In the melee of Goncourt 2021: a day in the wake of the star of the day, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr – franceinfo

“Look, we’re making a movie here”, a passerby breathes admiringly to her grandson in front of the Drouant restaurant in Paris. Recurring scene at the beginning of November: a compact crowd of journalists with their cameras congregates in front of the entrance to the establishment for the presentation of the Goncourt, the most publicized of literary prizes, To Mohamed Mbougar Sarr who signs The most secret memory of men.

At the entrance, Franz-Olivier Giesbert – member of the Renaudot jury – arrives. No comment to the press, it is “late”. He hurriedly crosses the circular airlock serving as a hall, adorned with blue velvet curtains. Inside, a cozy atmosphere. White mosaic on the floor, adorned here and there with dark flowers. One hour from the announcement of the winners, the atmosphere is calm. A journalist with a cap screwed on his head, headphones in his ears is seated, his eye on his camera. “I’ve been here since five in the morning “, he confides. Just to get a proper seat at the bottom of the main staircase, where the results will be announced.

The room gradually takes on the appearance of a crowded metro in rush hour. Filled with journalists. All are waiting, riveted behind their cameras and cameras. They team up to get the best positioning. There, rumors are rife: “It seems that a few years ago a journalist arrived with a motorcycle helmet to avoid camera shots.”

12:45 p.m. Philippe Claudel, secretary general of the Academy and Franz-Olivier Giesbert, reveal the winners of the two prizes: Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, with The most secret memory of men and Amélie Nothomb for First blood. An announcement of just two minutes. “All that for this”exclaims the journalist getting up at dawn. However, on the side of the Academy, it is an event: Mohamed Mbougar Sarr is only 31 years old. “The youngest author I have ever crowned “, specifies Françoise Chandernagor in front of a horde of journalists engulfed in a new reception hall. In the center, a huge table where the jurors are seated. “There was a time the room was so full – between journalists and members of the Academy – that I was afraid that the prosecution would crack “, says Paule Constant.

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr is also there, microphone under his nose. “There is a human age and a literary age “, he defends himself when we reshuffle his spring number: “When you read, you are always a little older than you really are. It is that age which is the most important.” Certainly. However, Française Chandernagor has a reservation: “My fear when you crown a young author is that it will crush him “, before changing his mind, “he has the Sarr build, he is less afraid of crushing him. “ Already the author of four novels, each time he develops a singular prose, not unrelated to his origins.

“He is the first Senegalese author, black, crowned for a hundred years”, launches Tahar Benn Jelloun, also a member of the jury. “He shares with us his music, his imagination and his unique way of reinventing our language and our literature “, says Philippe Claudel. A writing “lush “, a strand “elitist “, according to Françoise Chandernagor. “It’s still quite intellectual, it’s a writer who writes about another writer. “ Éric Emmanuel Schmitt is amazed : “The book makes us think, dream, travel throughout the history of the twentieth century, and almost all over the planet. ” The playwright read it twice, this summer first, and last night. “This novel is made of more mysteries than certainties, it asks more questions than it gives answers”, he says before being interrupted by the crowd: Mohamed Mbougar Sarr is preparing to present the book from the restaurant window.

It’s the tradition. But, horror, its publisher – independent house Philippe Rey – was so upset by the news that he forgot to bring several copies of the award-winning novel. The jurors are reduced to gleaning one or two copies, difficult to find in the general euphoria. Once the presentation is done, the hero of the day returns to the room for another photo shoot, and leans towards Philippe Claudel. We hear him whisper to him “Is it like that every year? “