Editing Prix Goncourt (section)

==History==
[[File:Edmond Goncourt - Schriftsteller.jpg|right|thumb|[[Edmond de Goncourt]]]]
[[Edmond de Goncourt]], a successful author, critic, and publisher, bequeathed his estate for the foundation and maintenance of the [[Académie Goncourt]].<ref name="Burke">{{cite book |title=Writers in Paris: Literary Lives in the City of Light |first=David|last=Burke |publisher=Counterpoint Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSplzKidZ6AC&pg=PA181 |page=181|isbn=9781593761578}}</ref> In honour of his brother and collaborator, [[Jules de Goncourt|Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt]] (1830–1870), the académie has awarded the Prix Goncourt every December since 1903.<ref name="Burke"/> The jury that determines the winner meets at the ''[[Drouant]]'' restaurant in November to make its decision.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Companion Guide to Paris |first=Anthony|last=Glyn |url=https://archive.org/details/companionguideto0000glyn |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/companionguideto0000glyn/page/98 98] |publisher=Companion Guides |year=2000|isbn=9781900639200}}</ref> Notable winners of the prize include [[Marcel Proust]] (''[[In Search of Lost Time]]''), [[Simone de Beauvoir]] (''[[The Mandarins]]''), [[André Malraux]] (''[[Man's Fate]]'') and [[Marguerite Duras]] (''[[The Lover (1984 novel)|The Lover]]'').<ref name="Burke"/>

The award was initially established to provide talented new authors with a monetary award that would allow them to write a second book.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Contradictions of Freedom: Philosophical Essays on Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins |author=Sally J. Scholz |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cfawyAOgNQoC&pg=PA18 |page=18|isbn=9780791465608 }}</ref> Today, the Goncourt has a token prize amount (around 10 euros), about the same amount given in 1903, and so the prestige of the prize has been explained not because of the cash-value of the prize, but "in terms of the tremendous book sales it effects: the Goncourt winner becomes an instant millionaire."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Economy of Prestige: prizes, awards, and the circulation of cultural value |author= James F English |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vY3UOFDA2sAC&pg=PA231 |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009|isbn= 9780674036536 }}</ref> [[Hervé Le Tellier]]'s ''[[The Anomaly (novel)|The Anomaly]]'', which won the Goncourt in 2020, exceeded a million copies in less than a year after its publication.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Girgis |first=Dahlia |date=7 May 2021 |title=Un tirage total d'un million d'exemplaires pour "L'anomalie" |language=fr |work=Livres Hebdo |url=https://www.livreshebdo.fr/article/un-tirage-total-dun-million-dexemplaires-pour-lanomalie |access-date=8 August 2021}}</ref>

In 1987, the [[Prix Goncourt des Lycéens]] was established, as a collaboration between the [[académie Goncourt]], the French Ministry of Education, and [[Fnac]], a book, music, and movie retailer.

The {{Lang|fr|[[Prix Renaudot]]|italic=no}} is announced at the same ceremony as the Prix Goncourt. It has become known as something of a second-place prize.<ref>{{cite book | title=A New History of French Literature |first=Denis|last=Hollier |page=967 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nGQOodBVG9YC&pg=PA967 |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1994|isbn=9780674615663}}</ref>

===Controversies===
[[File:Prix Goncourt - Paris 3 novembre 2016 002.jpg|thumb|left|Journalists at [[Drouant|Le Drouant]] restaurant, 2016 Prix Goncourt.]]
Within months of the first prize in 1903, it spawned a "hostile counter-prize" in the form of the [[Prix Femina]] to counter the all-male Jury of the Goncourt with an all-female jury on the Femina.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Economy of Prestige: prizes, awards, and the circulation of cultural value |author= James F English |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vY3UOFDA2sAC&pg=PA61 |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009|isbn= 9780674036536 }}</ref>

