La maison vide by Laurent Mauvignier Wins the U.S. Goncourt Prize
Books & Ideas
Image by Jasmina Tomic
Following months of study and deliberation, students from 11 American universities named La maison vide as one of France’s best recently published works of literature.
On Saturday, April 11, a jury of 11 university students announced Laurent Mauvignier’s La maison vide as the winner of the fifth U.S. Goncourt Prize.
Hosted by Villa Albertine, with the virtual participation of Honorary Chair and last year’s prize winner, Sandrine Collette (Madelaine avant l’aube, trans. by Alison Anderson, published by Europa Editions), Maurignier’s book was selected from a list of four works shortlisted for the official Prix Goncourt in France, after months of study and debates by American university students.
La nuit au cœur by Nathacha Appanah (Gallimard), Kolkhoze by Emmanuel Carrère (P.O.L), and Le Bel Obscur by Caroline Lamarche (Seuil) were additionally featured on the shortlist.
This year, the participating universities included Columbia University, Duke University, Harvard University, New York University, Princeton University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Florida, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Southern California, University of Virginia, and Yale University.
The Prix Goncourt is considered to be one of France’s most prestigious literary prizes. International Goncourt Prizes, led by university students in 40 countries, measure how the shortlist for the official Prix Goncourt resonates with younger audiences around the world. The U.S prize, now in its fifth year, is organized and funded by Villa Albertine, in partnership with the Académie Goncourt and universities from the French Embassy’s Centers of Excellence network.
About the Author
Laurent Mauvignier studied Fine Arts at the École des Beaux-Arts of Tours, and then started writing fiction, publishing his first novel Loin d’eux (Éditions de Minuit, 1999). Since then, he’s published several novels and plays and has written for television and cinema.
About the Book
La maison vide, published by Les Éditions de Minuit begins in 1976 when a man reopens the house he inherited from his mother after it has been closed for twenty years. Filled with stories, the house bears the traces of two world wars and of rural life in the first half of the twentieth century, as well as the lives of three generations of women and the men who entered their lives. Through their intertwined histories, the novel brings these figures into the light and explores how their shadows extend into the present. The American translation will soon be available in the U.S.
In partnership with
Académie Goncourt
The Académie Goncourt was founded by French writer Edmond de Goncourt. At his death in 1896 he willed that his assets be used to support this literary society, helping to ensure that each year ten writers would award an annual prize to a “work of great imagination in prose”. The Goncourt Prize (Prix Goncourt), first awarded in 1903, quickly grew into a mark of great prestige, launching winning authors into major domestic and international success. On November 3, 2022, the “Academy of Ten” will announce the 120th Goncourt Prize.