Camille Bournickel (b. 1918) is one of the most brilliant French writers of the 20th century. His works have been repeatedly awarded prestigious literary awards. The pinnacle of Burnikel’s work is the novel Tempo, written hot on the heels of the sensation caused by the “departure” of the famous chess player Fischer. The writer claims: a genius himself has the right to make a choice between freedom and glory. But the hero of the novel “Selinunte, or the Chambers of the Emperor” has different ideas about values: the pursuit of external effect leads to the death of talent. Selinunte was awarded the Medici Prize in 1970. "Temp" received the Grand Prize of the French Academy in 1977.