The Prix de l'essai is an annual French essay prize awarded by the
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
. It was created in 1971 by the Fondation Broquette-Gonin. It is awarded for an individual essay or for the collected works of an essayist. The prize sum was 1000 euros in 2015.
Laureates
The following have received the prize:
* 1971:
Roger Judrin, ''Journal d'une monade et autres essais''.
* 1972:
Paul Veyne
Paul Veyne (; 13 June 1930 – 29 September 2022) was a French archaeologist and historian, and a specialist of Ancient Rome. A student of the École Normale Supérieure and member of the École française de Rome, he was honorary professor at th ...
, ''Writing History'' (''Comment on écrit l'histoire'').
* 1973:
Marthe Robert
Marthe Robert (March 25, 1914 – April 12, 1996) was a French essayist and translator.
Robert was born in Paris on March 25, 1914. In 1941, she met psychoanalyst Michel de M'Uzan, whom she later married. In 1995, she received the Grand Prix Natio ...
, ''Origins of the Novel'' (''Roman des origines et origines du roman'').
* 1974:
Étiemble, ''Essais de littérature (vraiment) générale''.
* 1975:
Jules Monnerot
Jules is the French form of the Latin "Julius" (e.g. Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar). It is the given name of:
People with the name
*Jules Aarons (1921–2008), American space physicist and photographer
* Jules Abadie (1876–19 ...
, ''Inquisitions''.
* 1976: Pierre Flottes, ''Histoire de la poésie politique et sociale en France de 1815 à 1939''.
* 1977:
André Glucksmann
André Glucksmann (; 19 June 1937 – 10 November 2015) was a French philosopher, activist and writer. He was a leading figure of the new philosophers.
Glucksmann began his career as a Marxist, but went on to reject communism in the popular bo ...
, ''The Master Thinkers'' (''Les Maîtres penseurs'').
* 1978:
Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist (; ; born 11 December 1943) – also known as Fabrice Laroche, Robert de Herte, David Barney, and other pen names – is a French journalist and political philosopher, a founding member of the Nouvelle Droite ("New Right"), and ...
, ''Vu de droite. Anthologie critique des idées contemporaines''.
* 1979:
Georges Elgozy
Georges Elgozy (14 April 1909 – . – 13 July 1989) was Inspector General of the National Economy and President of the European Committee for Economic and Cultural Cooperation. Throughout his career he published works combining minds and observa ...
, ''De l'humour''.
* 1980:
Bertrand d'Astorg
Bertrand d'Astorg (7 November 1913 – 21 October 1988) was a 20th-century French poet and writer.
Works
*1945''Introduction au monde de la Terreur''Éditions du Seuil,
*1952: ''Aspects de la littérature européenne depuis 1945'',
*1953: '' ...
, ''Les noces orientales''.
* 1981:
Alain Besançon, ''Ensemble de son œuvre''.
* 1982:
Pierre Andreu, ''Vie et mort de Max Jacob''.
* 1983:
François George, ''Histoire personnelle de la France''.
* 1984: Myriam Cendrars, ''Blaise Cendrars''.
* 1985:
Jean-Marie Rouart
Jean-Marie Rouart (born 8 April 1943 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) is a French novelist, essayist and journalist. He was elected to the Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institutio ...
, ''Ils ont choisi la nuit''.
* 1986:
René Pomeau René Pomeau (20 February 1917 in Beautiran – 26 February 2000 in Clamart) was an eminent French scholar of eighteenth-century French literature generally recognised as one of the most expert authority on Voltaire by the time of his death in 20 ...
, ''D'Arouet à Voltaire''.
* 1987:
Paule Constant
Paule Constant (born 25 January 1944 in Gan, Pyrénées-Atlantiques) is a French novelist.
She graduated from Paris-Sorbonne University, with a Ph.D.
Awards
* 1998 Prix Goncourt for '' Confidence pour confidence''.
* 1989 Grand prize for the no ...
, ''Un monde à l'usage des demoiselles''.
* 1988:
Claude Arnaud, ''Chamfort, a Biography'' (''Chamfort'').
* 1989:
Pierre Assouline
Pierre Assouline (born 17 April 1953) is a French writer and journalist. He was born in Casablanca, Morocco to a Jewish family. He has published several novels and biographies, and also contributes articles for the print media and broadcasts for ...
, ''Albert Londres, vie et mort d'un grand reporter''.
* 1990:
Jean Cazeneuve
Jean Cazeneuve (17 May 1915 – 4 October 2005) was a French sociologist and anthropologist. Apart from being a scholar, he has been involved with Radio and TV at the executive level; from 1964 till 1974 he has been president of the French ...
, ''Les Hasards d'une vie, Des Primitifs aux téléspectateurs''.
* 1991:
Luc Fraisse, ''L'Œuvre cathédrale, Proust et l'architecture médiévale''.
* 1992:
Marc Fumaroli
Marc Fumaroli (10 June 1932 – 24 June 2020) was a French historian and essayist who was widely respected as an advocate for French literature and culture. While born in Marseille, Fumaroli grew up in the Moroccan city of Fez, and served in th ...
, ''L'État culturel, essai sur une religion moderne''.