Some choices have been controversial, a famous example was [[Marcel Proust]] in 1919; it was met with indignation by the public since many believed that the prize should have gone to [[Roland Dorgelès]] for ''Les Croix de bois'', a novel about the [[World War I|First World War]].<ref name="Rodic">{{cite book |title=Lyricism and Politics in Paul Valery's Poetry and Poetic Theory and in "La Nouvelle Revue Francaise", 1909–1939 |first=Vesna |last=Rodic |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SxE9rJeGkewC&pg=PA7|isbn=9781109096477}}</ref><ref name="Ashley 2004a">{{cite book |title=Prix Goncourt, 1902–2003: essals critiques |editor-last=Ashley |editor-first=Katherine |publisher=Peter Lang |location=Bern |year=2004 |language=fr |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QA_rVRar1JkC&pg=PA77 |chapter=L'Attribution du prix Goncourt à Proust en 1919|isbn=9783039100187 }}</ref> The prize was supposed to be awarded to promising young authors, whereas Proust was not considered "young" at 48 – however Proust was a beginning author which is the only eligibility requirement, age being unimportant.<ref name="Rodic"/><ref name="Ashley 2004a"/>

In 1921, [[Rene Maran]] won the Goncourt with ''[[Batouala (novel)|Batouala, veritable roman negre]]'', the first French novel to openly criticize European colonialism in Africa.<ref name="Unwin 1997a"/> The novel caused "violent reactions" and was banned in all the French colonies.<ref name="Unwin 1997a">{{cite book|title=The Cambridge Companion to the French Novel: From 1800 to the Present |first=Timothy|last=Unwin |page=195 |chapter=The colonial and postcolonial Francophone novel |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mIq99LRgKw8C&pg=PA195 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997|isbn=9780521499149}}</ref>

In 1932, the prize was controversial for passing up [[Louis-Ferdinand Céline]]'s ''[[Voyage au bout de la nuit]]'' for [[Guy Mazeline]]'s ''Les Loups''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Prix Goncourt, 1902–2003: essals critiques |editor-last=Ashley |editor-first=Katherine |publisher=Peter Lang |location=Bern |year=2004 |language=fr |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QA_rVRar1JkC&pg=PA16|isbn=9783039100187 }}</ref> The voting process became the basis of the 1992 book ''Goncourt 32'' by [[Eugène Saccomano]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Sébastien|last=Lapaque |work=[[Le Figaro]] |date=16 September 1999 |title=Céline-Mazeline sur le ring |language=fr}}</ref>

Although the award may only be given to an author once, [[Romain Gary]] won it twice, in 1956 for ''[[Les racines du ciel]]'' and again under the pseudonym [[Émile Ajar]] in 1975 for ''[[La vie devant soi]]''.<ref name="Ashley 2004b">{{cite book |title=Prix Goncourt, 1902–2003: essals critiques |editor-last=Ashley |editor-first=Katherine |publisher=Peter Lang |location=Bern |year=2004 |language=fr |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QA_rVRar1JkC&pg=PA16 |chapter=Avant propos|isbn=9783039100187 }}</ref> The Académie Goncourt awarded the prize to Ajar without knowing his real identity.<ref name="Ashley 2004b"/> A period of literary intrigue followed. Gary's cousin's son Paul Pavlowitch posed as the author for a time. Gary later revealed the truth in his posthumous book ''Vie et mort d'Émile Ajar''.<ref name="Ashley 2004b"/>

In September 2021, the Goncourt attracted controversy after the jury decided, by a vote of 7 to 3, to include ''Les enfants de Cadillac'' by [[François Noudelmann]] on its 2021 list of finalists. Noudelmann is the partner of [[Camille Laurens]], who is a member of the prize's jury. Laurens voted in favor of her partner's book.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Onishi |first1=Norimitsu |last2=Méheut |first2=Constant |title=In Paris, It's Literary Scandal Season Again |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/world/europe/france-literary-scandals.html |access-date=30 September 2021 |date=29 September 2021}}</ref> In October 2021, the [[Académie Goncourt]] ultimately decided that it will no longer allow lovers and family members of the jury to be entered for consideration.<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 October 2021 |title=No lovers allowed in top French book prize after ethics scandal |language=en |work=[[France 24]] |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211005-no-lovers-allowed-in-top-french-book-prize-after-ethics-scandal |access-date=4 November 2021}}</ref>