A bit like the television channels that offer you top 10 of the year two thousand seventeen or the summary of the significant events, we have concocted a little return on the literary year.
We cannot begin without recalling the recent death of a great man of letters, the academician Jean d'Ormesson left us on the night of December 5, 2017 at the age of 92. His latest book with the evocative title And I, I Always Live will therefore appear post-mortem, in January 2018. For the anecdote, his friend and publisher, Antoine Gallimard, had paid him the tribute in 2015 to publish all of his work in the collection "La Pléiade"; a privilege reserved for deceased writers. More than an immortal, Jean d'Ormesson will remain a reference in poetry, literature and philosophy. The France mourns one of her greatest contemporaries.
As for the winning books, in 2017 the Renaudot jury awarded its prize to the Strasbourg writer and journalist Olivier Guez for The Disappearance of Josef Mengele, published by Grasset. It traces the escape and the hunt for the so-called "Angel of Death", head doctor at Auschwitz, Josef Mengele chose his victims on the ramp when they disembarked. The Goncourt was attributed to Eric Vuillard's L'ordre du jour , a novel about the Second World War, also. The Medici 2017 was won by Yannick Haenel for his novel Tiens ferme ta couronne, published by Gallimard, while Philippe Jaenada was awarded the 2017 Femina Prize for his book La Serpe published by Julliard.
Among the French novels that have done best this year, we find a first novel, La Tresse, published by Laetitia Colombani at Grasset, which fascinated the crowds this summer. It presents the crossed destiny of three women, living on three different continents with the same desire for freedom.
For those who love suspense and plot novels and who had shivered reading or seeing the famous Da Vinci Code, the latest Dan Brown, Origin, is one of the best sellers of the year. We find our favorite professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, returning to service at the heart of a mystery that could well change the face of the world. For the same audience, Au fond de l'eau, Paula Hawkins' second novel, which we discovered in the fantastic La Fille du Train, two years ago. It features the author's pen, with each chapter presented from the point of view of one of the characters. A little final twist well crafted that should delight thriller fans!
Also in foreign literature Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart, who manages to maintain the suspense until the final denouement, is part of the very select list of the best books of the year according to the New York Times. We follow the character of Jules, a young girl on the run who seems to have a very heavy past. Between stories of murder, lies, friendship and forbidden dreams, E. Lockhart, who was discovered in We Were Liars, takes his reader on a rather unexpected adventure.
Finally, the one that has been a hit in the best sellers for three years now, it is Elena Ferrante and her famous Neapolitan saga, The prodigious friend. Published in early January, the third volume The one who flees and the one who remains, peaks in the 10 best sellers since its release. All fans, impatient, will have the joy of discovering from January 18, 2018 the last volume L'enfant perdue, published by Gallimard.
We leave you with these few sentences of Jean d'Ormesson, which could just as well be similar to philosophical precepts to start the year 2018:
Don't be fooled. Remember to be wary. And even obvious: she spends her time changing. Don't put people or things too high. Don't put them too low. No, don't put them too low. Mount. Renounce hatred: it hurts those who experience it more than those who are the object of it. Don't try to be wise at all costs. Folly is also wisdom. And wisdom, a folly. Flee from precepts and lesson givers. Throw this book away. Do what you want. And what you can. Cry when you have to. Laugh.
I laughed a lot. I laughed at the world and at others and at myself. Nothing is very important. Everything is tragic. Everything we love will die. And I will die too. Life is good.
Jean d'Ormesson, It was good.
