A less abundant but provocative literary return

Unheard of for twenty years. After an exceptional year for the world of French publishing, driven by the closure of theatres, performance halls, museums and cinemas, making books one of the few accessible cultural products, only 490 novels are expected at the start of the 2022 academic year. This is 31 fewer than a year ago, and 156 fewer than ten years ago, according to figures from the trade magazine Weekly Books. Long gone are the days of this literary madness where we published without counting books on a period not conducive to reading. Since 1^er January, book salesare down 11% over one year, according to the Observatory of the Syndicate of French bookstores. Literature, like the French, saves money.

How to explain this fall? There is obviously the backlash of the confinements. The French have been deprived of travel and now prefer to spend their time and money on other activities. But 2022 accuses other evils. First, a…