Folio contest
Time flies by.
I have the remembrance of a contest that a pocket book editor, named Folio, organized in the late 70’s.
It could have been in 1976. The editor had organized this contest for the celebration of its 1000th title.
The contest consisted of 50 titles to identify from 50 words you had to collect in a big cross-words game. Once you had determined the words, you had to find out the corresponding titles and authors in the collection.
Those 50 titles had been chosen by a Jury composed of a Pleiad of big personalities; Some references in literature.
We were sure, my best friend and I, of a certain victory. For once, we thought it was not a question of just being lucky, and that it would be easy for clever people like us.
Unfortunately we missed the big prize by a hair, making a mistake on 2 titles, which was the limit to get a big nothing as a compensation. The first one was “les inconnus dans la maison” by G. Simenon. The keyword to find was “maison”, and we had been puzzled because of an other title containing this word, I can’t remember which it was. I can’t remember the second mistake whe made, either (or was it “la vie mode d’emploi” ? ).
Anyway, this had been the opportunity for taking the piss out of one of our comrades. We made him believe we had played in his name to maximize the chances of winning in a potential draw, and that he was lucky and won the big prize…
He told us he would keep everything, and that we could go to hell. He got to the editor’s and claimed for his well deserved price. What a disappointment for him when he understood he had been rolled in the flour.
Anyway, thank to this contest, I opened my mind to literature and read almost every title in the list, letting down “Pif gadget” for ever.
Please help me to rebuild this legendary list. The following is all I can remember (no specific order) :
1/ Le bruit et la fureur. W. Faulkner.
2/ Belle du seigneur. A. Cohen.
3/ Le hussard sur le toit. J. Giono.
4/ Voyage au bout de la nuit. LF. Céline.
5/ L’homme pressé. P. Morand.
6/ Les inconnus dans la maison. G. Simenon.
7/ xxx. L. Aragon.
8/ Les nourritures terrestres. A. Gide.
9/ xxx. F. Kafka..
10/ Au dessous du volcan. M. Lowry
11/ Fictions. JL Borges.
12/ Zazie dans le métro. R. Queneau.
13/ La vie, mode d’emploi. G. Perec.
14/ La plaisanterie. M. Kundera.
15/ Ulysse. J. Joyce.
16/ xxx. J. Dos Passos.
17/ Les raisins de la colère. J. Steinbeck.
18/ xxx. E. Hemingway.
19/ A l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleur. M. Proust.
20/ xxx. JP Sartre.
21/ Paroles. J. Prévert.
22/ 1984. G. Orwell.
23/ Mémoires d’Hadrien. M. Yourcenar.
24/ xxx. HG Wells.
25/ L’homme sans qualités. R. Musil.
26/ Lolita. V. Nabokov.
27/ L’étranger. A. Camus.
28/ La condition humaine. A. Malraux.
29/ xxx. FS Fitzgerald.
30/ xxx. G. Bernanos.
31/ Le soulier de satin. P. Claudel.
32/ xxx. H. Böll.
33/ xxx. M. Tournier.
34/ Le rivage des Syrtes. J. Gracq.
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51/ J.E. Garzol.
Who can help to complete this list ?
This has nothing to do (even though most titles are in common) with the contest by Le Monde (1999). See
http://www.gilles-jobin.org/jobineries/index.php?q=100+livres
for a complete list on this.