Jean-Baptiste Andrea, in his novel Veiller sur elle (Watching Over Her), weaves an emotional odyssey that has captivated the jury of the 2023 Prix Goncourt. In this enthralling fresco intertwining the vicissitudes of love with the drama of Italian fascism, the author offers a gaze on human existence that is both tender and raw. Andrea, who has already received the Prix du Roman Fnac, is thus being honored with the highest French literary accolade, affirming his storytelling talent where beauty is sketched in the echoes of silence and the power of symbols.
In the panorama of French literature, a new star emerges: Jean-Baptiste Andrea has been awarded the prestigious Prix Goncourt. His work, Veiller sur elle (Watching Over Her), published by L’Iconoclaste, captivated the jury after a suspense-filled 14 rounds of voting. This novel, with its striking metaphysical reach, probes the crevices of love against the backdrop of Italy under the shadow of fascism. It has already won over critics and earned the Prix du Roman Fnac before its triumph today.
Across 592 pages, retailing at 22.50 euros for the hardcover and 16 euros for the digital version, Andrea unfolds the saga of a life and a work—that of a pietà endowed with mysterious powers, crafted by the fictional artist Mimo Vitaliani. The narrative, which straddles biography and confession, weaves a fabric reflecting the light and darkness of existence.
Outshining competitors—the poignant Triste tigre by Neige Sinno, the profound Humus by Gaspard Koenig, and Sarah, Susanne et l’écrivain by Eric Reinhardt, the latter tasting the bitterness of defeat a second time after his unawarded selection in 2014—Andrea stands out with a work that resonates as an ode to creation and resistance.
Reinhardt’s novel, however, subtly narrates another tale, one of ambition seemingly courting misfortune. An intriguing anecdote has been circulating in literary circles: a Moroccan journalist, having failed to secure an interview with the writer, is rumored to have whispered a curse on his fortunes. Could this be the result of an unrecognized arrogance? The irony of fate seems to suggest to Reinhardt that a dash of humility might be the key to a future triumph.
As Veiller sur elle ascends to the heights of fame, we are reminded of Andrea’s other offspring of imagination—souls seeking belonging, shaping their shattered reality into stories that transcend time and space. From a wounded childhood to the glaciers of the Dolomites, his characters, depicted with the precision of a Jules Vallès or a Jules Renard, reinvent themselves in adventure and creation.
Within the constellation of literary awards, the light of Jean-Baptiste Andrea continues to intensify. With Veiller sur elle, he presents us with a masterpiece, an ode to life which, like a stone under the sculptor’s chisel, reveals its true form through the removal of material, in the silence between words. The Goncourt, in honoring this novel, not only rewards an author, it safeguards the very essence of French literature, which captures the tangible and the ineffable in a single breath.