The literary far right: French writers and intellectuals who give oxygen to the National Regrouping | International

Almost no one was missing. At the Place de la République in Paris, the most prominent names in French culture attended a rally this Wednesday to say no to the extreme right, just days before the second round of legislative elections. Annie Ernaux spoke via video. “Our descendants will judge us by our decision next Sunday,” said the Nobel Prize winner in literature. She was followed by the leader of the French Me Too, actress Judith Godreche; director Costa Gavras, champion of the political cinema of the seventies; historians like Pierre Rosanvallon and Patrick Boucheron, or DJ Étienne de Crécy, pioneer of the French Touch. A few hours earlier, the most listened-to French singer in the world, Aya Nakamura, a staunch opponent of the far right, had called for a vote against the extremists.

Still, not all French culture is left-wing. In contrast, there is a less visible and audible group, but no less influential, that supports Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN). Without declaring themselves to be sympathizers of the party, prominent French writers and intellectuals have for years proclaimed principles similar to those of the RN in their books and interventions. In a not very distant time – in the time of Marine’s father and party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen – the former National Front ostentatiously displayed its hostility towards intellectual circles. The situation has changed: in recent times, the RN has made a relative approach to the literary and intellectual elite, although not always successfully.

“In the Fifties, French writers were communists. In the Eighties, they attended (François) Mitterrand’s rallies. The RN does not have such a clear support, which does not mean that there are no cultural personalities who feel close to the extreme right. What happens is that no one dares to say it publicly,” argues investigative journalist and author François Krug French responsesAn essay on what he calls “the literary extreme right”, where he reveals the secret relationship with extremists that hides the trajectory of some famous writers.

The most striking case is that of Michel Houellebecq, probably the most read French writer in the world. If you have never been asked to vote for Marine Le Pen – although you were about to do so in 2013, according to your friend and English translator Gavin Boyd – your novels contain opinions close to far-right ideology. “Although they are part of a dimension that is merely literary, they also have political implications. When a respected person like Houellebecq expresses those ideas, there are voters who take them for granted,” warns Krug, who highlights his personal ties with French Action, a monarchist and extreme right-wing political group.

In 2022, the Grand Mosque of Paris denounced the author for inciting hatred against Muslims (although the complaint was later withdrawn when the author rectified it). The second case is that of the great writer and traveler Sylvain Tesson. His work, with a humanist spirit, has nothing explicitly political nor any characteristics shared with the RN, but Krug finds that in the beginning he worked at Radio Courtoisie, a far-right station, and he maintains friendships outside its circle. “In addition, some of his articles contain the idea of ​​​​hierarchies between peoples and the impossibility of coexistence between races,” he explains. For his part, Yann Moix, a writer who collaborates in the media of businessman Vincent Bolloré, in which RN-related voices abound, according to Krug, he began his career “writing”.Fanzines deniers and anti-Semites.”

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“They have tried to attract cultural figures without much success, but that could change if the party comes to power,” says Gisele Sapiro, a sociologist of literature.

Cultural figures who admit to voting for the RN are few. In the past, actors such as Alain Delon and Brigitte Bardot showed their sympathy for Le Pen Sr. Comedian Philippe Chevalier endorsed the far-right leader in 2022, but there are not many other famous names. The new (and younger) leader of the RN, Jordan Bardella, was able to convince the second generation, but no one went further. A few days ago, Le Monde published that the actress Mathilde Seigner, Roman Polanski’s sister-in-law, had organized a dinner to introduce Bardella to “actors, chefs and athletes”, but when Seigner denied it on her networks and threatened to denounce the newspaper, she had to withdraw the information. “There are many people around us who cannot be seen, but who are going to come out,” warned Louis Alliot, vice-president of the RN, mayor of Perpignan and potential minister of Bardella if he manages to form a government.

