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Force ennemie

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Force ennemie (1903; English: Enemy Force) is a novel by French author John Antoine Nau. It won the inaugural Prix Goncourt in 1903.[1]

In 2010 Michael Shreve adapted it into English as Enemy Force.[2]

Plot summary

The main character is a poet who mysteriously wakes up in a rubber room, locked away in a lunatic asylum, apparently at the request of a relative due to alcoholism or perhaps jealousy.[3][1] He then becomes possessed by an "Alien Force" from another planet, Kmôhoûn, whose crazy voice is constantly screaming in his head.[3][1] He then falls in love with a female inmate, Irene, but she leaves and so he follows her to the ends of the earth, while the Alien Force cohabits his body.[3][1]

Critical reception

It won the inaugural Prix Goncourt in 1903.[1] The novel was only a mediocre success, but it did not prevent the president of the academy, Joris-Karl Huysmans, to say much later: "It is still the best we have crowned." In 1906, Paul Léautaud said "The Prix Goncourt has really only been given once—the first time to Nau."[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Nau, John Antoine, Michael Shreve website.
  2. ^ Michael Shreve. Enemy Force, Hollywood Comics, 2010. ISBN 978-1-935558-49-1
  3. ^ a b c d "Enemy Force and The Emerald Eyes", from The Brooklyn Rail InTranslation, August 2009.

See also