| Jonathan Littell Poster by T.A. |
Jonathan Littell
Interview with Samuel Blumenfeld
Interview by Samuel Blumenfeld with Jonathan Littell, author of The Kindly Ones, winner of the Prix Goncourt and the Prix du Roman de l’Académie Française.
Le Monde, November, 17, 2006 (Le Monde des Livres)
This success will take time to understand.
Three months ago, Jonathan Littell didn’t exist. Not in the public eye, at any rate. The dazzling success of his novel The Kindly Ones, which culminated with the Prix Goncourt on November 6, has transformed this unknown person into a public figure. Media curiosity—which to his credit he has not remotely solicited, and has even shunned—has ascribed to Littell several lives and several identities. The most outrageous rumors have done the rounds: that his Gallimard editor, Richard Millet, wrote The Kindly Ones, or else perhaps his father, the novelist Robert Littell…. From Barcelona, where he lives, Littell decided to talk to Le Monde des Livres about his novel.
| Jonathan Littell |
Q: Looking back, what kind of reception did you anticipate for The Kindly Ones?
It happened stage by stage. I was already thrilled when my agent, Andrew Nurnberg, told me that he liked the novel and thought he might be able to sell it. Even more so when it was taken on by Gallimard; my entire literary education stems from their backlist. Over and above that, I wasn’t expecting much. I put five years of work into the book, at my own expense. I never thought I would make that money back. I thought it might sell between three and five thousand copies. Gallimard was hoping for a little more, but I was sceptical. Then, quite unexpectedly, everything exploded.