The 2025 Goncourt Prize: A Literary Milestone
On November 4, the literary world was shaken by the long-awaited announcement of the winner of the 2025 Goncourt Prize, one of the most significant events of the literary season. The prestigious award was attributed to Laurent Mauvignier, author of "La Maison vide" (Minuit).
A Unanimous Decision
From the first round of voting, Mauvignier achieved unanimity with six votes, surpassing Caroline Lamarche, who took an honorable second place with four votes for "Le Bel Obscur" (Seuil). Other notable figures in this edition included Emmanuel Carrère, with "Kolkhoze" (P.O.L.), and Nathacha Appanah, winner of the 2025 Femina Prize with "La Nuit au cœur" (Gallimard). However, it was Mauvignier's novel that captivated the attention of the jury.
A Fundamental Work
"La Maison vide", a 750-page family saga, is a "fundamental" work for the Académie Goncourt, according to its president, Philippe Claudel. In this ambitious novel, Mauvignier explores several generations of a family in an imaginary village in Touraine, a place inspired by where the author grew up, and the stories told to him by the elderly in his childhood. The novel is both intimate and universal, with pages imbued with the collective memory of a region and a world in perpetual change.
A Mirror of Lives
In "La Maison vide", Laurent Mauvignier, faithful to his dense and detailed writing style, plunges the reader into a universe where stories are woven through generations. With a literary and almost documentary approach, he retraces the evolution of a family and a community, focusing on the intimate and memory. This novel is a mirror that reflects the lives of those who have been, who are, and who remain suspended in the flow of history. The narrative, written from a child's perspective, is nourished by memories of a bygone past and stories shared over the years. Mauvignier succeeds in capturing the essence of these lives, often modest and marked by the weight of history, and transforming them into a vibrant fresco of truth and poetry.
A Tribute to Collective Memory
By winning the Goncourt Prize, the writer pays homage to a certain collective memory, to a deep France, silent but not forgotten. Born in Touraine, in a working-class family, Laurent Mauvignier has always drawn from his personal experience and the stories of those around him to nourish his writing. Since his first novel, "Loin d'eux" (1999), to his more recent works like "Des hommes" or "Histoires de la nuit", he has established himself as an essential author, with a unique and recognizable style.
A Career Milestone
The 2025 Goncourt Prize consecrates an already rich body of work, comprising twenty novels. However, this distinction marks a turning point in his career. For Philippe Claudel, it is not just a reward, but a true "salute" to a writer whose work, in 2025, "is not a sum, but a fundamental novel".
A Place in French Literary History
With "La Maison vide", Laurent Mauvignier enters the great history of French literature. His Goncourt Prize is not only a deserved consecration of an exceptional novel but also a tribute to his literary career, marked by rare consistency. This prize is an invitation to rediscover a dense and profound body of work, where the history of the intimate is intertwined with that of a country, a memory, and a generation.
