In 1958, Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux founded the Prix Médicis to recognize a novel, a story, a collection of short stories by an author who does not yet have a notoriety corresponding to their talent.
Since 1970, a foreign Prix Médicis, and since 1985, a Médicis essay prize, have been awarded on the same day.
The 2024 jury is composed of Marianne Alphant, Michel Braudeau, Marie Darrieussecq Patrick Grainville, Dominique Fernandez, Andrei Makine, Pascale Roze, and Alain Veinstein.
The jury announced the second selection on October 9, and Mircea Cărtărescu’s novel Theodoros was added to the list of foreign novels.
The book was translated by Laure Henkel and published by Editions Noir sur blanc in France. The book’s summary on the publisher’s website is as follows:
“The story of Theodoros takes place in the 19th century and follows the dizzying rise and the terrible fall of the son of simple servants of a minor Romanian aristocrat. Tudor, from a very young age, dreams of becoming emperor, of equaling the Alexander whose exploits his Greek mother sang to him about. As if possessed by his fantasy, the boy will work ceaselessly to rise and, as an adult, he will stop at nothing, no sin, no misdeed. The feverish letters he writes to his mother show him crisscrossing the Greek archipelago and the Levant, which he scours with a band of horrid pirates, men and women alike. He describes the dreams of his adventurous life and the cruel and audacious actions he undertakes in his quest for power and wealth… Finally, Tudor, Theodoros will become emperor, as he always dreamed: he will be the improbable Tewodros II, sovereign of Ethiopia. And it is in this costume and this function that he will die, in 1868, fighting Queen Victoria’s soldiers”.
It has also been translated in Spanish, German, Italian and Bulgarian – making it one of the most important books of this year.
The winner will be revealed at a ceremony in Paris on November 6.
There are eight other foreign novels on the list.
Han Kang, who won this year’s Nobel Prize, which Cărtărescu was on the list for, won the Prix Médicis for a a foreign book last year.
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