Léon Morin prêtre
One of the printed review copies.
Signed presentation inscription: “à M.L.D. Hirsch avec la cordiale sympathie de l'auteur, Béatrix Beck.”
A former student and secretary to André Gide, Béatrix Beck (1914–2008) won the Prix Goncourt with this daring novel, in which a young Communist widow, Barny, meets Léon Morin, a priest in a provincial village under the Occupation. Between them develops an intellectual and spiritual dialogue, at once burning and ambiguous, mingling desire, conversion and ideological confrontation.
The 1952 vote was decisive: Léon Morin, prêtre won on the first ballot, ahead of Pierre Boulle’s Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï, Antoine Blondin’s Les Enfants du bon Dieu (which received Roland Dorgelès’s loyal vote), and Georges Arnaud’s Le Salaire de la peur. French-speaking Belgium had cause to celebrate this triple upset, for besides Beck, the Ixelles-born Dominique Rolin won the Prix Femina that same year.
The novel enjoyed great success, reinforced by Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1961 film adaptation, with Jean-Paul Belmondo as the priest and Emmanuelle Riva as Barny.
Nrf subscription slip preserved.