President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée Palace, Paris, January 5, 2026. BENOIT TESSIER/AP
It is often said that good intentions do not make for good literature. On the other hand, disappointed love can lead to sharp analysis, especially in politics. Such is the case with the latest book by Nicolas Domenach and Maurice Szafran, Néron à l'Elysée ("Nero at the Elysée"), a chronicle marked by deep disillusionment.
The two writers for the magazine Challenges were among those swept up, nearly 10 years ago, by this "unusual man" who had "intuition, courage, ambition for the country and for its citizens," and who claimed to be left-wing. As seasoned political journalists, they believed in Emmanuel Macron's pledge to reconcile the French, to inspire new energy and to bring "a European hope that could once again allow us to see France in grand terms," as they humbly admit from the introduction.
It is true that Macron won over the two editorialists, granting them a "lengthy and powerful interview" in October 2016, as they boast. In this in-depth conversation, the voluble "En Marche" candidate stressed the urgent need to "rediscover a common imagination" and to invent a "new form of democratic authority." As the presidential election approached, glowing editorials about the young candidate proliferated in the weekly magazine, to the point of prompting protests from the magazine's editorial staff.
