Nicolas Carreau 9:19 a.m., June 10, 2022
The ceremony for the third edition of the Europe 1 - GMF Literary Prize, which rewards a work that celebrates the collective and human values, took place on Thursday evening.
The winner, Antoine Billot, has just published "The Ulysses Soldier" with Gallimard editions.
They were five, and in the end, only one remains.
The third edition of the Europe 1 - GMF Literary Prize rewarded Antoine Billot for his book
Le soldier Ulysse
, published by Gallimard.
The story begins just after the First World War.
In a station, we find a man – a soldier, obviously, given his uniform.
He's filthy, in bad shape, and completely disoriented.
An amnesiac soldier
He was sent first to the insane at Kremlin-Bicêtre, then to Val-de-Grâce, where he was taken care of by a military doctor, Oscar Milosz.
The man has complete amnesia.
He has no name, no identity, so the doctor baptizes him Ulysses.
But without civil status, the soldier does not have the right to a pension or even to care.
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Now, we must therefore help him to find his memory and his family.
So Dr. Milosz has a nice photo portrait of his patient taken and publishes it in the newspapers, hoping someone takes the bait.
But these are thousands of letters that flood the Val-de-Grâce.
We recognized a husband, a brother, a cousin, a fiancé... Desperate people who would like to recognize their loved one in this unknown soldier.
A very romantic novel but it is also a reflection on identity.
Who are we when we are nobody?