France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron, may have written several unpublished novels inspired by everything from the Spanish conquest of Mexico to the life of a Paris pianist, but it is the literary endeavours of his newly appointed government that have come under the spotlight this week, reports The Guardian.
Nine of its members have published books, from political essays and historical biographies to pulp fiction and political crime thrillers. The culture minister heads a major publishing house, and the economy minister, rightwing Bruno Le Maire, once wrote racy romances about a lovestruck nurse – under a pseudonym – before graduating to literary fiction and memoirs.
However, the biggest fuss has been reserved for the political thrillers of the new rightwing prime minister, Édouard Philippe — particularly over what his novels say about politics and women.
Philippe, who as mayor of the Normandy port city of Le Havre introduced a literary festival, has co-written two novels in the past decade, both satires on French politics. His most recent, Dans l’Ombre (In the Shadows), was published in 2011 and co-written with Gilles Boyer, who, like Philippe, was an aide to the former prime minister Alain Juppé.
Dans l’Ombre is a scathing saga about ego and wrongdoing in a French presidential election campaign – from a spoonfed political press, to warring politicians, ageing candidates whose age must never be mentioned, and rightwingers bored by constantly having to traipse around Charles de Gaulle’s birthplace for the cameras.
The narrator is a cold and jaded political adviser known only as the Apparatchik. The book’s toxic mix of infighting and moral emptiness might hint at why Philippe jumped ship to help fulfil Macron’s promise to “rebuild” French politics in a new kind of “neither Left nor Right” centrist compromise. Nevertheless, centrists are not spared in the book. “Negotiating with a centrist is like trying to catch an eel in a bowl of olive oil,” the narrator says.
But it is the female characters who have sparked the most controversy, because of the ongoing battle against sexism that still looms over French politics. The narrator describes a senior female candidate in her “legendary trouser suits” as having “that imperceptible coldness of women who will never be mothers”. A senior press officer is referred to as “Marilyn” on account of her attractiveness. “Everyone was wondering who the first member of parliament would be to get the trophy,” the narrator says of the all-male team’s desire to sleep with the press officer.
The Apparatchik has in the past had two one-night stands with her, and though he rates her intelligence, he complains that she has small breasts. “I don’t usually like that,” he adds, saying he prefers “rounder” breasts. “Not imposing and shapeless, not heavy to the point of having drooped, but, rather, something with a bit of shape … A real chest is round, comfortable, welcoming, and one should be able to put one’s nose into the middle with jubilation.”