“Showing the back kitchen”: Goncourt Prize winner Pierre Lemaitre gives a lecture at a high school in Périgueux

The award-winning novelist for "Goodbye Up There," now based in Champcevinel, came to talk with students and high school students. A fascinating question-and-answer session for the participants

I n a room packed with khâgne and hypokhâgne students, the arrival of Pierre Lemaitre produces the same effect as that of Zinédine Zidane in the locker room of a football school or that of chef Hélène Darroze in a kitchen teeming with kitchen hands. This subtle blend of respect, excitement, and curiosity reaches its peak when the guest enters the chapel of the Bertran-de-Born school complex in Périgueux (Dordogne) on Monday, May 12. The novelist is punctual. "I'm the local," jokes the septuagenarian, now living in Champcevinel.

More than a hundred young people were invited for the occasion; they come from the Laure-Gatet, Jay-de-Beaufort, and Bertran-de-Born high schools, joining the student contingent. "I've been wanting to bring him in for three years," says Yann Lisoie, a literature teacher. "He's a popular novelist in the noblest sense of the term, he has this talent for speaking to all audiences." A statement validated by the main person concerned: "I avoid grand phrases, I don't like grand gestures. I don't believe in style, I believe in sobriety."

Easy to read—"a deceptively oral style reduces distance"—Pierre Lemaitre is even easier to listen to. The winner of the 2013 Prix Goncourt takes no more than five minutes to captivate his audience. His message is clear and tinged with humor. The novelist wittily summarizes: "I'm going to try not to be as boring as your teachers." Alternating quotes from Georges Simenon, Louis Aragon, and even Eddy Mitchell, the novelist reveals all his recipes to these literary types. "I want to show them the back kitchen; that's what's interesting. What makes the difference is the work. I'm a neurotic about structure. I don't believe in inspiration, but in perspiration."

"I'm a structure neurotic. I don't believe in inspiration, but in perspiration."

The students carefully prepared for the interview, focusing most of their questions on the tetralogy "The Glorious Years." "A great writer is someone who always writes the same book," Pierre Lemaitre philosophizes. The discussion becomes more interesting when it's spontaneous. "These young people read and know how to read," the writer says aside. He reflects in particular on the relevance of the questions posed by one student, Émilie. She confides: "When he writes, we feel like we have him right next to us."

Naturally, the critical and commercial success of the book "See You Up There" is interfering with the debate. "I wondered if a sequel should be made. 'The Son of See You Up There'? 'See You Up There Goes Skiing'?" Pierre Lemaitre jokes. He looks back at the genesis of the story. "This book, at the beginning, was a failed novel. I wanted to write a historical detective novel, but after 120 pages, I realized that I was only at the beginning because this style requires a lot of constraints. As a thriller, it was terrible. And then, I decided to no longer ask myself the question of the category. I was a freed prisoner, it was total jubilation."

The book, which won the Prix Goncourt, was adapted for the screen by Albert Dupontel, with Pierre Lemaitre credited in the film. "I didn't do anything, but they gave me a César for the adaptation. Albert simply needed a sparring partner to confront his ideas; he's a great artist." His success? The novelist explains it by "powerful characters." He tells the most ardent fans, captivated for more than three hours: "When I think of the conceptual capacity of Dumas and Zola... I'm incapable of seeing that far ahead; I'm a book ahead. It takes me about eighteen months to write it."

Once the structure is established, the man who is "not a writer but a novelist" lets his imagination take over. "Fictions are explanations of the world [...]. I've never had writer's block; on the contrary, I seek jubilation." His pleasure? "Putting the reader in an uncomfortable situation, allowing them to positively identify with a monstrous character [...]. Because my role is to create emotions," Lemaitre whispers to the students.