“There is an ***umed provocative side”: why Bruno Le Maire’s new book is causing a stir

SATURDAY, Bruno Le Maire had to go to the front : the rating agency Fitch having decided to correct its rating of France by lowering it, the Minister of the Economy was moved in the face of the media by a “pessimistic ***essment (…) as to France’s growth prospects and the trajectory of its debt”, promising that France would continue its “structuring reforms”.

Sunday morning, it’s the Goncourt prize of 2018 Nicholas Matthew who, in his own way, corrected the boss of Bercy. The Mayor released his second novel this week, “American Fugue”, dedicated to pianist Vladimir Horowitz. And a short erotic snippet raised more than one eyebrow. In his book, the Minister of the Economy has one of his characters recount – in the first person – his antics with a woman named Julia: “She had her back to me; she threw herself on the bed; she showed me the brown bulge of her anus: Are you coming Oskar? I’m dilated like never before. »

If Nicolas Mathieu refused to overwhelm “the ministerial work”, because “what piece of this nature would not seem ridiculous taken from its context, taken in isolation”, the writer proposed a rewrite of his own published on Instagram , observing that “it could have been written differently”.

“A minister who writes with a certain talent, that has its charm”

“At a time when the French have big worries about inflation (…), should we have a minute, an hour, a week of our time to devote to a book with p***ages erotic? “Questioned, for his part, the deputy (LFI) of the Somme, François Ruffin, guest of the program BFM politique in partnership with Le Parisien-Today in France.

“A minister who writes with a certain talent, that has its charm. We have our joys, our sorrows and our excitements and that’s good! “Defended Olivia Grégoire, questioned on the subject on France Inter. “It’s part of life! “continued the Minister Delegate in charge of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Trade and Tourism, considering herself “delighted that the ministers have a personal balance and private p***ions. I think it’s healthy.”

The one who is also his supervisory minister had already made the small political milieu chuckle in a previous book in 2004, when he recounted an intimate scene with his wife during a trip to Venice.

“Writing does not shock me in itself, it’s a great talent,” says another of his government colleagues. But there is an ***umed provocative side: both the erotic p***ages and the fact of releasing a novel when it exasperates the president. “In the fall of 2021, the Canard Enchaîné had reported comments from the tenant of the Élysée, who would have been quite annoyed that several members of the government found themselves in bookstores. “But the French will end up saying to themselves that the ministers don’t give a damn and that they spend their time writing books,” wrote Le Canard at the time.

“No one can say that he is not fully up to the task”

THURSDAY, Bruno the Mayor, of which this is the fifth book since his arrival at Bercy in 2017, had wanted to provide clarification on the subject, explaining that he was “dedicated to the service of the French”, but at the same time ensured his “personal balance” . “Some go to museums, cinemas, concert halls, football stadiums. Others garden or go hiking. As for me, I write. Literature allows me to escape from everyday life, to take a step back and think differently ”, thus justified the minister on Twitter.

“We have the right to criticize our work at the ministry, but whether it is during the Covid, the energy crisis, pensions… No one can say that he is not fully up to the task”, adds his entourage, recalling that Le Maire would have taken “five years to write it” and that “the literary reviews are very good”.

Even if this is not the (partial) opinion of Nicolas Mathieu, author of the successful book “Their Children after them”. And whose rewriting of the extract from Bruno Le Maire received congratulations from François-Henri Désérable (Grand Prix du Roman de l’Académie Française 2021) or from Virginie Grimaldi, 2nd author to have sold the most books. In France.