2023-11-07 12:39:25
Awarded on Thursday, the Goncourt 2023, the most prestigious French literary prize, was awarded to Jean-Baptiste Andrea for “Veiller sur elle” (The Iconoclast). This saga of almost 600 pages regarding a close friendship which takes place in Italy at the beginning of the 20th century had already been rewarded by the Fnac prize.
The 52-year-old novelist was elected in the 14th round. He faced Eric Reinhardt, Gaspard Koenig and Neige Sinno, awarded the Femina prize on Monday.
For his fourth novel, Jean-Baptiste Andrea, who came to literature late, chose to tell the destiny of two extraordinary characters. Mimo and Viola should never have met and yet an extraordinary bond will be forged between them.
It is in a fictional village in Liguria, Pietra d’Alba, that they meet. Orphaned by his father and of modest circumstances, Mimo apprentices as a sculptor with a brutal and alcoholic “uncle”. Viola is an Orsini. The most powerful family in the region built its empire and its fortune on citrus fruits.
From this meeting a powerful friendship was born, crossed by two world wars and the rise of fascism. Mimo may go to Florence and Rome, becoming one of the greatest sculptors of his time, but his returns to Pietra d’Alba are always tinged with a certain magic.
Between love and friendship
If Mimo manages to rise, Viola remains prisoner of her status: that of being born a woman at the beginning of the 20th century. Her position forces her to give in to a marriage of convenience while her keen intelligence pushes her to great aspirations. No matter, Viola does as she pleases, she devours the books from her father’s library, listens to the dead at night in cemeteries and dreams of flying.
Jean-Baptiste Andrea might have chosen to write a love story between these two characters, but he preferred a very strong and slightly crazy friendship, made up of pauses, arguments and above all a lot of love.
>> Also read: “Watch over her” by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, the great back-to-school saga
Italian origins
Just like his character, Jean-Baptiste Andrea has Italian origins through his mother and grandmother. During his childhood, all links with his country of origin are cut, in order to integrate “as best as possible”. At school, the writer learned German, because Italian is “the language of dunces”.
“This disconnection with my origins frustrated me a lot, confides Jean-Baptiste Andrea. Writing ‘Veiller sur elle’ was a way for me to reconnect with Italy, and no one might stop me from doing that. .”
A first Goncourt for the Iconoclast
The publishing house L’Iconoclaste, founded in 1997 by Sophie de Sivry (who died last May at the age of 64), is honored for the first time with the most prestigious French literary prize. But its author Jean-Baptiste Andrea has already received numerous awards. Revealed to the public in 2017 with “My Queen”, also published by L’Iconoclaste, for this first novel he received the Femina prize for high school students, the First Novel Prize, the Alain-Fournier prize as well as the Jacqueline Foundation prize of Romilly.
In 2019, “One Hundred Million Years and One Day”, the second volume of his trilogy on childhood, also received an excellent reception. In 2021, he published “Of Devils and Saints”, once more with L’Iconoclaste. The book won the RTL-Lire Grand Prix and the Ouest-France/Étonnants Voyageurs prize. More than 30,000 copies have already been sold. In addition to the Goncourt, “Veiller sur elle” has already won the Fnac Novel Prize this year.
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