AFP, published on Thursday, January 19, 2023 at 10:20 p.m.
The daily Le Figaro hit some authors and publishers by publishing an article which wondered which of the writers Guillaume Musso and Marc Levy was “the most useless”.
The article “Marc Levy against Guillaume Musso: who is the worst?”, published on the newspaper’s website on Wednesday, is signed by a music critic known for his caustic tone and his sometimes harsh judgments, Nicolas Ungemuth.
But the attack went badly against these two novelists very popular with readers, since in 2022 Guillaume Musso was the best-selling in France (1.383 million copies in total) and Marc Levy the ninth (630,000 copies).
“Proud to accompany and honored to accompany Marc Levy. Extremely proud”, wrote Thursday on Twitter Michèle Benbunan, the boss of Editis, parent company of Robert Laffont editions.
“As for us, we are happy and proud to house within Hachette Livre an author of the caliber of Guillaume Musso, capable of speaking to French women and men of all ages and of all origins”, indicated on Linkedin the director General Delegate of Hachette Livre, Fabrice Bakhouche.
“+ The most useless + is your article and its condescension. Support for @Marc_Levy and @Guillaume_Musso”, said Franco-British novelist Tatiana de Rosnay on Twitter.
“Without this popular literature, publishing houses could not publish more confidential authors. The snobbery of this environment disgusts me”, reacted the writer and doctor Baptiste Beaulieu.
Juan Asensio, a literary critic who is not very fond of best-selling authors, said he was skeptical of this article.
“Frankly, does the @FigaroCulture really think that by comparing Marc Levy to Guillaume Musso, he is honestly doing his job as a literary critic? (…) That Nicolas Ungemuth is instead comparing Michel Houellebecq to Yann Moix, we laugh!”, he advised.
Guillaume Musso himself, who on social networks is usually confined to promotional announcements, reacted on Wednesday. “In any case, our books are less pathetic than your articles,” he said.
Le Figaro is the daily partner of the GfK institute for the annual ranking of writers by number of copies sold.
Published on Tuesday, the article announcing Guillaume Musso’s first place for the 12th consecutive year soberly noted that “Guillaume Musso still prances in the lead”.
“A real pride for Antibes”, said on Twitter the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Éric Pauget, a native of the same city as the writer.