The 2015 Goncourt Prize Goes to Matthias Enard

Matthias Enard, a French author, has won the most prestigious literary award in France, the Goncourt Prize, for his novel "Compass." Enard's ninth novel tells the story of an Austrian music researcher named Franz Ritter, who is bedridden by an unknown illness. During his days of sickness and sleepless nights, Franz reflects on his unrequited love for a French woman and the tumultuous relationship between Europe and the Middle East over the centuries. The publisher describes "Compass" as "a laudatory and poetic description of the historical exchanges between the West and the East." Enard, who studied Persian and Arabic and spent a significant part of his 42 years traveling in Middle Eastern countries, is currently teaching Arabic at the University of Barcelona, Spain, while also writing novels. Before selecting this novel, the ten-member Goncourt Academy announced a shortlist of four finalists. Interestingly, all these books address themes that seem to occupy the minds of French intellectuals and writers, similar to many other authors worldwide: extremist Islamism and the relationships between the West and Arab/Muslim countries. Among this year's nominees was a novel by Algerian writer Boualem Sansal titled "2084," which not only echoes the title of George Orwell's famous novel "1984" but also depicts a dark future where an Islamic caliphate has been established, with no news of individual and social freedoms. Despite Michel Houellebecq's support, this novel did not win the prize. This is not the first time Enard's works have gained attention. His previous novel "Zone," published in 2008, was a 500-page book that contained only one sentence, at the end of the novel. In this novel/monologue, Enard takes readers on a long journey into the mind of a French-Croatian secret agent to narrate the cruelties, racism, and intolerance in Europe. Despite the highly innovative form of this novel, which consists of a single 150,000-word sentence, it received significant acclaim from both critics and readers. The English translation of "Zone," which is one of Enard's most recognized works, was released in 2011 by Charlotte Mandell. Unlike many prestigious awards, the Goncourt Academy awards only ten dollars to the author of the "best and most imaginative prose of the year" written in French, the same amount awarded to John Anthony Nov for his novel "The Enemy Force" in the inaugural Goncourt Prize in 1903. However, the prestige of this award lies not in its monetary value but in the literary figures who have won it, including Marcel Proust, Marguerite Duras, André Malraux, and Simone de Beauvoir. Additionally, receiving this award often means high popularity among readers and bestseller status in France, thus ultimately providing material benefits for both the author and the publisher. Not only has the prize amount not changed in over a century, but according to tradition, the winner is still announced each year at the "Drouant" restaurant in Paris after a lunch consisting of lamb and olives.