American writer Jonathan Littell won France's top literary honor, the
Goncourt Prize, on Monday for a 900-page novel narrated by a Nazi SS
officer - and written in French.
"Les Bienveillantes," or "The Kindly Ones," has won wide attention in
France both for its subject matter and the nationality of its author.
The Prix Goncourt is France's most prestigious literary prize.
The 38-year-old Littell was not in Paris when the award was announced,
but in Barcelona, Spain, where he lives, according to his publishing
house Gallimard. Littell won the Academie Francaise's top literary
honor last month.
Antoine Gallimard, Littell's editor, said the author was "very happy"
about the prize but preferred to remain out of the limelight.
The book, which has topped French best-seller lists for weeks, will be
published in the United States in 2008, following an extensive bidding
war won by HarperCollins.
It has sold 200,000 copies since it was released in late August,
according to Gallimard.
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