Double blow for Karine Tuil! After winning the Interallié Prize Wednesday for her novel "Les choses humaines" (Gallimard), she received Thursday the Goncourt high school students' prize. The novel, the 11th of the writer, who has appeared in the selections of Goncourt and Femina, tells a story of rape that also speaks of domination, pretense and cult of performance.
Victory 7 votes to 5
"I am extremely moved because I have participated several times in Goncourt high school students (...) It is a great joy to participate in these exchanges with high school students especially as this edition was particularly rich," reacted the novelist by phone. Karine Tuil won in the first round with 7 votes, against 5 to Louis-Philippe Dalembert for "Mediterranean Wall" (Sabine Wespieser). She succeeds David Diop, rewarded in 2018 for his novel "Brother of soul".
Released in August Karine Tuil's latest novel has already sold 34,000 copies, according to GfK data cited by the professional magazine Livres Hebdo. It is about sex, power and the media in "Human things". Alexander, the bright son of a prominent family (Jean, the father, is a TV journalist, his mother Claire is a well-known feminist essayist) is accused of rape. Karine Tuil presents the facts without frills and we follow from end to end the trial of Alexander.
2,000 high school students from various backgrounds as a jury
The reader finds himself in the shoes of a juror of the Assize Court. The writer lets each of her readers position themselves in her soul and conscience and take the time to reflect. About 2,000 high school students, belonging to about fifty schools throughout the country, including a high school in Fort-de-France (Martinique), were embarked at the beginning of September in the adventure by their teachers, under the leadership of Ministry of National Education and FNAC. Young people from a wide variety of backgrounds: from the Agricultural High School in Rodilhan (Gard) to prestigious Parisian high schools, from general and professional courses, from second-class to BTS, public and private education.
All worked for two months on the first selection of the Goncourt Academy, made public in early September. Fourteen novels, some of which have already been rewarded in recent weeks by other awards.