The publisher of ‘C’était ça ou mourir’ has decided not to reprint Thélyson Orélien’s novel, following the writer being ‘dropped’. Several independent booksellers interviewed by franceinfo Culture have reacted to the decision in different ways, with most choosing to keep the book on their shelves.
At the Valentin bookstore in Paris’s 15th arrondissement, Sabiha Daoud says she remains ‘with the emotion I felt reading it’. The publisher announced on Thursday, October 22nd, that it would not reprint the book, but the bookseller says this does not change her appreciation: ‘The book is still very beautiful, I still love it.’ A few days after the start of the ‘affair’, she had defended the author, telling franceinfo Culture on September 23rd: ‘I don’t see any AI behind it.’ She now acknowledges that Thélyson Orélien ‘perhaps’ used artificial intelligence, but the novel, which recounts the odyssey of Jonas, a Haitian immigrant, will remain in her view ‘an important book’. She says she wants to invite her customers to read it and form their own opinion.
Booksellers torn between substance and form
At Libre Ere, in the east of the capital, Hafid Melhay considers the novel by the Canadian-Haitian writer too ‘strong in substance’ to be relegated to the back of boxes. He points out that the decision belongs to Éditions du Boréal: ‘It’s the decision of Éditions du Boréal, not mine.’ He also highlights the literary dimension of the work: ‘In terms of form, I know Haitian literature well and C’était ça ou mourir is truly written in that style.’ The bookseller now questions AI, which he believes could ‘give the power of writing to people who don’t have it’.
In Saint-Pol-de-Léon, in Finistère, the reaction is different. At Livres in Room, Gaëlle Maindron regrets that the use of AI has diminished her reading pleasure: ‘Now that we know it was partly written by AI, for me, it spoiled the reading pleasure, even though we really liked this book.’ She accepts the decision of Éditions du Boréal and laments that ‘authors are punishing themselves’ by resorting to artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, she keeps the novel prominently displayed: ‘It’s true that the book’s subject remains strong, so we’ll leave it on the shelf and discuss it with customers.’
In bookstores, questions about the book remain frequent and sometimes lead to discussions about literature or other writers. Gaëlle Maindron sees a positive aspect to this: ‘It’s a blessing in disguise. It creates human interaction in my bookstore…’
