The jury, meeting on November 20, designated this winner in the first round of voting, with 5 votes to 3 in favor. The Night of the Springs by Jacques Robinet (La Coopérative).
Hélène Hoppenot (1894-1990), French diarist and photographer, accompanied her diplomat husband Henri Hoppenot around the world. Recognizable by her thousands of Rolleiflex photos, published in particular by Skira, she kept a diary from 1918 to 1980, the volumes of which are edited by Marie-France Mousli at Claire Paulhan editions. His photographs are kept at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, at the BnF and in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In the winning volume, which covers the years 1945 to 1951, Hélène Hoppenot returns to live in Switzerland for the third time, following the appointment of her husband, Henri Hoppenot, as French ambassador to Berne by General de Gaulle. Torn between diplomatic protocols, which she finds boring, and the cultural events that she audaciously organizes, she collaborates closely with Henri Guillemin, the cultural attaché of the embassy, passionate about scholarship. These events include exhibitions, concerts, plays and writers’ conferences.
She regularly goes to Paris, still marked by the post-war period, where she supports the end of life of her mother and her stepfather. She also witnesses family upheavals: marriage, motherhood, then the divorce of her daughter Violaine. Despite this context, she happily found faithful friends, such as Adrienne Monnier, Léon-Paul Fargue, the Claudels, Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brancusi, Marthe de Fels, Jules Supervielle, Mary Reynolds and Marcel Duchamp, Blaise and Raymone Cendrars, as well as Darius and Madeleine Milhaud. Together, they revive the intellectual brilliance of the 1930s, although all have aged.
Charles de Gaulle occupied a central place in these years, captivating Hélène with his political vision, his speeches and his exercise of power. In her diary, she analyzes significant events such as the end of the League of Nations, the death of Hitler, Pétain at Sigmaringen, the capitulation of Nazi Germany, the trials of Pétain and Pierre Laval, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and of Nagasaki, the creation of the UN, Winston Churchill’s visit to Bern, the Exodus affair, the collapse of the MRP, the strikes of 1947, the coming to power of Mao Tse-tung, and many other major facts, often deciphered from behind the scenes of French diplomacy.
While Henri Hoppenot observed the international maneuvers at the start of the Cold War with skepticism, Hélène saw her talent as a photographer recognized with the publication of several of her photos. Armed with her Rolleiflex and her diplomatic passport, she traveled to Italy (1948), Tunisia (1950 and 1951) and Greece (1951). In February 1950, she met Romain Gary, then at the start of his dual diplomatic and literary career. With Henri, she enjoys his company, rediscovering the pleasure of exchanging with a diplomat passionate about literature and poetry, like their old friends Paul Claudel or Saint-John Perse.
A volume established and annotated by Marie-France Mousli, who had previously edited the diaries of Hélène Hoppenot from the periods 1918-1933 (2012), 1936-1940 (2015) and 1940-1944 (2019).
The jury, chaired by Gilbert Moreau, is made up of Daniel Arsand, Monique Borde, Michel Braud, Blandine de Caunes, Béatrice Commengé, Colette Fellous and Robert Thiery.
Remember that the 2023 Clarens Diary Prize rewarded Journal of Moldova, 1987-1988; July 2022 by Marc Crépon (Verdier).
Find the list of French and French-speaking literary prizes
Photo credits: Éditions Claire Paulhan
By Hocine Bouhadjera
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