«Un monde en toc»: a Michel-Dentan prize in five malls around the world

Le Regard Libre N°51 - Loris S. Musumeci

Literary awards special report

Around the world is tempting. Journalist Rinny Gremaud spent nearly a month doing just that. Did she discover foreign cultures, exotic cuisines and indigenous tribes? Not in the least! She concentrated on five cities: Edmonton in Canada, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and Casablanca. We're in the five corners of the world, yet every destination is the same. Because it's in the malls, Rinny Gremaud has spent most of his time in the world's largest shopping malls.

And right then, you can just picture the scathing article. You can immediately picture the moral lecture that the brave Swiss journalist is about to lay on us. She’ll look down on all those countries, all those cities, all those malls, all those vulgar tourists and those awful consumers. Not to mention lamenting the devastating consequences of that damned globalizing ultraliberalism.

Let's set the record straight: A Fake World is not condescending in the least. The author observes; she immerses herself in the atmosphere of these malls without ever rushing to judgment. She tries to understand, and above all, she includes herself in any criticism she may offer. She meets with managers marketing, an interpreter, shopkeepers, and saleswomen to understand their motivations, aspirations, disappointments, and illusions.

This gives the book a respectful tone that is neither bland nor condescending. Irony also plays a significant role, especially when it calls out those little habits—from which we are not exempt—such as the practice of selfie. But then again, irony is not mockery. Laughter helps reveal the absurd. The despair and unease that Rinny Gremaud also conveys serve, for their part, to show the consequences of this absurdity.

And I can tell you, it’s downright absurd! You don’t need to delve into statistics and complex calculations to see that this travelogue reveals the architectural ugliness of these malls, their financial problems, their inaccessibility to local residents, their endless stores—all of which are indistinguishable from one another—and, of course, their utter uselessness.

The book is enlightening. Not only do you learn about the malls, the countries that host them, the investors who dream them up, the customers who spend their days there—but it also leads us to reflect on our own sense of business and entertainment. And, of course, travel. It’s fashionable to criticize mass tourism, but Rinny Gremaud takes the opposite stance, invoking humanity’s need to seek out experiences, to have fun, to be like everyone else—simply to be happy. In this regard, the story is moving on several occasions. Whether it’s Westerners in search of meaning who throw money away without really knowing why, or Third World laborers who leave everything behind to work in the malls.

«To travel is to embark on the journey of desire. I watch them, mother and daughter. They could have a thousand reasons for being there—tourism, exile, or a reunion. A flight forward or backward. Airport lobbies, train stations, bus stations, and ports are filled with these departing desires that make wheeled suitcases hum and overflow the carts—desires waiting to flow from one checkpoint to another, all the way to the boarding gate. Desires moving in clusters, through the air or across the sea, or over land. My first trip—I was 3 years old—was one of exile.»

Another touching aspect is the journalist’s involvement in the story. It’s funny; in principle, journalists are supposed to be the ones who take a back seat to their subject. Not her, though. That’s why, in fact, she turned her trip into a whole book rather than an investigative article or a news report. A Fake World tells the story of the malls, yes, but also Rinny Gremaud in these malls. She misses her son, and the constant air conditioning makes her nauseous; she shares her feelings without overdoing it. Just enough to make the story feel human and to experience a truly tragicomic journey through these shopping malls off-center and excessive, which must be viewed with a clear-eyed perspective.

«Spending a few days in Dubai means experiencing a world where inequality is the unchanging order of things. Where men and women, locals and foreigners—whether from rich or poor countries—are unequal in both rights and opportunities. One may find this unpleasant, but the reality is that the ‘Dubai system’—if we must give it a name—this openly unjust economic model, designed to benefit some at the expense of the voluntary submission of others, is the one in which the vast majority of the world’s population lives.”.

I’m thinking of those who are—or are not—making progress in most of the world’s newly industrialized regions. To those who work for most of these extraterritorial, off-shore, and tax-free entities—the multinationals. To those who do not live in our bankrupt welfare states. In other words, the entire planet.

»So spending a few days in Dubai is nothing out of the ordinary. It’s simply experiencing the world as it is."

Write to the author: loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com

Rinny Gremaud
A Fake World
Editions du Seuil
2018
172 pages

buy