A few sentences from “American Fugue”, the second novel by the Minister of Economy and Finance, are circulating on Twitter. The style of writing arouses many criticisms.
“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.” These few sentences are not taken from an erotic book, but from american fugue, the latest novel by Bruno Le Maire, published on Thursday 27 April. According to the back cover, posted on Twitter by the Minister of Economy and Finance, the book tells the story of two brothers, Franz and Oskar Wertheimer, from New York, who go for a concert in Cuba , in 1949.
This “music novel”, of “culture clash between East and West”, is described as “a moving reflection on the fragility of beings and on the capacity to live”, in which Bruno Le Maire slipped these few sentences when one of the characters of the novel, Oskar Wertheimer, describes, in the first person, his antics with a woman named Julia. This passage did not go unnoticed: widely broadcast on Twitter, it aroused mockery and amazement. Some readers criticize the minister’s writing style.
A precedent in 2004
However, this is not the first time that Bruno Le Maire, who is the author of a dozen books, has embellished one of his works with an erotic passage. He had already done it in The Minister (Grasset), published in 2004, an account of his mission as adviser to Dominique de Villepin, then Minister of Foreign Affairs. He writes thus: “I let myself be invaded by the heat of the bath, the light of the lagoon which came to float on the window panes of the door, the green tea soap, and Pauline’s hand which gently caressed my sex.”
Bruno Le Maire is criticized on his style, but also on the time he devotes to writing. Since the announcement of the publication of his second novel, some elected officials point to his disconnection with France. “The country is struggling against pension reform. Meanwhile, Minister Bruno Le Maire is writing novels”has, for example, pinged the deputy of La France insoumise Thomas Portes on TwitterWednesday. “Literature allows me to escape from everyday life”replied the Minister of the Economy, also on social networks.