardinal Pacelli before he was pope, and at the same time we have a prodigious love story with dramatic twists. It’s a story about love and art, since the hero is a sculptor who left as in the Renaissance from below who will become the almost official sculptor of the Church. Around me, people love this book, we have no trouble getting people to read it.”
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