Novel by French minister mocked for containing breathlessly erotic passage
Bruno Le Maire
French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire's novel is grabbing the world's attention, but definitely not in a positive way. An erotic passage from the novel has gone viral and is being widely mocked.
The contents of the novel titled - Fugue Américaine(American Fugue) - have become a controversy, a situation that probably will not be liked by French President Emmanuel Macron amid the ongoing protests.
The issue has also forced people to ask the government to explain how the minister finds the time for such penmanship at a time when the nation is facing economic trouble.
The American Fugueportrays a world different from Frace's current picture, also seen by Le Maire as he has been on the front line of defending Macron's controversial pension reform.
The plan led to months of sometimes violent protests but the government says is necessary to balance the books.
His novel tells a different story in the fictional world, but the minister in the real world faces pressure to help the French deal with the rising cost of living due to surges in fuel prices and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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The novel is based on the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz and tells the story of two brothers, Franz and Oskar Wertheimer. The brothers travel to Cuba to attend one of his concerts, following whichtheir lives turn upside down.
One single page of the novel has gone viral and has taken all the attention as it describes Oskar having sex with a woman named Julia in excitedly erotic and also deeply explicit terms. MP for the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party Francois Ruffin said the minister should not have "a minute, an hour, a week of his time to devote to writing a book" when the French are experiencing "big worries about inflation".
Amid the criticism, his colleague Olivier Dussopt defended him by saying that he has the right to write but also admitted that he had not read the new novel.
He told BFMTV, "This shows that there are feelings... behind the suits of the ministers." He further added that he had seen the erotic passage and it "made him smile".
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