Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique

When he received the Grand Prix du Roman from the Académie française for Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique, Michel Tournier was forty-two years old, and it was his first novel. It was Raymond Queneau who first recognized the singularity of the work on the Gallimard reading committee and pushed for its publication. On its release, the book did not immediately win recognition from literary circles and was rarely mentioned in the press, apart from an article by René Marill Albérès in Les Nouvelles littéraires which, as early as April 1967, praised this “Robinson Crusoe revised and corrected through Freud, Jung and even Claude Lévi-Strauss.” The book passed the summer largely unnoticed and did not appear on the lists of literary prizes, still less that of the Académie Goncourt, which, for the first time in its history, considered not awarding its prize at all, as permitted by the will of the Goncourt brothers and the society’s statutes.

Such a step required unanimity among the voters, which was never achieved. But, as juror Philippe Hériat warned at the final selection meeting, it would have been “a warning shot against the mediocrity of what is being published” (Registre du prix Goncourt, minutes of 7 November 1967, Archives Goncourt, Nancy).

At the Académie française, however, there was a wish to renew itself by crowning a rising, solid and powerful new voice: Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique emerged as the choice. It is not known who first proposed it, but Maurice Genevoix likely played a part, having received the text — as this very copy attests — as early as June. Genevoix, permanent secretary of the Académie française, whether or not he was its original champion, explained with skill and eloquence, in the speech he delivered on 21 December 1967, why the book was being honored: “Almost every year, the Commission du Prix du Roman finds itself facing an alternative: consecration or discovery. Looking at the list of past winners, it seems, especially in the early years of the prize, that our choice more often favored the first criterion. In 1967, we changed course. The expression is fitting, since the prize-winning narrative opens with a storm followed by a shipwreck. Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique, by Mr. Michel Tournier, is indeed the author’s first published book. One encounters symbols there which I will not attempt to explain, for the narrator is skilled at blurring the trail, concealing myths and philosophical reflections beneath his taste for adventure and his naturalist’s eye. We follow this explorer, by turns serious and mocking, step by step. We share in his fervor for nature, even when it leads him to strange unions. It is a book both baroque and tightly constructed. It has vigor, scent and a fine power of reasoning. It reveals a personality steeped in culture, yet strong-willed enough to escape any influence. When I add that it is written in a confident language, seeking both precision of terms and harmony of phrase, one will understand why we are eager to read the new novels Mr. Tournier has announced. This one, through its originality and mastery, earned its place among our winners.” (Maurice Genevoix, “Discours sur les prix littéraires,” annual public session, 21 December 1967).