Prix Goncourt

Prix Goncourt
Awarded for	"the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"
Date	November, annual
Country	France
Presented by	Académie Goncourt
First awarded	1903
Official website	academie-goncourt.fr

The Prix Goncourt (French: Le prix Goncourt, IPA: [lə pʁi ɡɔ̃kuʁ], The Goncourt Prize) is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". Four other prizes are also awarded: prix Goncourt du Premier Roman (first novel), prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle (short story), prix Goncourt de la Poésie (poetry) and prix Goncourt de la Biographie (biography). Of the "big six" French literary awards, the Prix Goncourt is the best known and most prestigious.^[1] The other major literary prizes are the Grand Prix du Roman de l'Academie Francaise, the Prix Femina, the Prix Renaudot, the Prix Interallie and the Prix Medicis.^[1]

History

Edmond de Goncourt, a successful author, critic, and publisher, bequeathed his estate for the foundation and maintenance of the académie Goncourt.^[2] In honour of his brother and collaborator, Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt (1830–1870), the académie has awarded the Prix Goncourt every December since 1903.^[2] The jury that determines the winner meets at the Drouant restaurant in November to make its decision.^[3] Notable winners of the prize include Marcel Proust (In Search of Lost Time), Simone de Beauvoir (The Mandarins), André Malraux (Man's Fate) and Marguerite Duras (The Lover).^[2]

The award was initially established to provide talented new authors with a monetary award that would allow them to write a second book.^[4] Today, the Goncourt has a token prize amount (around 10 euros), about the same amount given in 1903, and so the prestige of the prize has been explained not because of the cash-value of the prize, but "in terms of the tremendous book sales it effects: the Goncourt winner becomes an instant millionaire."^[5]

In 1987, the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens was established, as a collaboration between the académie Goncourt, the French Ministry of Education, and Fnac, a book, music, and movie retailer.

The Prix Renaudot is announced at the same ceremony as the Prix Goncourt. It has become known as something of a second-place prize.^[6]

Controversies

Within months of the first prize in 1903, it spawned a "hostile counter-prize" in the form of the Prix Femina to counter the all-male Jury of the Goncourt with an all-female jury on the Femina.^[7]

Some decisions for awarding the prize have been controversial, a famous case being the decision to award the prize in 1919 to Marcel Proust; this was met with indignation, since many in the public felt that the prize should have gone to Roland Dorgelès for Les Croix de bois, a novel about the First World War.^[8][9] The prize was supposed to be awarded to promising young authors, whereas Proust was not considered "young" at 48 - however Proust was a beginning author which is the only eligibility requirement, age being unimportant.^[8][9]

In 1921, Rene Maran won the Goncourt with Batouala, veritable roman negre, the first French novel to openly criticize European colonialism in Africa.^[10] The novel caused "violent reactions" and was banned in all the French colonies.^[10]

In 1932, the prize was controversial for passing up Louis-Ferdinand Céline's Voyage au bout de la nuit for Guy Mazeline's Les Loups.^[11] The voting process became the basis of the 1992 book Goncourt 32 by Eugène Saccomano.^[12]

Although the award may only be given to an author once, Romain Gary won it twice, in 1956 for Les racines du ciel and again under the pseudonym Émile Ajar in 1975 for La vie devant soi.^[13] The Académie Goncourt awarded the prize to Ajar without knowing his real identity.^[13] A period of literary intrigue followed. Gary's cousin's son Paul Pavlowitch posed as the author for a time. Gary later revealed the truth in his posthumous book Vie et mort d'Émile Ajar.^[13]

Winners

Notes

• Translations full audit: March 2009^[34]
• Films full audit: February 2011^[35]
• Translation date is of first translation, later ones may be available.
• Website of the Academie Goncourt with list of past winners.

Other awards

In addition to the Prix Goncourt for a novel, the Academy Awards four other awards, for first novel, short story, biography and poetry.

As of March 2009, the académie changed the award name by dropping "bourses" ("scholarship") from the title.^[36][37] The prefix "prix" can be included or not, such as "Prix Goncourt de la Poésie" (Goncourt prize for Poetry) or "Goncourt de la Poésie" (Goncourt of Poetry). For example: "Claude Vigée was awarded a Goncourt de la Poésie in 2008". Or, "Claude Vigée won the 2008 prix Goncourt de la Poésie".