“They have tried to attract cultural figures but have not had much success, but if the party comes to power the situation may change. We may come to such a situation,” he said. Accommodation“As Sartre would say,” answers sociologist Gisèle Sapiro, a sociologist of literature, professor at the EHESS (School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences) in Paris, and author of . Can the work be separated from the author? (Intellectual Key), where he covers the cases of far-right writers such as Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Charles Maurras—writer and leader of French Action, the old anti-parliamentary and anti-Semitic far-right—or, more recently, Richard Millet and Renaud Camus.

The latter popularized the notion of the “Great Replacement” or gradual replacement of the French population in the 2010s. of thought (pure stress) by immigrants, with great success in the discourse of the European extreme right. In addition, some of Marine Le Pen’s advisers come from the Group for Research and Studies for European Civilization (GRECE), founded in 1968 by the theoretician of the New Right, the philosopher Alain de Benoist. think tank who aspired to “intellectually re-arm the Right in France” against the cultural hegemony of the Left.

De Benoist, who provided “critical support” to Marine Le Pen in 2011, agreed to answer some of this newspaper’s questions by email, although somewhat telegraphically “due to lack of time”. What importance do the literary and intellectual spheres have in RN discourse? “In my opinion, almost zero.” Do you feel influential in the party’s political thinking? “Absolutely”. If the RN wins this Sunday, what can be expected of Bardella as prime minister? “You can expect what he can achieve, which will be very little. “We are heading for a period of great instability.” Would you vote for the RN? De Benoist does not answer. In 2017, he voted for the radical left candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in the first round. And for Le Pen, in the second.

The philosopher Alain Finkielkraut voted for Macron’s party in the first round, but does not rule out betting on the RN in the second “if there is no choice”. “It is no longer a fascist party,” he assured.

In the 1930s, some French writers converted to fascist doctrines. “In some aspects, the situation is comparable,” says Sapiro. “For example, the radicalization of the conservative right, which allied itself with the extreme right after the Popular Front came to power. ‘Before Hitler before the Popular Front,’ read the motto of that right.” For the expert, moments of crisis favor “verbal violence and the designation of scapegoats” and “reveal social class reactions that can end up overturning republican political doctrines.” They are also conducive to ideological changes: in the 1930s, intellectuals who called themselves leftists, such as Pierre Drieu La Rochelle or Marcel Déat, soon moved towards the extreme right. “Today we have some examples of the same thing, such as that of Michel Onfray,” says the sociologist.

A former thinker of the intellectual left, Onfray has been evolving towards theories closer to the radical right. In 2020, the launch of a magazine promoted by the philosopher was welcomed by Marine Le Pen on her networks. In the same publication, Front PopularMaintained a dialogue with Houellebecq, who, before signing the novels, had also begun to support Jean-Pierre Chevènement, former leader of the left-wing sovereigntist movement. submit And Destruction, That includes phrases that would never fit into Le Pen’s mouth. In that conversation, Houellebecq said the French just want Muslims to “stop robbing and attacking them” and that “the only chance to survive is to become white supremacist Fashionable,

The thinker Pierre-Henri Tavoillot, a professor at the Sorbonne and a member of the Socialist cabinet for 20 years, has shifted politically. “The RN does not seem dangerous to the institutions,” he said a few days ago. “The lowest Republican party is not the RN, but La Francia Insumisa,” he said in a prime-time radio program about the party led by Mélenchon. The philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, a Maoist in the days of May 68, has also switched sides, although he denies being right-wing. “These are names who certainly do not vote for the RN, but who propagate ideas similar to those of the party. And, being respected figures, they legitimize those ideas,” Krug summarized.

A few days earlier, Finkielkraut had specified that he would bet on Emmanuel Macron’s party in the first round, but argued that the RN “is no longer a fascist party.” And in the event of a duel with Mélenchon’s party (in the left-wing New Popular Front coalition), he did not rule out voting for the far-right party in the second round “if there is no choice”, which he considers “anti-Semitist” and guilty of “evoking the ghosts of Pétain, Maurras and even Hitler”. In 2017, his essays appeared on a list of books recommended by the party to train its members. “I prefer that they read to me instead of him.” My StruggleFinkielkraut responded with indomitable optimism.

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