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3.12.03

Goncourt Manuscript on Exhibit at the B.n.

An article (Double hommage au Goncourt à la BNF, December 2) from French news organization TV5 announced that the Bibliothèque nationale de France will honor the 100th anniversary of the Prix Goncourt (see my post on August 27, Centenary of the Prix Goncourt) with a special exhibit:

From December 9 to February 22, the French National Library (BNF) will exhibit at its François Mitterand site the Journal of Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, in honor of the centenary of the prize awarded for the first time in 1903 to John-Antoine Nau for Enemy Force. On December 10 and 11, the BNF also offers a two-day conference on the two brothers and the celebrated prize.

Donated to the Library by Edmond de Goncourt, the manuscript of the Journal will be exhibited in its entirety for the first time and will form the basis of the exhibition, which will be open to the public. It will be accompanied by a selection of works of the Goncourts, letters, portraits, and photographs taken for the most part from the BNF's collections. Besides the manuscript of the first honoree, manuscripts of ten other works that received the prize will also be exhibited, including À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (Proust), La condition humaine (Malraux), Les Mandarins (Beauvoir), and so on.
Someone out there should make a blog out of the Goncourt journal, modeled on the brilliant Diary of Samuel Pepys. I would like to read it, but as far as I know, it is not yet available online.

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