| Force ennemie | |
| Author: | John Antoine Nau |
| Country: | France |
| Language: | French |
| Genre: | Science fiction |
| Pub Date: | 1903 |
| Media Type: | |
| Awards: | Prix Goncourt |
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]
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 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]
The novel won the inaugural Prix Goncourt in 1903.[1] It 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]