Art imitated life in Macron’s writings
French President Emmanuel Macron once said that he never published the three books he wrote as a young man because he was not satisfied with them. His decision appears wise, after a claim that as a 16-year-old high school student, he penned a torrid novel inspired by his affair with the teacher he eventually married.
Macron may be happy for the novel to have remained out of the public domain as he seeks to restore the dignity of the French presidency.
Macron’s youthful literary aspirations have been well documented, but the new claim has surfaced in a biography of his wife, Brigitte, to be published next week.
Maelle Brun, the author of
Brigitte Macron, l’Affranchie (The Unfettered Woman), interviewed a neighbour of the Macron family in Amiens, northeast France, who says she typed out the future president’s 300-page novel.
The neighbour, who did not keep a copy of the work, said: ‘‘I knew him from the neighbourhood, and one day he asked me to type up 300 pages of his novel.
‘‘It was a daring novel, a little bit smutty. The names were not the same but I think he needed to express what he felt at the time.’’
The new biography suggests that Brigitte Macron was ostracised by her brothers and sisters when the affair was uncovered.
Many French people are fascinated by the presidential couple, who have an age gap of 24 years. He has just turned 40, and she is 64.
The Elysee Palace declined to comment.
If the story is true, it would not be the first time a French politician turned his hand to saucy prose.
In 2009, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the former president, published a novel modelled on himself and the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Edouard Philippe, the prime minister, co-wrote an erotic thriller, and Bruno Le Maire, the finance minister, has also published a risque novel.