Laurence Ruel (born 6 November 1957), known by her

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Camille Laurens, is a French writer and winner of the 2000

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French List of literary awards, literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or Verse (poetry), verse by male ...

for ''Dans ces bras-là''. Laurens is a member of the

Académie Goncourt The Société littéraire des Goncourt (, ''Goncourt Literary Society''), usually called the Académie Goncourt (, Goncourt Academy), is a French literary organisation based in Paris. It was founded in 1882 by the French writer and publisher Edmo ...

Career

A graduate of

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

, Camille Laurens taught in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

. In 1984, she began teaching in Morocco, where she spent twelve years. Since September 2011, she has taught at

Sciences Po Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

. Between 2007 and 2019, she was a member of the jury for the

. She had been a member of the

since 11 February 2020.

Fiction and autofiction

Although meant to be read separately, the alphabetical titling of the chapters of four of Camille Laurens' first novels—''Index'' (1991), ''Romance'' (1992), ''Les Travaux d’Hercule'' (1994), and ''L’Avenir'' (1998)—suggest a tetralogy. They are characterized by a high degree of fantasy and what Philippe Savary has described as "an abiding reflection on the relationship between fiction and reality, illusion and truth." The death of a child in 1994 inspired first ''Philippe'' (1995) then, again, ''Cet absent-là'' (2004) and a deep transformation of her art away from fiction per se and toward

autofiction Autofiction is, in literary criticism, a form of fictionalized autobiography. Definition In autofiction, an author may decide to recount their life in the Third-person narrative, third person, to modify significant details and characters, use in ...

. Thus, from the 1990s onward, she developed an ever more introspective work on the self and her relationship to others, to desire. Hence, texts like ''Dans ces bras-là'' (2000), ''Ni toi ni moi'' (2006) and ''Romance nerveuse'' (2010). The first of these is awarded both the

and the Prix Renaudot des lycéens.

Essays and other publishing activities

In addition to fiction, Camille Laurens has authored several essays. ''Les Fiancées du Diable'' (2011) studies the representation of women in art and the extent to which the feminine is taboo in collective consciousness and, thus, in works of art. The act of repetition—whether in serial painting, the poetic rime, or else neurosis—is the subject of ''Encore et jamais'' (2013). In ''La Petite Danseuse de quatorze ans'' (2017), Laurens reconstructs the life of

Marie van Goethem Marie Geneviève van Goethem (or Goetham or Goeuthen; born 7 June 1865) was a French ballet student and dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet, and the Model (art), model for Edgar Degas's statue ''Little Dancer of Fourteen Years'' (''La Petite Danseu ...

, who served as a model for

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

. Since 2002, Camille Laurens has regularly chronicled literary works in national newspapers: notably in "Écritures," appearing monthly from 2015 to 2019 in ''

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

'' and, since 2019, a weekly serial in '' Le Monde des Livres''.

Controversy

In September 2021, the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt ( , "The Goncourt Prize") is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward of only 10 euros, but resul ...

attracted controversy after the jury decided, by a vote of 7 to 3, to include ''Les enfants de Cadillac'' by François Noudelmann on its 2021 list of finalists. Laurens, who is a member of the prize jury, is the partner of Noudelmann. Laurens voted in favour of her partner's book. It also emerged that shortly after the shortlist was revealed Laurens had written a negative review in ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' of one of Noudelmann's competitors for the prize, ''La Carte postale'' by Anne Berest.

France Inter France Inter () is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is the successor to Paris Inter, later known as France I, and created as a merger of the France I and France II networks, first as RTF Inter in October 1963, then ren ...

, who first revealed the

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

, described her review as containing "unheard-of brutality". Laurens defended herself, saying that she wrote the review before the Goncourt selected its finalists. She also claimed she was being attacked for being a woman and not on the substance of her arguments in the review. However, historian

Jean-Yves Mollier Jean-Yves Mollier (born 5 November 1947) is a French contemporary history teacher. Biography Mollier is teacher at the Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University. He is specialized in the history of publishing. He has dedicated his docto ...

said, "She straight-out assassinated one of the candidates." In October 2021, the

ultimately decided that it will no longer allow lovers and family members of the jury to be entered for consideration.

Awards and honours

* 2000:

for ''Dans ces bras-là'' * 2000: Prix Renaudot des lycéens for ''Dans ces bras-là'' * 2006: Finalist in the first selection for the

for ''Ni toi ni moi'' * 2006:

Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant co ...

* 2008: Prix Bourgogne de littérature for ''Tissé par mille'' * 2016: Prix du Roman-News for ''Celle que vous croyez'' * 2018: Prix David de l'expertise for ''La Petite Danseuse de 14 ans'' * 2018: Prix Ève-Delacroix of the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

for ''La Petite Danseuse de 14 ans'' * 2020: Best Book of the Year by the magazine '' Lire'' for ''Fille''

Works

* * ** ** * ** * * * * * * * * * ** * **

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurens, Camille 1957 births Living people Writers from Dijon French women novelists Prix Femina winners Academic staff of Sciences Po 20th-century French non-fiction writers 21st-century French non-fiction writers Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 20th-century French women writers 21st-century French women writers Prix Renaudot des lycéens winners Pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers