“Marc Levy versus Guillaume Musso: who sucks the most? With an article thus titled, published on its website on Wednesday, the daily Le Figaro offended certain authors and publishers. The text 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 Michèle Benbunan, the boss of Editis, parent company of Robert Laffont editions, on Twitter on Thursday. “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 men and women of all ages and of all origins”, indicated on Linkedin the director General Delegate of Hachette Livre, Fabrice Bakhouche.
« The lamest, it is indeed your article and its condescension. Support for Marc Levy and Guillaume Musso,” Franco-British novelist Tatiana de Rosnay said on Twitter. “Without this popular literature, publishers could not publish more confidential authors. The snobbery of this environment disgusts me, ”reacted the writer and doctor Baptiste Beaulieu.
“Our books are less pathetic than your articles”
Juan Asensio, a literary critic who is not very fond of best-selling authors, said he was skeptical of this article. “Frankly, does FigaroCulture really think that by comparing Marc Levy to Guillaume Musso, he is doing his job as a literary critic honestly? (…) That Nicolas Ungemuth rather compares Michel Houellebecq to Yann Moix, we’re laughing! 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 is still 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.