Delphine Ernotte: “Literature is part of my life and the missions of France Télévisions”

Livres Hebdo: Which reader are you?

Delphine Ernotte: I read every day, mainly novels, at least once a day. Reading is part of my daily life, I can’t fall asleep if I don’t read. I need minimal reading time in my life. And I also read the press, but can we call that reading? There are certain Books that I reread. It’s very classic, not very original. The one I read the most is Madame Bovaryof Gustave Flaubert. But there is also The night will be calm of Romain Gary et Oriental news of Marguerite Yourcenar. Et The Gold Cup d’Henry James. This is a book that I started in English. I read a lot in English when it’s not too complex, when there isn’t too much slang… Classic English, I prefer to read it in the original language. There I read the first four pages, I don’t understand anything. I’m going to buy the translation, I read the first four pages, I don’t understand anything either. It’s not a question of language. You have to hang on, continue and it’s magnificent: the kingdom ofunderstatement and the unsaid. Everything is clear and nothing is said. A tension in the feelings, circumvented, suggested, it’s magnificent and fascinating.

Do you also read newer novels?

Yes, for example Americanah and the other novels of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichieas Notes on grief, a short text on the death of his father, impressed me a lot. Among the recent shocksTrust of Hernan Diazwhich I loved. And also Jacaranda of Gail Faye, where I found the atmosphere that I had loved in Small Country. I also started Colson Whitehead. Our team was in the United States for the elections, and he’s one of America’s favorite authors.Anne-Sophie Lapixwho interviewed him… So I attacked Underground Railroadhis Pulitzer, but I’ve only read 50 pages of it so far.

There is sometimes a form of incomprehension between the world of TV and that of books. The first insisting on the adaptations it broadcasts, the authors invited in current affairs broadcasts… And the second demanding broadcasts directly devoted to the book.

France Télévisions is the only television group in the world to have a literary program in prime time. In Europe, for sure and in the world, without doubt. The Great Bookstorethe emission ofAugustin Trapenardevery week on France 5, is also very prescriptive. And it must be added The Little Bookstore of François Busnelevery day on France 2. Just like the daily C to you on France 5 or What erathe broadcast of Léa Salameon Saturdays on France 2, who invite authors of novels but also essays and documents.

« The book is present all the time on our channels, it is part of our missions »

Laurent Delahousse also receives writers at 8:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. And Telematin has a regular book section, presented by Olivia de Lamberterie whom I really like as a critic and from whom I ask advice on a personal level. We still have a lot of meeting points between writers and viewers. The book is present on our airwaves all the time, it is part of our missions and it is something that we carry with great conviction and fervor. It’s important to our viewers, it’s important to us. Hence the happiness and pleasure of being president of the Edition Trophies this year.

Is it useful for you to meet publishers, particularly for adaptations? The last time you received us, there was the start of the Observatory editions in the libraries of this meeting room and this time it is the Calmann-Lévy start.

We are in contact with publishers, which is always pleasant. When we receive an author, his editor often accompanies him, we have discussions. And we try not to favor this or that, to find some form of balance. To also let Augustin Trapenard and the other animators follow their feelings. And yes, they bring their back to school, it’s nice. I don’t read everything, but I dig in.

After a few years at France Télévisions, we read while thinking « adaptation » ?

No, on the other hand, I sometimes say to myself “this writer writes a screenplay more than a novel. » But I won’t tell you which ones. The choice of the great sagas is made with Anne Holmesthe patroness of fiction.

« I love Thérèse Desqueyroux by François Mauriac, which I still reread regularly »

For example, we thought about Rougon-Macquartit was complicated and perhaps a little out of fashion. I like it a lot The Alexandria Quartetbut he is not a French author, which complicates things a little. This is how we thought about Fortune of France of Robert Merle. We did not adapt the thirteen volumes, but already the first ones.

Has reading, at any point, changed your life?

I remember when I discovered the pleasure of literature, it is still very vivid. I had just turned 11 and I was causing my parents despair because I read comics and not novels. I was in a country where I spoke very little language and I had brought three books… I was very bored, I felt lost far from home, far from my language, and I was homesick. And I started reading these books and I never stopped. And as I only had three, at the end of the fortnight, I started to reread them and even learn by heart Therese Desqueyroux of Francois Mauriac. I love this book which I still reread regularly.

When you were managing Orange, you were administrator of the art venue Le Centquatre-Paris. You seem to have always been a culturally oriented engineer?

Maths and literature are two worlds that are equally important in my life. Some engineers read a lot, others not at all. What we study does not determine who we are. This is also why I applied for France Télévisions, a way of reconciling two worlds that do not easily speak to each other.

« The separation between maths and literature is quite artificial »

The separation between maths and literature is quite artificial, it comes from the way the studies are organized. Maths is extremely poetic, very musical, imaginary, we construct universes far outside of reality. This has a link with creation, and literary creation in particular.

You also put on a play about ten years ago…

I even wrote half of the play, and I directed it. It was commissioned by the Théâtre de la Halle aux Grains in Blois, and it ran for three years, which I am quite proud of. It takes a lot of time to write theater, I had another idea for a play not long ago… So maybe later.

Do you have a regular bookseller?

I admit that I receive a lot of books and that my loved ones give me a lot of them. I exchange them. I like it when it circulates, when it turns, I’m not a book fetishist. Apart from a few, I happily pass on my books. But I admit that I also read a lot on my iPad, because reading a review that makes you want to read a book and two seconds after being able to start reading it, is something I’m not yet returned. Every time I do it, I say to myself “this is still great”. Although it’s not the same to read on paper as it is to read on Kindle. I alternate and I still prefer to read on paper. And I love advice from booksellers. It’s very personal, you can be very close to someone and not at all have the same literary tastes. Once you find a bookseller you get along with, it’s extremely valuable. I’m always two or three books ahead but I’m stressed at not having anything left to read. So I pick up a boatload of them when I go to the bookstore.