CHe is an endearing author with his cheerfulness, his spontaneity and the flashes in Spanish that flourish in his conversation. Miguel Bonnefoy, 37 years old, ten novels, numerous literary prizes and several times finalist of prestigious prizes, won this year the Grand Prix de l’Académie française and the Femina. The beauty of the language, the audacity of the text. “Strange and beautiful”, he exclaims, citing Malraux and the “misunderstanding” of success, or Borges and the “incomprehension of glory”: “The prices throw you into a light where you can feel lost »: it is a whirlwind, “the golden rain of Danaé” – “the radios, the TVs, the interviews, the meetings, the invitations that rain down…” – which makes him “super happy”, “super exhausted” . “I no longer see my family [il a deux petites filles de 2 et 4 ans, NDLR]but I have an extraordinary partner who keeps telling me, ‘Dude, don’t worry, go embrace the world!'” “I will be a very good ambassador for these two awards,” he smiles, confident that they give him “breath to continue”.
“I know I haven’t yet written the books I was born to write”
Jonathan Littell for “Les Bienveillantes”, Patrick Rambaud for “La Bataille” (both Goncourt and Académie française) or Andreï Makine for “Le Testament français” (Médicis and Goncourt)… Very few writers have won two grand slam prizes for the same novel!
I really believe it’s a matter of luck, what the Greeks called “kairos”. Suddenly, something happens. The same book, at another time, would not have been seen.
Do you know this phrase from Juvenal, “If fortune wills it, then slaves will become kings…”? It is tattooed on my back, like a star under which I want to live. The first question Napoleon asked when recruiting generals was “are you lucky?” » You can have all the talent in the world, but if you’re unlucky…
Augustin Mouchot, the (real) hero of your previous novel, “The Inventor”, was unlucky.
This little man from the shadows wanted to conquer the light. He only lacked one thing, luck. Zweig, who recounts extraordinary destinies, often evokes the idea of an “incredible chance”. And Borges, when people spoke to him about destiny, retorted: “Fate? Ah, yes, the other name we give at random. »
Very strong, the Grand Prix of the French Academy. Your native language is Spanish, although you write in French.
It is courageous of the Immortals to single out a book that is not written in the author’s native language. Literary prizes also have this dimension, showing that we need tolerance and cross-breeding, books that speak of elsewhere. It’s a beautiful message.
Message also carried by Femina: the essay prize was awarded to the Chilean Alia Zeran for “Proper”.
The most extraordinary thing is that the mother of this young woman, whom I did not know, is a literary journalist in Chile and that it was she who presented two of the books of my father, who is a writer – they know each other!
“I love the ladies of Femina, I read them, they amazed me”
When receiving the Femina, you said you had been waiting for it for ten years.
My first novel, “Octavio’s Journey,” was published in 2015, but I wrote it in 2014. I already had Femina in mind. I love the ladies of Femina, I read them, they amazed me, I went to Josyane Savigneau on the island of Oléron. Can you imagine? Get it? What madness!
After your father in “Heritage”, here are your grandparents in “The Dream of the Jaguar”. Antonio and Ana Maria. Incredible destinies that you reinvent.
François-Henri Désérable sometimes makes fun of me – “you just have to copy”. He claims that his family being from Picardy, there is nothing to tell.
What a strange destiny, these two children of the crisis of whom nothing suggested that they could have such a life, and together… A great cardiologist, the first female gynecologist in Venezuela… Reality can allow itself to be implausible, but not fiction, explained Aharon Appenfeld. In real life, Antonio and Ana Maria separate. But I wanted a love story that lasts and ends in death.
Their daughter, Venezuela, already appeared in “Octavio’s Journey”.
I knew she would come back. I like what architects call “waiting stones”.
Family is like clay to you…
I know I haven’t yet written the books I was born to write. Writing a novel means reinventing, it is, in the words of Alberto Manguel, “raining on wet”. Oscar Wilde asserted that it is not fiction that copies reality, it is the opposite. To construct a story, we already rely on something fictional, passed through the filter of memory. We only keep fragments of life, imprints on the sand. But with the concern that fiction merges with reality.
My other grandmother, Fanny Rosenzweig, also a doctor, will also appear one day. She was born in Ukraine into an Ashkenazi Jewish family, experienced pogroms, fled by boat, lived in Argentina, Chile, treated raped women under the Pinochet dictatorship.
“I pay attention to every comma, I track down the repetitions, I work with a chisel”
Your writing is fiery, colorful, we never get lost despite the multitude of characters.
I think a lot about the reader when I write. We must not lose it, but “The Dream of the Jaguar” is a teeming world, spanning three generations. I try to articulate flashbacks, to skillfully recall who a character is that we haven’t seen for 20 or 30 pages. I am a copyist monk. I can spend hours on the same sentence, I pay attention to every comma, I track down repetitions, I work with a chisel. I’m obsessed with transitions from one scene to another. I need time, to come back, it’s a master’s job.
You work a lot again with your editor.
My texts would be different without Émilie Colombani. She is a woman of great gentleness, but formidable! If I stumble over a comma – “oh, but I absolutely want this comma!” » – she nods politely. Comes back to the charge. You can fight as long as you want, in the end the comma will be gone. And she was right.
“The Dream of the Jaguar”, ed. Shores, 304 p., €20.90.
Related News :