2023-09-07 09:53:15
The start of a controversy? Le Goncourt 2018 published a post on his Instagram account accusing Kevin Lambert, present in the first list of the prize, of having boasted of having submitted his novel to a sensitivity reader.
Yesterday again, Didier Decoin, the president of Goncourt, told us how proud he was of his first list. He will have had a few hours of respite ahead of him, before the first controversy of the start of the school year. At 4 p.m. the same day, Nicolas Mathieu, Goncourt 2018, indeed published a post on his Instagram account accusing the author Kevin Lambert, present in the first selection of the prestigious prize, of having boasted of having worked with a sensitivity reader.
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First, let’s remember that a sensitivity reader or “editorial minesweeper”, is responsible for “defusing any word or sentence, even entire scenes, which could pose a problem for readers from minorities. Words or phrases conveying racist, homophobic, handiphobic, grossophobic stereotypes”. In a way, it is a question of censoring the word of an author.
It is very rare in the French editorial world for authors to say they have appealed to one of these professionals of indignation. However, two days ago, Le Nouvel Attila, editor of Kevin Lambert, explained on his Instagram account that the said author “worked with a sensitive reader to once again stick to reality as closely as possible, to be as fair as possible. “. The interested party then indicated: “Chloé Savoie-Bernard, an extraordinary poet and professor of literature, of Quebec and Haitian origin, contributed to the edition of the book. I wanted to get his point of view, especially for the character of Pierre-Moïse, director of Ateliers C/W, also of Haitian origin. Even if I also do research on stereotypes linked to minoritized characters in fiction, I don’t have the compass in my eye and I can always be wrong. Chloe made sure that I didn’t say too much nonsense, that I didn’t fall into certain traps of the representation of black people by white authors. She also helped me to support this character, to deepen it, to make it more complex. Sensitive reading, contrary to what the reactionaries say, is not censorship. It amplifies the freedom of writing and the richness of the text. There is no doubt for me and I intend to work in this way for all my next novels.
“Let’s brag about it, that’s amusing at best, pitiful indeed […] Writers, writers, we have to work, and take our risk, without guardianship or police.
Nicholas Matthew
Across the Atlantic, as we know, we are now afraid of “fat”, “ugly”, “Jews” and “beautiful white teeth” (see our articles on the censorship of works by Roald Dahl, Ian Flaming, Agatha Christie) and the practice has become common, not to say commonplace. But in France, if it is not assumed, it is above all taboo. But now a door has opened. And Nicolas Mathieu set foot in it.
The writer, Prix Goncourt 2018, is known for his outspokenness on Instagram. It is in this sense that he published a corrosive message yesterday. Let’s read instead: “The space for expression that we enjoy today is not a given, a state of affairs, a permanence. It is a conquest and an immense progress, our legacy and the result of at least two centuries of aesthetic and political battle. That it is necessary, when dealing with a subject, with precaution and vigilance, that goes without saying. The power to say everything (or almost) supposes not doing it anyhow. An author, an author, has moral responsibilities, as to his point of view, in relation to the way in which he or she deals with the characters of the situations, the story, its protagonists, a fortiori when the latter have been eclipsed, ignored , mistreated by an entire civilization. Indeed, we do not write lightly. And one can, in spite of his scruples, editors who follow one another on a manuscript, friends who re-read you, fail. Readers then do not hesitate to say so, and others, especially, can then write other texts, other books, which by their truth, their clairvoyance, will put yours to shame. This is the game, that of the balance of power in the artistic field. But making professionals of sensitivities, experts in stereotypes, specialists in what is accepted and dared at a given moment the compass of our work, that leaves us circumspect to say the least. Brag about it, that’s amusing at best, pitiful indeed. Let us discredit with a word those who think that literature has nothing to do with these customs of a new kind, and to imply that they are playing the game of the oppressions in progress, it is quite simply a crap . This type of outing is heartbreaking as much for its self-satisfaction as for its intellectual dishonesty. And what about authors or autrices who gargle to be so in line with the spirit of their time? Writers, writers, we must work, and take our risk, without guardianship or police. That’s the least we can do.”
It has become almost a ritual, from the first Goncourt list, to see controversies erupt. Let us remember last year the unkind statements of Tahar Ben Jelloun on Brigitte Giraud who had just won the Goncourt prize and of Camille Laurens, the year before, who had in a damaged article one of the authors of the Goncourt selection. We know how much the Goncourt jury hates controversy, will this cost Kevin Lambert his place? Answer on October 3, day of the second selection of the Goncourt prize.
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