2023-12-03 11:09:09
A few weeks after winning the Medici Prize, Quebec author Kevin Lambert looks back on the whirlwind he has experienced in recent months, between selections for prestigious French literary prizes and controversies on both sides of the Atlantic.
Between his three trips to France, where he was selected for the Goncourt, Médicis and Décembre prizes, the multiple media requests in Quebec and France and his professional commitments, Kevin Lambert experienced a dizzying autumn.
I was, at times, close to exhaustion, he confided Friday to Radio-Canada, during the first interview he gave on television in Quebec since he won the prize. Medici, November 9.
Such fatigue that he remained bedridden, ill, for almost the entire week of vacation he took with his partner, after his coronation at the Medici Prize. Barely recovered, he had to cancel his presence at two activities organized around him at the Montreal Book Fair.
It must be said that winning the Medici Prize was a real surprise for Kevin Lambert, who had already won the December Prize two weeks earlier. It’s too big, you don’t realize.
It was through a text message that he learned the news, which even his editor did not expect. Without having time to wash his hair, he jumped in a taxi towards the Parisian restaurant where the members of the jury were gathered. You go down a kind of super narrow staircase. There, the winners are announced and you have to give a mini-speech on this staircase, it’s very strange, he said about this grueling day.
Marie-Claire Blais, her guardian angel?
Kevin Lambert was particularly moved to be awarded the Medici Prize for two reasons. The first is that the jury selected his novels three times: Roberval Quarrelin 2019, You’ll love what you killedin 2021, and May our joy remainin 2023.
They were the first in France to notice me and support my books. It’s touching, because these are people who have really read me, who know my work.
The other reason is that Marie-Claire Blais, who died in 2021, is the first Quebecer to have received the Médicis prize. There is a kind of loop that I found really beautiful.
It must be said that Marie-Claire Blais holds a special place in Kevin Lambert’s heart. The novel cycle Thirstswritten by this author between 1995 and 2018, accompanied her in the writing of May our joy remain.
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The writer Marie-Claire Blais, in April 2008
Photo: Radio-Canada / Christian Côté
The day before receiving the Medici Prize, Kevin Lambert had a bad day. Depressed, he spoke to Marie-Claire Blais, as he sometimes speaks to his favorite authors, or even to characters. I asked him: “Send me dreams tonight, it will do me good, it will cleanse me, send me information that I am missing at the moment”. The next day, he woke up with no memory of his dreams. I said to myself: “Either I forgot these dreams, or she didn’t send me anything.” Both made me really sad.
I understood, one or two hours later, that she sent me another message, through the Medici jury, he explained, convinced that Marie-Claire Blais, who notably wrote on the presence after death, and communication between dead and living people, has nothing to do with his coronation at the Medici.
Sometimes painful controversies
In recent months, Kevin Lambert has gone through two controversies: last July, he rebuked the Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, on the subject of the housing crisis and he was criticized, in September, by the French writer Nicolas Mathieu for having used a sensitive reader when writing May our joy remain. The question of using sensitive readers is a sensitive subject in the literary world, especially in France.
These two controversies were a source of learning for the Quebec writer. I learned the hard way that, even if we explain, if we argue, our message does not get through, he declared. There are people who have preconceived ideas and who will continue to convey them in the media.
I try to have an argumentative, nuanced, complex discourse that moves away from the bitterness of good versus evil, of the self versus others. I try to think beyond that, he continued.
Sometimes, I have the impression that I am being brought back to somewhat caricatured positions of for or against. This level of thinking doesn’t interest me.
Extensively commented on in the media and on social networks, these two controversies have somewhat revived what he may have felt when, as a child, he was the victim of bullying. There were times when I felt like everyone hated me and the whole world was against me, he said.
The support he received during this time was not enough to counterbalance these painful emotions. It seems that the value of the negative comment is, in our brains, always greater than the value of the positive comment.
A fourth novel in preparation
Kevin Lambert is far from having become rich thanks to his Medici prize, which only comes with a check for 1000 euros (around $1500 CA), which he has not yet received.
However, thanks to this award, the doctor of literature now plans to make writing his career, even if he thinks he will have to supplement his income with parallel activities, such as course teaching. It’s not the sales of my books that will allow me to live, it’s not enough, stressed the one who lives in shared accommodation.
Today, Kevin Lambert is working on the screenplay for the film adaptation of his work Roberval Quarrel. He is also finalizing his fourth novel, which is currently being published. A book about which he prefers, for the moment, to remain discreet, simply specifying that it will be very different from May our joy remain.
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With information from Louis-Philippe Ouimet
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