What books does Macron like to read?

Macron once said in an interview that "I can't imagine that I don't have books in my life". Through his beloved books and writers, we may be able to get a glimpse into the spiritual world of the youngest French president.

French President Emmanuel Macron loves to read, especially literature, philosophy and history books, saying that "there is not a day when he does not want to read", "the authors of those books are my irreplaceable companions", and his personal style and governing philosophy are also deeply influenced by desk books.

One

Romantic and uninhibited French literature

Macron has read French literary classics at his grandmother's house since he was a child, and has put literature at the center of his reading, believing that "literature is not a pastime, but inseparable from life, telling our experiences, enriching our lives, taking us to strange roads, opening up unexpected distances." "French literature opened the way for Macron's spiritual exploration, and also created his character of unwilling to be ordinary.

Macron liked the language of French classical literature, especially the "Alexandrian" (a poetic form that emerged in France in the 12th century), which he considered "simple in diction and subtle in rhythm", and most admired the 17th-century classical playwright Jean Racine's "Berenice". In middle school, Macron adapted and starred in the play "The Art of Comedy", which was interspersed with many Alexandrian poems, which was a great success. After entering the political "stage", he was also keen and adept at enhancing his political charisma through language and performance. Among contemporary French writers, Macron most admired Pascal Guignard's "concise and concise wisdom", commenting that he "examines history with a deep gaze and guides us to the present that is too superficial".

Macron admits that he is fascinated by "romantic figures whose lives encounter strange things, dangers, vast spaces", such as Fabrice, the protagonist of Stendhal's The Abbey of Bama, who is praised for his "naivety and bravery, desperate for his own path", and Chateaubriand's René. Macron professes to be interested in picaresque novels, believing that such works can convey the richness and emotional diversity of the human world, with "a consciousness of openness to the world" and "a spirit of friendship with complexity", and Celina's "Wandering in the Dark" has had a great influence on him. Macron also claims to be a "believer in Camus", and in the face of challenges and contradictions, he "wants to use the scorching white sun of "The Outsider" to illuminate reality and show it undisguised", "to speak of our failures and explain our taboos".

Macron believes that "the most precious thing in the world is to be able to control one's own life and give full play to one's talents", and he greatly admires writers with free will and life experience, "hoping to be like Stendhal, Romain Gary, René Charles". He often reread Stendhal's The Red and the Black, and considered Gide's Bread to be "an ode to life, nature, and desire", and called Baudelaire's The Flower of Evil "never departed" and "a pillow book about the world and the mind". As a teenager, Macron had a "Balzac dream", wrote a novel called "Babylon, Babylon" (unpublished), and also applied to the École Normale Supérieure in Paris (the highest university in French literature and history), although in the end it was unsuccessful, but he believed that literary creation "is an ever-present temptation" that may make a comeback in the future.

Two

A philosophical masterpiece of pragmatism and rationality

In his youth, Macron began philosophical thinking through reading, realizing that "philosophy helps to construct" and that "without philosophy, actions are only vague words and deeds". After entering politics, he maintained close contacts with the intellectual world, often inquiring about new books in the field of political philosophy, and seeking to meet intellectuals concerned with public affairs. His wife, Brigitte, once described Macron as "a philosopher who has become a banker and a politician."

Macron's earliest contact with the works of the contemporary French philosopher Marcel Comes was when he was a teenager, and after entering the pre-university class, he began to receive a systematic classical philosophy education, spending a lot of time reading the works of Kant, Aristotle, Descartes, Hegel and other masters. Macron claims that Kant's book touched him so much that he really entered the world of philosophy. Macron admired Kant's "Theory of Perpetual Peace" and presented Pope Francis with a French translation of the 1796 edition during his visit to the Vatican in October 2022.

At the age of 22, Macron met the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur and served as his philosophical assistant. During his two years at Ricoeur's side, Macron "re-studied philosophy" and recognized that "politics is the more perceptual link between knowledge, ideas and reality". Macron's approach to governance echoes Licoeur's thinking in many ways. The first is to control the power of language. As a master of hermeneutics, Ricoeur published works such as "On Interpretation" and "The Conflict of Interpretation", advocating the giving of political connotations to language. Macron, the spiritual heir of Ricoeur, is good at peddling policy ideas and controlling discourse by creating and explaining concepts. The second is to emphasize the harmony of the middle. Rico is known as an advocate of going beyond the "either/or" mentality. Macron, on the other hand, advertises himself as "neither left nor right", and often "wants and wants" in policy, in order to reflect "the ability to seek reconciliation and highlight contradictions". Third, we should attach importance to dialogue and consultation. In On Justice, Ricoeur proposes to find an intersection between the "horizontal plane of consultation" and the "vertical line of power" in the form of democracy. Macron pointed out the need to "see power as the capacity to act, not just as a dominant force", emphasizing the value of "goodwill" in democratic dialogue. Fourth, we should face up to historical issues. Some of Macron's remarks on national history also echo the book "Memory, History, Forgetting", which he helped to compile by Rico. For example, Macron acknowledges the crimes committed by France in the Algerian war and its responsibility for the Rwandan massacre, and finally seeks to "reconcile with history".

Three

A historical biography of patriotism and self-reliance

In addition to literature and philosophy, Macron also likes to read historical books, hoping to be inspired and inspired by France's glorious history and heroes, especially the historical biography related to Charles de Gaulle.

Macron was deeply influenced by De Gaulle's strategic ideas such as pursuing great power status and independence, and De Gaulle's memoirs (mainly referring to "War Memoirs" and "Memoirs of Hope") often accompanied him. In Macron's official presidential photo, "War Memoirs" is spread out on his desk. Memoirs of the War is a magnum opus written by Charles de Gaulle after he temporarily retired from politics in 1953 and lived in seclusion in the countryside, and it is a holistic recollection of the Second World War in the first person and from a French perspective. In de Gaulle's memoirs, classic expressions such as "France would not be France if it were not great" and "France's voice, actions and outstretched hand should be free" often appear in Macron's political discourse, becoming a portrayal of Macron's inspirational revival of France and Europe with de Gaulle as an example.

Hubert Germain, one of the recipients of the Order of Liberation of France, also appeared on Macron's desk for his memoir of World War II, "Hope for France". After the fall of France in 1940, Germain went to London to join de Gaulle's Free French forces to continue the fight, and was awarded the Order of French Liberation by de Gaulle in 1944. In his memoirs, Germain wrote: "When the last of the recipients of the Order of Liberation dies, the flame is extinguished, but the burning embers will live forever." "On October 12, 2021, Germain passed away at the age of 101, the last recipient of the Order of Liberation to die. At the memorial ceremony, Macron spoke highly of Germain's contribution to the cause of French liberation, saying that "his life was loyal to the country, full of courage, and persevered in the resistance to the end...... Over time, German also became a symbol of all patriots".

Macron reads, he reads history, and he thinks about reality. In this chaotic "world of great controversy", the romance of the French, coupled with the long-standing philosophical exchanges and pragmatic cooperation between the East and the West, can try to jointly lead the world and embark on a new path of cooperation among major powers.

Source: WeChat public account "China Institute of Contemporary International Relations"

Author: Mu Yangzi (Director, French Research Office, Institute of European Studies, Institute of Modern and Contemporary Sciences)

Editor: Jing Chen

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