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Gallimard rejected Martin Amis’ latest novel The Zone of Interest not because of the subject matter, but because the writing was not up to the author’s usual standard, according to an editorial source at the French publisher.
Chairman and c.e.o. Antoine Gallimard decided to turn the text down with the full agreement of all members of the house’s reading committee. "It was a very tough decision to take and had nothing to do with the subject," the source told The Bookseller. "It was based purely on literary considerations."
Gallimard showed it does not object to the theme when it published Jonathan Littell’s Goncourt Prize-winning The Kindly Ones (Les Bienveillantes) in 2011.
The Zone of Interest, which is set in a fictionalized Auschwitz, was extremely well researched, the source said. "We have enormous respect for Martin Amis. We have published 12 of his books since 1997, including Money in paperback, and will release Lionel Asbo in paperback in October," the source added.
Amis’ latest novel, also rejected by Hanser in Germany, will be published in France by Hachette Livre’s Calmann-Lévy, probably at the next rentrée, between August and October 2015.
Calmann-Lévy c.e.o. Florence Sultan dismisses Gallimard’s comments about of the quality of the writing. "The standard is just as high as in his other novels, and we are delighted to be able to publish one of Britain’s finest authors," she told The Bookseller. She also welcomes the fact it is not a one-off deal, since, "Mr Amis has already committed to publishing his next novel with us."
The Zone of Interest garnered another favourable review in this weekend's Financial Times, which dubbed the novel "a work of artistic courage, chilling comedy and incontestable moral seriousness."