“Neither an essay nor a program”, “bad style”: what to remember from the release of Jordan Bardella’s book “What I’m looking for”

This Saturday, November 9, “What I am looking for” is published, the first book by the president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella. Highly anticipated, the autobiography should be the subject of intense media coverage. But what message does the far-right MEP convey in his book?

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“This book is neither an essay nor a program: it is the reflection of my existence”, from the first pages, Jordan Bardella lays the foundations of what is intended to be the story of his meteoric political rise. The text mixes childhood memories, political considerations and campaign stories.

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Liberation speaks of a “book with such bad style that one ends up thinking that he really wrote it alone” and describes the author as “a marketing object” who “has neither his own thoughts nor deep political culture “. Although the daily describes the autobiography as “deadly boring”, it concedes some juicy information: the appointment of Éric Ciotti to the Ministry of the Armed Forces if the RN had won the legislative elections in July.

It must be said that politics plays a significant role in the work. From a quote from Napoleon to illustrate his desire for “greatness” to outright slogans such as “so that France remains France” or “our ardent desire to remain France”, the president of the RN conveys his political imagination throughout the book.

Personal history and political remarks merge

The story of his childhood in Seine-Saint-Denis is also the pretext for giving his opinion on an alleged decline of France. In a nostalgic style characteristic of far-right writings, he evokes “mutual aid and solidarity” which made, in the past, these spaces a “paradise” organized around “a small square in the heart of the city (which) housed a large fountain, like a halo of rest and tranquility.”

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The work is also not free from pure political remarks, always in this strange mixture of personal remarks and general considerations. For example, he uses a volunteer experience from the 2010s to conclude, regarding “Pakistanis, Afghans, West Africans”, that “it was difficult to reconcile cultural universes which seemed so distant”. According to him, the integration of his grandparents was only made possible because she was European.

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He also explains that he takes Nicolas Sarkozy’s victorious campaign in 2007 as a model. He advocates “the idea of ​​bringing together French people from the working class and part of the conservative bourgeoisie in the same spirit”, in a speech close to “the “union of rights” desired by Éric Zemmour.

A media and controversial phenomenon

Behind the publication of this autobiography, Lise Boëll, new CEO of Fayard. In 2011, while working for Albin Michel, she managed the publication of “French Suicide” by Éric Zemmour. If the book had caused controversy, in particular because of its revisionist remarks on the alleged action of Marshal Pétain in favor of French Jews, it had sold more than 500,000 copies. The publisher would probably like “What I’m looking for” to have the same fate, so 90,000 copies have already been printed. According to France Info, the objective set is a minimum of 150,000 copies sold.

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Moreover, Jordan Bardella’s book has already experienced its share of controversies. A few months ago, journalist Jean-François Achili was fired by Radio France for his participation in the writing of the book. More recently, the SNCF was forced to ban the promotion of autobiography in stations, in accordance with the rules of the railway group’s advertising agency. A decision that the publisher is currently contesting in court.

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Vincent Bolloré, who owns Fayard, should put his media group (JDD, Canal +, CNEWS, etc.) at the service of intense promotion of “What I am looking for”.

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Around fifteen signing sessions are already planned, while several RN executives, including Marine le Pen, will continue to appear before the courts in the so-called “parliamentary assistants” affair. This signing tour begins this weekend in Lot-et-Garonne.