Writer Mathias Enard won France's top literary prize Tuesday in a race dominated by books about West's love-hate relationship with Islam and the Arab world, AFP reports.
A scholar of both Arabic and Persian, Barcelona-based Enard, 43, wove a poetic eulogy to the long history of cultural exchanges between East and West in "Boussole" ("Compass"), and had been the critics' favourite for the award. The novel has already won the booksellers' prize for its nimbly erudite voyage which flies in the face of many of the cliches about the so-called clash of civilisations.