Catherine Lovey, winner
of the Literary Prize of the French Academy of Medicine
with «Story of the man who did not want to die»
The French Academy of Medicine announces the name of the laureate of the 3rd edition of its Literary Prize intended to reward, for its literary qualities, a book in French with a medical theme.
After evaluating around twenty books, the jury deliberated on five finalists on June 12, and unanimously awarded the 2024 prize to Catherine Lovey for her book «Story of the man who did not want to die» published by ZOE.
In a precise, refined writing, the author gives in 45 short chapters the story of the construction of an indefinable and unique bond between two neighbors, neither friends nor lovers, that the fatal illness of one will, at the same time, enlighten, but also leave as an enigma. Over the inexorable progression of the disease, an implicit, tacit relationship seems to bring them closer and tie them almost without their knowledge.
An open work that leaves each reader with their own interpretation and sends them back by questioning their intimate relationship with life, illness and death.
“For a long time, the narrator knows nothing about her next-door neighbor, except that his name is Sándor, and that he is a Hungarian and a businessman. But when Sándor falls ill , shortly before a virus spreads around the world, a connection is forged between these two beings who have nothing in common.
Through the portrait of an enigmatic individual, increasingly fragile and deeply moving, Catherine Lovey gives us a portrait of our time, on which she puts a precise and rebellious look.”
CONTACT PRESSE : Virginie Gustin +33 (0)6 62 52 43 42 virginie.gustin@academie-medecine.fr ACA-DÉMIE NATIONALE DE MÉDECINE, 16 rue Bonaparte – 75272 Paris cedex 06 Site : www.academie-me-decine.fr / Twitter : @Acadmed
