Paul Auster's novel Baumgarten, published just a few months before the death of the renowned American writer, serves as the culmination of his long literary career, rich in bestsellers – let us mention New York Trilogy, and Moon Palace – which have permanently established him among the greatest authors of world literature in the past forty years. The novel's multi-layered narrative space is built around the premature death of the protagonist's wife, Anna. Baumgarten compares this tragic even...
"Houris" by Kamel Daoud: Finally, a Worthy Goncourt Prize
After several disappointing years, the Goncourt Prize finally honors a novel that truly deserves the recognition. The jury has given us a real gift by shining a light on a major author of our generation, still too little known to the general public. With Houris, Kamel Daoud delivers an engaged novel, teeming with symbols and hidden meanings, a work that can be read on multiple levels. Admittedly, the first pages are written in a style that is a bit too baroque for my taste, but very quickly, ...
Irish region known for the beauty of its landscapes, Connemara is also the title of the latest novel by Nicolas Mathieu who, in 2018, won the Goncourt prize for And Their Children After Them. The choice of the title of his final text refers to a song by Michel Sardou: Les Lacs de Connemara. A sort of leitmotif, this 1980s hit accompanies the characters of the novel in their daily struggles; it symbolizes an emotional bond with a familiar place (in this case, a small town in the eastern part o...
