Paris (AFP)
The novelist Emmanuel Ruben won the Deux Magots prize on Tuesday with "Saber" (Stock editions), the story of a quest around a mythical ancestor.
The jury made their choice in the famous Saint-Germain-des-Prés brewery, to the detriment of "L'Historiographe du Royaume" by Maël Renouard and "L'Autre Rimbaud" by David Le Bailly.
The prize was awarded on the terrace in the absence of the author who, at 40, runs the Maison Julien-Gracq in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil (Maine-et-Loire).
"I hope we can celebrate that one day soon, when we have the right to party," the novelist told AFP.
"Saber" tells the story of a narrator's peregrinations to find said weapon, which would have belonged to one of his "distant and supposed ancestors because he bore the same surname".
"Telling a story with its detours and surprises, that matters a lot to me. I find that today we have lost a little the sense of pleasure in literature, in thesis novels where pure romantic pleasure has moved away. . I like to read books that provide that pleasure, ”explained the author.
Created in 1933, the prize is endowed with 7,750 euros.
In 2020, he rewarded Jérôme Garcin for a story dedicated to the actor Gérard Philipe (whose daughter he married), "The Last Winter of the Cid".
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