The hedgehog revisited

I was talking to the editors at Sekwa publications, that translated and published L'élegance du hérisson, Muriel Barbery, in Swedish. I understood that a 2nd and 3rd print had been requested, so far reaching a volume of 18.000. A recent article about the publishing house and it's success here (in Swedish). Naturally, I have read the book and enjoyed the story about the friendship between Renée, the concierge in bourgeois Paris and Paloma, a twelve-year old girl living in the building, two extraordinarily intelligent individuals (women). Soon, Mr Ozu, a courteous Japanese man, is moving into the building and join their little circle of friends. It's sweet, it's insightful and even funny. My main critique was that I have read too many books lately switching narrative perspectives between different caracters in every second chapter. During summer I saw the movie, too. Instead of keeping her diary, Paloma is here filming her family member to their nuisance. Even though Josiane Balasko is doing a great performance as Renée I preferred the book.

The hedgehog, now in Swedish

The French novel the Elegance of the Hedgehog (L'Elégance du hérisson) by Muriel Barbery has now been published in Swedish: Igelkottens elegans . Critics were good and the book went straight to the top of the sales as most popular book at the internet bookstore adlibris. However, while the sales in France exceeded a million books, the Swedish edition is quite modest: 6500 for a start .

Alain Robbe-Grillet

This week Alain Robbe-Grillet left us at the age of 86 years old, productive since his debute as an author in the 1950s. I met with him in Göteborg in 2003 at a seminar around his book "La Reprise". Many authors write to tell their story, while as Robbe-Grillet wrote to discover the world. One of his main characteristics was the optic; detailed descriptions of what could be perceived. Not surprisingly, one of the early titles was "Le voyeur" (1955). According to Robbe-Grillet it was old-fashioned to focus on plot, action, narrative, ideas, and character. Instead, he put forward a theory of the novel as focused on objects: the ideal nouveau roman would be an individual version and vision of things, subordinating plot and character to the details of the world rather than enlisting the world in their service. Robbe-Grillet was one of the main characters in the movement of the French new novel and published in 1963 the essay "Pour un nouveau roman". Other important figures were Nathalie Sarraute, Claude Simon and Michel Butor. I treated Michel Butor's "L'Emploi du temps" in my thesis in comparative literature and enjoy the complex construction that permits to get a new, deeper or just different, understanding even at the third and fourth re-reading.

Goncourt revisited

Right, I never got back to the final Goncourt laureate. Usually the short lists are most interesting to me, that way you have a list of recommendations to select from yourself according to mood, availability etc. Anyway, Gilles Leroy has been awarded the Goncourt Prize for his «Alabama Song» (Mercure de France), which has 8-folded the number of books available in the bookstores. It doesn't seem to have been an evident choice, however, I learnt it took the jury 14 rounds of voting - yet another reason to pay more attention to the short list than the unique award-winning title.

Goncourt short list

More awards!...the short list of October 2nd for Prix Goncourt 2007 is:
Olivier Adam «A l'abri de rien» (L'Olivier)
Philippe Claudel «Le rapport de Brodeck» (Stock)
Marie Darrieussecq «Tom est mort» (P.O.L.)
Michèle Lesbre «Le canapé rouge» (S. Wespieser)
Clara Dupont-Monod «La passion selon Juette» (Grasset)
Gilles Leroy «Alabama Song» (Mercure de France)
Amélie Nothomb «Ni d'Eve ni d'Adam» (Albin Michel)
Lydie Salvayre «Portrait de l'écrivain en animal domestique» (Seuil)

I'd say that there is the most buzz around Amélie Nothomb, however that says nothing about the decisions of the jury.
To be continued...the 25th of October...