Travel in a fantasy Middle East

Boussole, an oriental dream

The Prix Goncourt is considered as the most prestigious literary award in France, and it has been awarded on November 3^rd to Mathias Énard for Boussole (Compass), published by Actes Sud in August 2015. This is the seventh novel from the French writer, who takes us to the nostalgic dreamlike travel of Franz Ritter, an insomniac Austrian musicologist who loves the Middle East.

On a sleepless night, Franz remembers his travels: from Aleppo to Palmyra, from Istanbul to Tehran. He tells the East of explorers, of Orientalists thirsty for knowledge and discoveries. In his dreams, a woman keeps coming back: Sarah, the woman of his life (or dreams). She too is a traveller seeking distant shores.

Islam and Middle East at the heart of the literary season

The Prix Goncourt award 2015 is the product of a lover of Islam cultures who was fascinated since early age by the Arabian Nights. Énard is graduated in Persian and Arabic. Just like his characters, Mathias Énard "explored Egypt, Syria or Iran".

With Boussole, he wished to "pay a tribute to all those who, whether in the East or the West, love difference so much that they immersed in the languages, cultures or music they discovered". In the current backdrop, this award takes another aspect.

Mediterranean utopias

The Goncourt Academy placed this season under the sign of Mediterranean utopias. The other major favourite for the award was Hédi Kaddour, who, in "Les Prépondérants" (The Dominators) talks about the first signs of decolonisation in an imaginary North African protectorate. The writer had already won the Grand prix du roman de l’Académie française.

Image: ©Actualité