Mathieu Belezi wins the 2022 “Le Monde” literary prize for “Attacking the earth and the sun”

The Tenth Literary Prize The worldfounded in 2013, was presented on Wednesday September 7 to Mathieu Belezi for Attack the earth and the sun (The Tripod). Born in 1953, the writer, who now lives in Rome, continues in this magnetic novel, with an impressive rhythmic power, a series devoted to the colonization of Algeria, begun with It was our land (Albin Michel, 2008).

This great novel of the colonial illusion, which alternates the voices of two narrators, Séraphine, a distraught settler woman, and an anonymous soldier recounting the massacres, rapes and lootings of the French army, aroused the enthusiasm of the jury. Chaired by Jérôme Fenoglio, Director of Worldit is made up of journalists working in the “World of Books” (Jean Birnbaum, Denis Cosnard, Florent Georgesco, Raphaëlle Leyris and Nicolas Weill) and in the four “corners” of the World : Emmanuel Davidenkoff (editorial development), Zineb Dryef (“M Le magazine du Monde”), Gaëlle Dupont (Planète), Clara Georges (“L’Epoque”), Raphaëlle Rérolle (great reporters), Solenn de Royer (Politics) and Alain Salles (Debates and ideas). Attack the earth and the sun succeeds Jacqueline, Jacquelineby Jean-Claude Grumberg (Threshold).

Also read the review: Article reserved for our subscribers “Attacking the earth and the sun”: Mathieu Belezi chants Algeria in blood in 1845

What was your reaction when you learned that you were going to receive the “Le Monde” literary prize?

It was a shock to me. I was very happy to be in the selection. But I was sure I wouldn’t. This is my editor, Frédéric Martin [le fondateur du Tripode]who called me: “I have bad news for you. » He laughed and quickly reassured me: “You have the price of World. » I sat down on a chair. I do not believe it. And besides, I still find it hard to believe. It’s that The world has always been a reference for me, which I maintained by keeping “Le Monde des livres” every week, even if, by dint of moving, I lost a good part of it. I read other newspapers, of course, but I always start with The world. It’s such an ingrained habit that all I have to do is type “L” on my phone for the site to appear!

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“Attacking the Earth and the Sun” is the fourth novel you have devoted to colonial Algeria, fourteen years after “It was our land”. How, at the time, did you choose to write on this subject?

First there was a fact. While many novels have been written around the war of decolonization, there is virtually nothing about colonization itself. I started to do research, and I quickly realized that this crazy, excessive, despicable story offered me what I was unconsciously looking for: literary territory. It allowed me to experiment with a style, to organize a flow by eliminating dots, by orchestrating a scansion, a particular musicality… I was immediately swept away by my discovery.

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