Rien ne se passe comme prévu by Laurent Binet (review)

Reviews 247 (even Debussy’s, superior to the others, dates from his early period, and harmonically depends mainly on the Circle of Fifths). The final two chapters, however, on“Parody” and “Legacy,” are perceptive, and reveal Abbott as a promising cultural historian. Oberlin College Affiliate Scholar Laurence M. Porter Binet, Laurent. Rien ne se passe comme prévu. Paris: Grasset, 2012. ISBN 978-2246 -79933-7. Pp. 308. 17 a. Binet continues a tradition of “embedded journalism”in a presidential campaign started by Yasmina Reza, who shadowed Sarkozy in 2007, as chronicled in L’aube le soir ou la nuit (Flammarion, 2007). For this book, Binet shadowed François Hollande during the 2012 campaign. Reza had a subject who provided her with amusing details in 2007; she described Sarkozy in his Ray-Ban sunglasses as “Joe Pesci dans une ruelle de Palerme.” Sarkozy’s pronunciation of “joint-venture” came out as “John Ventura.” Binet’s subject is much less colorful, providing fewer anecdotes, more impénétrable than Sarkozy, plus lisse. The title of the book is taken from a statement that Hollande made, captured in a Canal+ documentary, following Strauss-Kahn’s fall:“Je me suis dit: rien ne se passe comme prévu. (silence) Jamais comme prévu” (21). Binet first met Hollande on 20 June 2011, and his narrative takes us to the victory celebration at the Bastille on the evening of the election on 6 May 2012. In the early part of the campaign, Binet had few meetings with Hollande; in one instance, the “shadow” was forgotten, left behind by Hollande’s staff following a campaign meeting. Valérie Trierweiler intervened, as she often did, and Binet began to have more access to the candidate. Rather than “shadowing” Hollande, Binet spent much more time with the members of Hollande’s entourage, including Pierre Moscovici, who became Ministre des Finances; ManuelValls,director of communication of Hollande’s campaign, who became Ministre de l’Intérieur; and with Hollande’s bodyguard, among others. One has the impression that Hollande was not overly enthusiastic about having Binet shadowing him,but took him on because of Valérie Trierweiler, Hollande’s companion, who had interviewed Binet for his first novel. In one of the few instances where Binet had the opportunity to chat with Hollande in the car on the way to a meeting, Holland and Binet both read the newspaper instead of having a conversation: “L’arrivée Porte de Versailles est une libération pour tout le monde”(61). Some of the comments by members of Hollande’s entourage reveal his personality traits. Malek Boutih:“Hollande, il livre rien, il s’oublie jamais, il fait pas de confidences, et il se laisse pas approcher”(51).Valérie Trierweiler: “Personne ne peut dire qu’il connaît Hollande. Pas même moi” (72). Binet observes that“c’est un homme calme, sûr de lui, à l’aise partout, aimable et impénétrable”(149). Binet’s most perceptive comment concerns Hollande’s irony: “ce qu’on prend trop souvent pour de la jovialité masque une ironie fondamentale” (192). Binet remarks that such a deep-seated strain of irony is a handicap for any politician. Binet, called “la Yasmina Reza du pauvre” (64) by Laurent Ruquier on Europe 1, provides little of what one would have liked in this work, a closer examination of Hollande’s personality. Neither a political journalist nor an historian, Binet has rendered a chronicle of the campaign that concentrates on Hollande’s entourage rather than on the presidential candidate himself. Davidson College (NC) Homer B. Sutton Conley, Verena Andermatt. Spatial Ecologies: Urban Sites, State, and World-Space in French Cultural Theory. Liverpool UP, 2012. ISBN 978-1-84631-754-5. Pp. vii + 171. $ 5. Conley retrace l’évolution des idées autour de la notion d’espace en France. En suivant le champ critique parmi neuf philosophes à qui elle consacre huit chapitres comparatifs, elle rend compte d’une manière chronologique et analytique des changements qui ont influencé la pensée de ces philosophes et comment l’espace est édifié depuis 1968 puis altéré dans le paysage intellectuel français. Sur une période...