The consecration for the winner of the Prix Goncourt Kamel Daoud and the tribute to the alchemist of music Quincy Jones

In Tout Public on Monday November 4, 2024, Pierre Coutelle, book director at the Mollat ​​bookstore in Bordeaux reacts to the announcement of the Goncourt Prize for “Houris” by Kamel Daoud, and the tribute to the American musician and producer Quincy Jones.

This is the novel by Kamel Daoud Hourisan account of the civil war in Algeria in the 1990s, which this year received the prestigious Goncourt Prize. “A combat book, which takes literature seriously to consider that it has something to say about history and the times we live in”estimates Pierre Coutelle, book director at the Mollat ​​bookstore in Bordeaux, speaking to Tout Public. For him, this prize reflects the current conception of literature: a literature “open to the world”which suggests “loud voices”affirms the literary director.

Our special correspondent Matteu Maestracci was on hand to collect the words of the jurors and the winner. For one of the jurors, Christine Angot, although her vote went to the novel by Hélène Gaudy Archipelagosthe thing that touched her the most in Daoud's book, like Gaudy's, is her ability to say the unspeakable, in this case about the Algerian civil war, which is, still today Today, a taboo in the country.

“Daoud is a fervent fighter for freedom of expression, whatever its forms. He does not understand why there would be things that cannot be said, whatever the subject, whether on religion, on politics or history.”

Pierre Coutelle

franceinfo

The winner of the Prix Goncourt Kamel Daoud salutes the reception he has received in France as a writer, which he considers to be “a country of freedom”. “We always need three things to write, a table, a chair and a country. I have all three”recognizes the Franco-Algerian author.

The world of culture was also marked Monday by the death of musician Quincy Jones. Tout Public pays tribute to him by returning to lesser-known elements of his career, such as his collaborations with the French Charles Aznavour and Henri Salvador, or even with the American director Steven Spielberg for the film The color purplewhile evoking elements that have marked his career, such as the production of Mickael Jackson's album Thrilleror the original soundtrack of Fresh Prince of Bel Aira series that propelled the career of actor Will Smith in the 1990s.

A program with the participation of Matteu Maestracci and Yann Bertrand, journalists in the culture department of franceinfo.