Charlotte Casiraghi. “Writing a book about myself is not an exciting idea for me”

Charlotte Casiraghi, member of the Princely Family of Monaco, Chanel ambassador, co-founder of the Monaco Philosophical Meetings, together with Virginia Viard, initiates the Literary Meetings organized by this house. The January literary season is an opportunity to talk with this book lover about his taste and, above all, his reading powers.

Madame Figaro. – Was early reading important?
Charlotte Casiraghi: I was fascinated by books from a very young age. I saw the ones that my mother, a very avid reader, always had in her purse. He also had a huge library. I wanted access to these books because for me they marked the transition to an older age, to adulthood. So I’ve been reading this idea in my head, but also changing readings quickly, alternating between important authors and lighter books.

You didn’t differentiate between the books ?
I think we shouldn’t romanticize the act of reading and reduce it to the solitary reading of great authors. The important thing is to explore and discover new books that make you want to read. Some works have been important to me for the simple pleasure and lightness of reading them, not necessarily for their depth. There is no sin in good or bad readings. Everyone should find their own way to read, to get into a book.

Who are your favorite authors? ?
This issue of the reading pantheon is constantly evolving, nothing is really set in stone. It is an ongoing process. My list of favorite authors is ever-evolving, even if I’m marked by Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Colette, Montaigne, Simone de Beauvoir, Rilke…Virginia Woolf and Marguerite Duras too, but they came later, after I was 30, and they became important in my life. at this moment:

What do you like about Duras? ?
The writing of a passion on the edge of madness, constantly looking for a break, and this in a writing with such physical force… There is something very loose and free about the way he writes, also very painful. It allows readers to explore gray areas not found elsewhere, bringing us face-to-face with things inaccessible to many, located in sensitive and intimate spaces. And this, even outside of his great texts. I think particularly of those that are more autobiographical, later, and that I find equally strong and important.

Some works were important to me for the simple pleasure of reading them, lightness, not necessarily depth.

Charlotte Casiraghi

Duras can be very thoughtful… Do you like that? ?
Contemplation exists with the dark side, and for the reader it contributes to the enjoyment of the book; having the ability to think for a few pages on moments in life that would otherwise be unavailable. We also find this in Virginia Woolf. a very powerful instinct and feeling that runs through the writing and imagines life.

Do you distinguish between literary writing and philosophical writing? ?
There is an obvious difference between literary writing and philosophical writing. But it must be broken. I love philosophers who have a literary style and writers who approach philosophy without necessarily falsifying ideas, but still exploring strong ideas. Of course, a work of philosophy cannot be written in the same way as a novel can be written, but the two paths can be mixed. For me, the most literary philosophers are Yankelevich and Bergson, in which there are very emotional, very beautiful passages with essential aesthetic sensibility. And Nietzsche, of course, with his great passionate lyrical flights.

What kind of reader are you? ?
I always read several books at the same time. When I travel, I always leave with a selection of books. I’m not in the process where you have to finish the book as quickly as possible. I prefer the idea of ​​navigating through a book at your own pace, and sometimes from one book to another. Some readings are very demanding and require our full attention, while others are faster or very slow. I don’t really have any rules or principles for reading. And then, I like the idea that books resist that we don’t immediately grasp them. Undoubtedly, they are too close to us for us to understand them; they twitch, wake up, scratch something in us. A book is a mirror, it reflects what we don’t want to hear. For example, you suggest to a friend that you know perfectly a book that you are sure is completely for him, absolutely to his taste, that he will definitely like. But in return you get a negative answer from him, an official rejection. “How could you think I would want that?” And very often such a reaction occurs because the book touched on something that this person did not want to reveal, but which you no doubt felt with the intimate knowledge that you have of him. Does the book touch the unreachable? That’s a real question.

What kind of writer inspires you? ?
I like passionate writers who draw the reader into the experience. Some overly structured writing affects me less. For me, the ones that tremble a little, that reveal the author’s shortcomings stand out more. I need to feel the soul of the author, the passion driving him, his whole side, without necessarily falling into the autofiction genre. It’s something else we have to experience. Spirit, no doubt.

Your literary meetings for Chanel tell the stories of the authors. Do you like the book factory? ?
I am interested behind the scenes. understand how to do different writing rituals. Capturing creative processes in accordance with the author’s personality and life attracts me. But as a general rule I also prefer not to know too much, I think it’s important to develop an element of mystery.

Do you invite contemporaries there?
Yes, it depends, we’ve actually invited contemporary authors to come and talk about their work, but we’ve also dedicated sessions to historical figures whose work resonates very strongly with the current period. The common point between all these authors, modern and classic, is that they are all concerned with the liberation of women in their writing. It’s always interesting to explore how a classic piece speaks to us today. Take Virginia Woolf’s text “A Room of One’s Own” or her “Professions for Women” speech that Keira Knightley gave in London in 2021. These are two powerful texts that resonate so strongly with what we are still going through today. Everything he wrote is so powerful it’s bound to impress. It has such a magnetic charge. But to return to your original question, it is clear that highlighting and encouraging contemporary creativity is important, and this is central to the Rendez-vous littéraires project. We launched Les Rencontres, a podcast where we exclusively invite first-time novelists. I always find it fascinating to hear them talk about their journey and understand how they got into writing.

There is an obvious difference between literary writing and philosophical writing, but it must be broken

Charlotte Casiraghi

Reading is one thing. But write ?
I like to write. Reading and writing are two fundamentally related activities for me. One makes me want the other. If I just write a few sentences, make things my own, include them. The act of writing, even if we are only reproducing what we have just read, is a form of incorporating the text into ourselves. I make notes in notebooks that I don’t necessarily do anything with. it is a form of expression that belongs to me.

And how do you feel about the idea that people might write about you? ?
I don’t know if I will. Would you like us to write about you? Writing a book about myself is not an attractive idea to me. no reasons. It would be something strange. what have I done to deserve this? I only see it for some people who have changed things. And the private life issues that drive some books are not of interest. The only interesting thing, I think, is to implement things that can inspire. Be a role model in our exploration of the world.

What connection do you see between literature and fashion? ?
Fashion, or rather the relationship with clothes, occupies a prominent place in the books. Many writers give special importance to some significant details: colors of clothes, details of characters’ clothes… I believe very much in these symbolisms. Often we are able to clearly represent the character through the choice of clothing. We talked about it recently with Maria Pourchet at the Literary Meeting, in her novel Western, when a male character unexpectedly shows up at the home of the novel’s heroine, Aurore, and seems to like her, he runs to his dressing room to find something to wear to portray himself as a willing and desirable woman. Literary is present in fashion in a more obvious way. For Karl Lagerfeld, literature was extremely important, it deeply inspired him, even if it was not directly explained. Similarly, for Gabrielle Chanel. he inhabited literature. Today, Virginie Viard has taken up the torch. Of course, we are talking about literature, but also about music and art. I think he likes to provoke meetings, start new collaborations that could not be done elsewhere. What is at stake between fashion and literature is surely the ability to dream of another world, to dream of oneself, and to dream through another. And then, writing and fashion also have in common the art of nuance and uniqueness; literature sharpens the ability to perceive nuances, details that could not otherwise be found alone. It is the same subtlety that a designer uses to visualize the nuances of clothing. Fashion and literature are the connecting dream, both are an expansion of possibilities, an expansion of the power of imagination.

How to summarize the power of reading ?
The fascinating thing about reading is that our imaginations are called forth. We are given no representation, we must imagine, and it is this powerful gesture of imagination that allows for sublimation, creativity, flexibility… The great power of reading is to make imagination possible.

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