“Brothers” and the Reception of Yu Hua in France
Résumé
After an overall presentation of the situation of Yu Hua’s work in France, we shall focus on the reception of his novel Xiongdi, which received an unprecedented media coverage. In less than one year, from the end of March 2008, when the book came out, to the end of January 2009, the book has been reviewed more than fifty times in newspapers, radio or television programs as well as Internet sites, either briefly, or at length, and sometimes along with an interview of the author. A critical success, which has resulted in the author winning the prestigious « prix Courrier international » (a prize awarded by the weekly journal Courrier International) and was coupled with a tremendous commercial success, the book gaining a large audience among the general readers but also, it must be stressed, among the economists, who acclaimed Yu Hua as « a vigilant scrutinizer of Chinese reality ».