* 1993:
Alain Etchegoyen
Alain Etchegoyen (6 November 1951 in Lille – 9 April 2007 in Le Mans), was a philosopher and novelist. He was the last Plan Commissionner before that Commission was abrogated. He wrote some twenty books, essays and novels.
A former student of ...
, ''La Démocratie malade du mensonge''.
* 1994:
Richard Millet
Richard Millet (born 1953) is a Lebanese-French author.
Biography
Early life
He was born in Viam, Corrèze in 1953. He spent part of his childhood in the neighborhood of Badaro in Beirut, Lebanon.
Work and career
In 1994, he won the Essay ...
, ''Le Sentiment de la langue''.
* 1995:
Alain Duhamel
Alain Maurice Jacques Duhamel (; born 31 May 1940) is a prominent French journalist and political commentator.
In 1963, Duhamel started working at ''Le Monde''. He started giving talks on Europe 1 from 1974. He has also written in '' Libératio ...
, ''La Politique imaginaire''.
* 1995:
Claude Imbert
Claude Imbert (born 1933) is a French philosopher, logician, and translator of Gottlob Frege.
Education and career
Imbert earned an agrégation in 1955 at the École normale supérieure, and is a professor emeritus of the École normale supé ...
, ''Par Bonheur''.
* 1996:
Éric Roussel, ''Jean Monnet''.
* 1997:
Alain-Gérard Slama, ''La Régression démocratique''.
* 1998:
Mona Ozouf
Mona Ozouf born Mona Annig Sohier (born 24 February 1931) is a French historian and philosopher. Born into a family of schoolteachers keen on preserving the language and culture of Brittany, she graduated as a teacher of philosophy from the Éco ...
, ''La Muse démocratique. Henry James ou les pouvoirs du roman''.
* 1999: Philippe Berthier, ''La Vie quotidienne dans la Comédie humaine de Balzac''.
* 2000:
Florence Delay
Florence Delay (born 19 March 1941 in Paris) is a French academician and actress.
Biography
The daughter of Marie-Madeleine Carrez and Jean Delay, Delay studied at the Lycée Jean de La Fontaine and then the Sorbonne.
In 1962, she played the ti ...
, ''Dit Nerval''.
* 2001:
Belinda Cannone, ''L'Écriture du désir''.
* 2002:
Pierre Schneider, ''Petite Histoire de l'infini en peinture''.
* 2003:
Jean Clair
Jean Clair () is the pen name of Gérard Régnier (born 20 October 1940 in Paris, France). Clair is an essayist, a polemicist, an art historian, an art conservator, and a member of the Académie française since May, 2008.Éric Biétry-Riviérr ...
, ''Court Traité des sensations, et Du surréalisme considéré dans ses rapports au totalitarisme et aux tables tournantes''.
* 2004:
Pierre Lepape, ''Le Pays de la Littérature''.
* 2005:
Olivier Pétré-Grenouilleau, ''Les Traites négrières''.
* 2006:
Charles Dantzig
Charles Dantzig is a French author, born in Tarbes (France) on October 7, 1961.
Early life and career
Charles Dantzig was born into a family of professors of medicine. He was of Alsatian German descent. He obtained the baccalauréat at the age ...
, ''Dictionnaire égoïste de la littérature française''.
* 2007:
Philippe Barthelet, ''Baraliptons''.
* 2008:
Claude Delay, ''Giacometti, Alberto et Diego. L'histoire cachée''.
* 2009:
André Tubeuf
André Tubeuf (18 December 1930 – 26 July 2021) was a French writer, philosopher, and music critic.
Biography Training
Tubeuf was born in Smyrna (today İzmir), Turkey. A condisciple in Beirut, Lebanon, France, of Salah Stétié and Robert A ...
, ''Ludwig van Beethoven''.
* 2010:
Alain Finkielkraut
Alain Finkielkraut (, ; ; born 30 June 1949) is a French philosopher and public intellectual. He has written books and essays on a wide range of topics, many on the ideas of tradition and identitary nonviolence, including Jewish identity and ant ...
, ''Un cœur intelligent''.
* 2011: Marie-Claude Chaudonneret and
Sébastien Allard, ''Le Suicide de Gros''.
* 2012:
Alain Bonfand, ''Le Cinéma d'Akira Kurosawa'' and for his collected works as an essayist.
* 2013:
Jacques de Saint Victor, ''Un pouvoir invisible. Les mafias et la société démocratique (XIXe–XXIe siècle)''.
* 2014:
Chantal Thomas, ''Un air de liberté. Variations sur l'esprit du XVIIIe siècle et l'ensemble de ses écrits sur le XVIIIe siècle''
* 2015:
Christiane Rancé, ''La Passion de Thérèse d'Avila''
* 2016:
Alain de Vulpian, ''Éloge de la métamorphose''
* 2016:
Francis Kaplan, complete works
* 2017:
Jacques Henric, ''Boxe''
* 2018:
Georges Corm
Georges Corm is a Lebanese economist. He served as minister of finance in the government of Salim Hoss from 1998 to 2000.
He studied at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (1958-1961) where he graduated in Public Finance and has also a PhD ...
, ''La Nouvelle Question d’Orient''
References
{{Reflist
1971 establishments in France
Awards established in 1971
Essay awards
French literary awards
Académie Française awards