The award titles are:

The winners are listed below.^[38]

Prix Goncourt de la Biographie

Goncourt Prize for biography. Awarded in partnership with the city of Nancy.

• 1999 – Claude Pichois and Alain Brunet, Colette
• 2000 – Dominique Bona, Berthe Morisot
• 2001 – Laure Murat, La maison du docteur Blanche
• 2002 – Jean-Paul Goujon, Une Vie Secrète (1870–1925 ); Mille lettres de Pierre Louÿs à Georges Louis (1890–1917)
• 2003 – Pierre Billard, Louis Malle
• 2004 – Claude Dufresne, Appelez-moi George Sand
• 2005 – Thibaut d'Anthonay, Jean Lorrain
• 2006 – Angie David, Dominique Aury
• 2007 – Patrice Locmant, Huysmans, le forçat de la vie
• 2008 – Jennifer Lesieur, Jack London
• 2009 – Viviane Forrester, Virginia Woolf
• 2010 – Michel Winock, Madame de Stael
• 2011 – Maurizio Serra, Malaparte, vies et légendes
• 2012 – David Haziot, Le Roman des Rouart
• 2013 – Jean Renoir, Pascal Mérigeau
• 2014 – Jean Lebrun, Notre Chanel ^[39]
• 2015 – Jean-Christophe Attias, Moïse fragile^[40]

Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle

Goncourt Prize for short stories. Begun in 1974 in the form of scholarships. Awarded in partnership with the city of Strasbourg since 2001.

• 1974 – Daniel Boulanger, Fouette, cocher !
• 1975 – S. Corinna Bille, La Demoiselle sauvage
• 1976 – Antoine Blondin, Quat'saisons
• 1977 – Henri Gougaud, Départements et territoires d'outre-mort
• 1978 – Christiane Baroche, Chambres, avec vue sur le passé
• 1979 – Andrée Chedid, Le Corps et le Temps
• 1980 – Guy Lagorce, Les Héroïques
• 1981 – Annie Saumont, Quelquefois dans les cérémonies
• 1982 – René Depestre, Alléluia pour une femme-jardin
• 1983 – Raymond Jean, Un fantasme de Bella B.
• 1984 – Alain Gerber, Les Jours de vin et de roses
• 1985 – Pierrette Fleutiaux, Métamorphoses de la reine
• 1986 – Jean Vautrin, Baby-boom
• 1987 – Noëlle Châtelet, Histoires de bouche
• 1988 – Jean-Louis Hue, Dernières Nouvelles du Père Noël
• 1989 – Paul Fournel, Les Athlètes dans leur tête
• 1990 – Jacques Bens, Nouvelles désenchantées
• 1991 – Rafaël Pividal, Le Goût de la catastrophe
• 1992 – Catherine Lépront, Trois gardiennes
• 1993 – Mariette Condroyer, Un après-midi plutôt gai
• 1994 – Jean-Christophe Duchon-Doris, Les Lettres du baron
• 1996 – Ludovic Janvier, En mémoire du lit
• 1997 – François Sureau, Le Sphinx de Darwin
• 1999 – Elvire de Brissac, Les anges d'en bas
• 2000 – Catherine Paysan, Les Désarmés
• 2001 – Stéphane Denis, Elle a maigri pour le festival
• 2002 – Sébastien Lapaque, Mythologie Française
• 2003 – Philippe Claudel, Les petites mécaniques
• 2004 – Olivier Adam, Passer l'hiver
• 2005 – Georges-Olivier Chateaureynaud, Singe savant tabassé par deux clowns
• 2006 – Franz Bartelt, Le Bar des habitudes
• 2007 – Brigitte Giraud, L'Amour est très surestimé
• 2008 – Jean-Yves Masson, Ultimes vérités sur la mort du nageur
• 2009 – Sylvain Tesson, Une vie à coucher dehors
• 2010 – Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Concerto à la mémoire d'un ange
• 2011 – Bernard Comment, Tout passe
• 2012 – Didier Daeninckx, L'Espoir en contrebande
• 2013 – Fouad Laroui, L'Étrange Affaire du pantalon de Dassoukine
• 2014 – Nicolas Cavaillès, Vie de monsieur Leguat^[41]
• 2015 – Patrice Franceschi, Première personne du singulier^[42]

Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman

Goncourt Prize for debut novel. Awarded in partnership with the municipality of Paris.

