French Books Vocabulary & Literary scene in France
Literature holds an important place in the French cultural landscape. Many authors have superstar status, and the mainstream media often relays literary news, particularly the country's many literature prizes.
In this week post we will share French books vocabulary (translated in English) and give an overview of the French literary scene with the famous French authors and the literary prizes that punctuates the literary culture in France.
1.La rentrée littéraire
The new book season (September, and very important in France !)
The new book season (September, and very important in France !)
In France, there’s always time for reading books, but if there’s a season in particular that’s associated with literature, it’s the so-called “rentrée littéraire”.
The rentrée littéraire happens every year in the fall, and starts in September, just like school, and that’s what the term “rentrée” refers too. In French, “la rentrée” is this specific moment in the year when kids, students, and everyone else involved goes back to school.
An important moment that coincides with the arrival on the market of hundreds, thousands, of new books, ready to be read, analyzed, criticized, loved and hated by the thousands of francophone readers who avidly await them.
2.So many books to read!
521 new books in 2021
The fact that in France so many people are dreaming to become writers, and possibly, to become famous writers, maybe explains that so many new books are put on the market on that specific season.
An impressive total of 521 new books are officially part of 2021’s rentrée littéraire, according to Livres Hebdo, one of the main publications of the French book industry.
But that’s less than average, the usual number being around 700 official new publications each fall.
That amount includes some foreign books translated into French, a fair proportion of first books by new authors, and the awaited production of famous, or claiming to be famous, French authors.
3.Some Famous French writers
Amélie Nothomb, Miche Houellebecq and others
Some famous French authors are in fact, very prolific, like the Belgian born francophone writer Amélie Nothomb, who has published an impressive total of 29 books in the past 30 years. Those writers are expected to publish a yearly “chef-d’oeuvre” while some others, like bestseller Michel Houellebcq, are more rare, but highly anticipated.
Famous Belgian francophone author Amélie Nothomb
There is competition between the numerous French and francophone writers, and there is a very important stake to determine who will be the new hot thing of the “rentrée”, and most likely, who will sell thousands of books, while some others will only sell their masterpiece to their relatives and close friends.
4. Vocabulary related to French literature
La rentrée littéraire: the autumn publishing season
Une sortie : issue ( la sortie d’un livre)
Une publication: publication
Un jury: jury
Un lecteur, une lectrice : a reader
Une remise de prix: an awards ceremony
Une maison d’édition : a publishing house
Une librairie : a book shop
Une bibliothèque : library
Un libraire : a book seller
Un auteur: an author (male)
Une autrice: an author ( female)
Un écrivain: writer ( male)
Une écrivaine: writer ( female)
Un critique littéraire : literary critic
Types of books
Un essai littéraire : a literary essay
Une nouvelle : a short story
Une biographie : a biography
Une fiction : a fiction
Un roman de science fiction : a science fiction novel
Un roman historique : an Historical novel
Un recueil de poésies : collection of poems
Un best-seller : bestseller
Une correspondance : correspondence
Speak about a novel
L’histoire se passe, déroule : the story takes place
C’est bien écrit : it is well written versus c’est mal écrit : poorly written
C’est un chef d’oeuvre : it’s a masterpiece
J’aime les personnages : I like the characters
Il y a trop de dialogues : there are too many dialogues
Une intrigue : a plot
5. Literary prizes
Goncourt, Femina, Renaudot
The official, and extremely important tools used to determine who will be the yearly king or queen of the French literary scene are the literary prices, “les prix littéraires”.
Similar to the Nobel prize in literature, or to some extent to the Oscars or the Grammys for the film and music industry, France has numerous literary prizes, which have been running, in some cases, for more than a century.
Le prix Goncourt
The most famous and most prestigious of them is the Goncourt. Le prix Goncourt, this highly desirable French prize, is given by the Académie Goncourt for “the best and most imaginative prose work of the year”. The prize is supposed to be awarded to promising young authors, but more in the sense of “beginner” than young in age.
The Goncourt académie also created four less known prizes for specific categories, which are: Prix Goncourt de la Biographie, Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle, Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman, and Prix Goncourt de la Poésie.
Just like the Oscars or the Palmes d’Or awarded movies at the Cannes Festival, those prizes have a huge impact on sales, and the “Maisons d’édition”, the publishing houses, are working hard to promote their authors, and proudly add the red ribbon that reads “Goncourt prize winner” in display on the book cover of the laureate, in all the bookstores of the country.
The most famous and most prestigious of them is the Goncourt. Le prix Goncourt, this highly desirable French prize, is given by the Académie Goncourt for “the best and most imaginative prose work of the year”. The prize is supposed to be awarded to promising young authors, but more in the sense of “beginner” than young in age.
The Goncourt académie also created four less known prizes for specific categories, which are: Prix Goncourt de la Biographie, Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle, Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman, and Prix Goncourt de la Poésie.
Just like the Oscars or the Palmes d’Or awarded movies at the Cannes Festival, those prizes have a huge impact on sales, and the “Maisons d’édition”, the publishing houses, are working hard to promote their authors, and proudly add the red ribbon that reads “Goncourt prize winner” in display on the book cover of the laureate, in all the bookstores of the country.
Le prix Femina
But with so many books published, one prize can’t be enough to satisfy the needs of the book sellers, publishing houses, and those of the avid francophone readers.
More literary prizes have been created, with for example the Prix Femina, created in 1904 by an exclusively female jury, as an “hostile counter-prize”, just a few months after the creation of the Goncourt, to counter the all-male Jury of the Goncourt back then. Le prix Femina rewards French-language works written in prose or verse, by both women and men. The winner is announced on the first Wednesday of November each year.
Le Prix Renaudot
Le Prix Renaudot was created in 1926, and is often seen as a complement to the Goncourt prize. It is announced at the same time and place as the Goncourt, the first Tuesday of November, in the same restaurant in Paris. The name of the prize refers to the French writer Théophraste Renaudot, who created the first French newspaper in 1631 in Paris.
Le Prix Médicis
They are many other prizes, like the Prix Médicis, created in 1958, rewarding an author whose “fame does not yet match his talent” and includes, via the “Prix Médicis étranger” a book published in a French translation.
6. Quality read, and quality food !
And because eating is important too, the jury for the Goncourt Prize and Renaudot Prize have been meeting in the same restaurant since 1914 ! Members of the jury have been gathering on the first Tuesday of each month in a lounge named “salon Goncourt”. It’s also the place where they vote in November each year to choose the winner.
Feel like an hungry literary jury ? You can book a table at Drouant restaurant and eat like a French writer !
6. What about 2021?
As we write, we do not know yet who will be the grand winner of 2021 prize season, but we can have a look at the laureates of 2020 for the Prix Goncourt : L’anomalie, Hervé Le Tellier, Gallimard.
If you are interested to learn more about French litterature and practise your French at the same time, French à La Carte provides one on one lessons in person in Paris and online.