Bastien Roubaty, character from the very first harvest

Les lettres romandes du mardi - Nicolas Jutzet

The first novel by Bastien Roubaty, a student of literature and history, is a fine promise. He has succeeded in blending the different universes perfectly, with a downside at the end of the story, which gives in to easy clichés. His book is a success, and already makes you want to read the next ones. Dive into 174 fascinating pages.

A printing house, a family, a revolt

At the head of Imprimerie Gordy, the patriarch had to take a step back. His health forced him into exile; he needed to rest, away from it all. Mr. Gordy confides, ad interim, The decision was taken to hand over the management of the company to his zealous employee, Anis Sallymara. Newspaper supervisor The day after tomorrow - a mass-market publication, read «from the most insalubrious tripot to the gilded salons of government ministries» - he accepts the challenge. At his side is Mr. Gordy's buxom and capable secretary, Mademoiselle Verde. He learns of his promotion at the wedding of the boss's daughter. The boss introduces him to his niece, Marie. Charmed by her grace and intelligence, he promises to see her again. There's no lack of opportunity: her mission is to help out in the family business. Struck down in a car accident, she has partially lost the use of her legs, which prevents her, as a former ballerina, from dancing.

Back at the office, the newly-elected director set to work, not without joy. However, the general mood in the country is deteriorating. Anger was growing everywhere. A general revolt was looming. One fine day, on leaving work late, he finds his bicycle with its tires slashed. A first warning he couldn't identify. Naively, he simply had his vehicle repaired. Surprisingly, the second time, he finds it boneless. He becomes aware of the extent of the phenomenon and ends up worrying. The atmosphere becomes tense. Misunderstanding reigns. Marie, who has come to help him during the founder's absence, takes the problem to heart. She sets off in search of a solution.

When, a few days later, Anis finds the company buildings soiled with paint and a demand that leaves no room for doubt («Our eyes are open»), he decides to take matters into his own hands. He convenes a meeting with the company's directors, and considers a possible outcome that would suit all the protagonists. Marie suggests organizing a concert to cheer up the workers and calm the rebellion. Her friend Chloé Demiton, a successful singer, accepts the challenge. Everyone is happy with the compromise.

Unfortunately, this good intention turns to disaster. During the evening, an accident sets off a fire, killing several spectators in the process. Perceived as a trap by the workers, the offering turns into a poisoned gift. The rest of the story is one of deteriorating relationships and intrigue between the two sides. Fascinatingly described, this gradual evolution of tensions is a success that keeps the pages turning, one after the other, without boredom and with definite interest.

Your dignity is no more my concern than your death.

The entrepreneur at the heart of success

Sometimes, as a reader of Ayn Rand, I see similarities in the words and descriptions of the two authors. The liberal polemicist, best known for her novels The Strike and La Source vive, is also about corporate life, the burden of a boss, the weight of decisions. Of the union or tensions between the people working in the offices and the workers. However, when the former sings the praises of the entrepreneur, the creator, the Fribourgeois takes the side of the rank and file. Those who work themselves to death. Switzerland, which owes so much to social dialogue, obviously finds itself in this idea of collaboration between the different players in an entity.

Unfortunately, based on hackneyed clichés, which would have us believe that, faced with the good bourgeois boss who lounges around with cognac and cigars, a worker, legitimate even in violence, revolts and takes his destiny into his own hands, the writer fails to hold back, revealing an overrated militancy. In our country, 99% of which is populated by SMEs, the idea of a boss fighting against the interests of his employees is at best amusing. We find the usual confusion, a desire for meritocracy, which is obviously legitimate to put an end to rents and other caste privileges, combined with an egalitarian passion that intrinsically denies and flouts the first objective. The ideal of the worker who wants to climb the ladder and assume responsibility at all costs is nothing but a shortcut.

People everywhere admired the company for standing up to its workers, the only one in the country no longer in crisis.

In the end, the reader is left with a feeling of fullness of form, but a certain restraint with regard to the ideological content, which is inevitably open to discussion. Nevertheless, one thing is certain: the next work will be scrutinized with interest. Let's hope the audience for the first lives up to its promise.

Write to the author : nicolas.jutzet@lereregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Camilla Maraschini