''The French Art of War'' (french: L'Art français de la guerre, italic=y, link=no) is a 2011 novel by the French writer
Alexis Jenni
Alexis Jenni (born 1963) is a French novelist and biology teacher. His debut novel, '' The French Art of War'', won the 2011 Prix Goncourt, France's most prestigious literary award.Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles.
Founded by Ga ...
. It is an adventure story about the military history of France in
Indochina
Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
Prix Goncourt
The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...
, with five votes to three against Carole Martinez's '.
It was published in English by Atlantic Books as ''The French Art of War'' (translated by
Frank Wynne
Frank Wynne (born 1962) is an Irish literary translator and writer.
Born in County Sligo in the west of Ireland, he worked as a comics editor at Fleetway and later at comic magazine ''Deadline''. He worked for a time at AOL before becoming a l ...
).
Background
''L'Art français de la guerre'' was the third novel written by
Alexis Jenni
Alexis Jenni (born 1963) is a French novelist and biology teacher. His debut novel, '' The French Art of War'', won the 2011 Prix Goncourt, France's most prestigious literary award.
The novel was partly inspired by the debate on French national identity, announced by President
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
’s government. Jenni wanted readers to think about the issue of national identity, a social debate occurring in France at the time the book was written, without having to take an opinion or side."French identity debate inspired Goncourt literary prize winner Jenni" RFI English service.
Publication
The novel was published in France on 18 August 2011 through
Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles.
Founded by Ga ...
. Before it won the
Prix Goncourt
The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...
it had sold more than 56,000 copies; novels that win the Goncourt will sell on average over 400,000 copies.
Reception
Goncourt judge
Tahar Ben Jelloun
Tahar Ben Jelloun ( ar, الطاهر بن جلون; born in Fes, Morocco, 1 December 1944) is a Moroccan writer. All of his work is written in French although his first language is Darija. He became known for his 1985 novel ''L’Enfant de Sab ...
said of the novel "It’s important to exorcise the unpleasant parts of history through literature, and not through political discourse, which doesn’t help at all. Thanks to fiction, we can probe deep into these problems and touch people’s consciences and hearts." Journalist Jean Birnbaum (b. 1974) echoed that sentiment, praising the book for verbalizing the subconscious feelings of his generation; until Jenni’s novel was published there was no literature to help process the country’s recent military past on his generation's own terms, the novel made honest debate possible."Génération Jenni" Jean Birnbaum, ''Le Monde'', November 3, 2011.
See also
*
2011 in literature
Eleven or 11 may refer to:
*11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12
* one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11
Literature
* ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn
*''E ...
*
Contemporary French literature
This article is about French literature from the year 2000 to the present day.
Overview
The economic, political and social crises of contemporary France -terrorism, violence, immigration, unemployment, racism, etc.—and (for some) the notion ...