Laurent Obertone (born 10 April 1984) is a French writer and journalist. He has written polemical books which the French media describes as reactionary. His first book, ', became a bestseller in 2013. He is known for his novel trilogy ''Guérilla'' (2016–2022), which is about

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

in France.

Life and work

The name Laurent Obertone is a pseudonym which the author began to use in 2010 when he wrote for the online magazine ''Ring''. The same year, the novelist

Michel Houellebecq Michel Houellebecq (; born Michel Thomas on 26 February 1956) is a French author of novels, poems, and essays, as well as an occasional actor, filmmaker, and singer. His first book was a biographical essay on the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. H ...

created media reactions by bringing Obertone to a dinner with President

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

at the

Élysée Palace The Élysée Palace (, ) is the official residence of the President of France, President of the French Republic in Paris. Completed in 1722, it was built for Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, a nobleman and army officer who had been appointed g ...

, following Houellebecq's

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt ( , "The Goncourt Prize") is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward of only 10 euros, but resul ...

win for '' The Map and the Territory''. Obertone received more attention in 2013 when his own book ' () became a bestseller. The book is about increasing violence in France, which Obertone links to immigration and calls "the wildening" () of the country. It was followed by several polemical books, including 2015's ' (), a critical analysis of how France is ruled which ''

L'Express (, stylized in all caps) is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre-right in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''R� ...

'' described as "reactionary" and "sexist". Obertone's writings have made an impact on France's far right, mainstream right, and a few government ministers in the cabinets of

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 202 ...

and

Jean Castex Jean Castex (; born 25 June 1965) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 3 July 2020 to 16 May 2022. He was a member of The Republicans (LR) until 2020. Castex served for twelve years as mayor of the small town of ...

. Obertone has written a trilogy of novels called ''Guérilla'' (2016–2022), which is about how

breaks out in France, spurred on by social media and mainstream journalists. The novels became bestsellers. Together with , and Laura Magné, he co-founded the quarterly satire magazine ''

La Furia ''La Furia'' is a quarterly French satire magazine published since 2022. It was created by Laurent Obertone, , and Laura Magné. Magné is the editor-in-chief. The stated goal is to challenge the norms of the political left and the establishment ...

''. The first issue was published in January 2022 and sold 60,000 copies.

Publications

Non-fiction

* ', Paris,

Éditions Ring Ring is a French publishing company founded in 2012 by David Kersan, also known as David Serra. It publishes thrillers, novels, non-fiction and comics. It is considered to a have far-right political position and publishes material from controver ...

, 2013, * ', Paris,

, 2015, * ''Le Diable du ciel'', Paris,

, 2017, * ', Paris,

, 2018, * ''Éloge de la force : Renverser l'histoire'', Paris,

, 2020 * ''Game Over: La révolution antipolitique'', Paris, Éditions Magnus, 2022,

Novels

*', Paris,

, 2016, *''Guérilla : Le temps des barbares'', Paris,

, 2019 *''Guérilla : le dernier combat'', Éditions Magnus, 2022,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obertone, Laurent 1984 births Living people 21st-century French journalists French male journalists 21st-century French novelists French male novelists 21st-century French non-fiction writers French male non-fiction writers Pseudonyms Anti-immigration politics in France French political writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers