the Sylvain Tesson affair or the “fire on oil” method, by Claro – Libération

TRIBUNE

Article reserved for subscribers

Is naming Sylvain Tesson godfather of the Spring of Poets 2024 an innocent gesture? The writer Claro sees it as a tactic: drop something very slippery, if possible flammable, and let the temperature rise to allow a certain press to cry for censorship.

Should we name the wandering writer, close to the far right, godfather of the 2024 edition of the cultural event which is to take place in March? The question has stirred up public debate since the publication of an article in Libération. Those who oppose the best-selling novelist are sorely lacking in arguments, believes William Marx, professor at the Collège de France. For the writer Claro, on the contrary, the choice of Sylvain Tesson is not “an innocent gesture”.

The heated affair which has agitated the press and networks for several days regarding the sponsorship of the Spring of Poets 2024 has, it seems to me, some virtues. On the one hand, it reminds us that there is an official event intended to promote poetry; on the other hand, it points