PRIX GONCOURT FOR FRENCH LITERATURE 1903-2002

The Prix Goncourt, administered by La Société de gens de lettres on behalf of the Académie Goncourt, is France's most prestigious literary award.  Under the terms of the will of Edmond de Goncourt, it is awarded every December to "the best imaginary prose work of the year".

On October 29, 2002 it was announced that Pascal Quignard had won the 2002 Prix Goncourt with his novel Les Ombres Errantes (The Wandering Shadows). The book is a collection of personal reflections, musings and historical memories written in a disjointed form. Jury president Edmonde Charles-Roux explained the selection : "He wrote a book that is not one novel, but 1,000 novels. We've chosen perfection - perfection contained in magnificent language." But fellow judge Jorge Semprum, a Franco-Spanish writer, was critical of his own jury's decision, saying the book was "not innovative" and "doesn't open any new literary paths". "In the end, it's all very Parisian, even Paris-biased," Mr Semprum added.

Quignard said he was "profoundly happy" about winning the Goncourt, saying it would allow him to continue writing "without problems, bother or worry." He has compared his own book to a whirlwind of thoughts he had as a child. "It's a sequence of beginnings of novels, stories, landscapes, autobiographical fragments. It's not a novel or an essay," he said.