• 1990 – Hélène de Monferrand, Les amies d'Héloïse
• 1991 – Armande Gobry-Valle, Iblis ou la défroque du serpent
• 1992 – Nita Rousseau, Les iris bleus
• 1993 – Bernard Chambaz, L'arbre de vies
• 1994 – Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, Vétérinaires
• 1995 – Florence Seyvos, Les apparitions
• 1996 – Yann Moix, Jubilations vers le ciel
• 1997 – Jean-Christophe Rufin, L'abyssin
• 1998 – Shan Sa, Porte de la paix céleste
• 1999 – Nicolas Michel, Un revenant
• 2000 – Benjamin Berton, Sauvageons
• 2001 – Salim Bachi, Le chien d'Ulysse
• 2002 – Soazig Aaron, Le non de Klara
• 2003 – Claire Delannoy, La guerre, l'Amérique
• 2004 – Françoise Dorner, La fille du rang derrière
• 2005 – Alain Jaubert, Val Paradis
• 2006 – Hédi Kaddour, Waltenberg
• 2007 – Frédéric Brun, Perla
• 2008 – Jakuta Alikavazovic, Corps volatils
• 2009 – Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, Une éducation libertine
• 2010 – Laurent Binet, HHhH
• 2011 – Michel Rostain, Le Fils
• 2012 – François Garde, Ce qu'il advint du sauvage blanc
• 2013 – Alexandre Postel, Un homme effacé
• 2014 – Frédéric Verger, Arden^[43]
• 2015 – Kamel Daoud, The Meursault Investigation^[44]

Prix Goncourt de la Poésie

Goncourt Prize for poetry. Established through the bequest of Adrien Bertrand (Prix Goncourt in 1914). The award is for the poet's entire career work.

• 1985 – Claude Roy
• 1986 – postponed to 1987^[45]
• 1987 – Yves Bonnefoy
• 1988 – Eugène Guillevic
• 1989 – Alain Bosquet
• 1990 – Charles Le Quintrec
• 1991 – Jean-Claude Renard
• 1992 – Georges-Emmanuel Clancier
• 1993 – not awarded^[45]
• 1994 – not awarded^[45]
• 1995 – Lionel Ray
• 1996 – André Velter
• 1997 – Maurice Chappaz
• 1998 – Lorand Gaspar
• 1999 – Jacques Réda
• 2000 – Liliane Wouters
• 2001 – Claude Esteban
• 2002 – Andrée Chedid
• 2003 – Philippe Jaccottet
• 2004 – Jacques Chessex
• 2005 – Charles Dobzynski
• 2006 – Alain Jouffroy
• 2007 – Marc Alyn
• 2008 – Claude Vigée
• 2009 – Abdellatif Laabi
• 2010 – Guy Goffette
• 2011 – Vénus Khoury-Ghata
• 2012 – Jean-Claude Pirotte
• 2013 – Charles Juliet
• 2014 - William Cliff ^[46]

Bourse Goncourt Jeunesse

Goncrout Prize for children's literature. Awarded in partnership with the municipality of Fontvieille. Discontinued after 2007.

• 1999 – Claude Guillot and Fabienne Burckel, Le fantôme de Shanghai
• 2000 – Eric Battut, Rouge Matou
• 2002 – Fred Bernard and François Roca, Jeanne and le Mokélé and Jesus Betz
• 2003 – Yvan Pommaux, Avant la Télé
• 2004 – Jean Chalon and Martine Delerm, Un arbre dans la lune
• 2005 – Natali Fortier, Lili Plume
• 2006 – Bernard du Boucheron and Nicole Claveloux, Un roi, une princesse and une pieuvre
• 2007 – Véronique Ovaldé and Joëlle Jolivet, La très petite Zébuline

See also

• Prix Renaudot – announced at the same ceremony as the Prix Goncourt, it has become something of a second-place prize.
• Prix Goncourt des Lycéens
• Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française
• List of French literary awards

For a more comprehensive overview a list of literary awards is available.

References