Laure Murat is a writer and professor at UCLA. Since the #MeToo movement began, she has been a prominent voice in the debate surrounding the new cultural challenges facing both the New World and the Old World.
She regularly contributes to the press on the cultural wars tearing France and the United States apart. She is the author of about ten books, including *Une révolution sexuelle ? Réflexions sur l’affaire Weinstein* (Stock, 2018) and *Proust, roman familial* (Robert Laffont), which earned her the Médicis Prize for Essays in 2023. Following a short and brilliant work on cancel culture, *Who’s Canceling What?* (Seuil/Libelle, 2022), she returns to the subject with *Every Era Is Disgusting* (Verdier, 2025).
This essay aims to explore in depth the issue of “rewriting”—or “re-writing,” which turns out to be an entirely different process—of so-called “classic” texts. This topic has recently made headlines with the case of British author Roald Dahl, whose publisher (Puffin Books) sought to “amend” his works. Can we allow ourselves to transform or adapt works to bring them in line with modern sensibilities that are more attuned to the portrayal of sexuality, religion, and minorities…? This timely question is addressed by Laure Murat, whose answers are all the more fascinating for taking us by surprise. The primary issue at stake in these rewriting projects may have little to do with ethics, but rather with economic and business-related concerns.
Laure Murat is in conversation with Jean-Yves Jouannais, writer and professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and Audrey Illouz, head of cultural programming
Photo credits: © Philippe Matsas
