LET'S READ A BOOK WE ALL LOATHE, THAT'LL TEACH HIM!:

Why a 17th-century novel is a hot political issue in France: Nicolas Sarkozy's well-publicised scorn has turned The Princess of Cleves into a focus for opponents of the French president (Andrew Gallix, 4/02/09, The Guardian)

During a meeting back in February 2006, Nicolas Sarkozy took the opportunity to mock the "sadist or idiot" who had seen fit to include questions about a 17th-century novel in an exam for public sector workers. "When was the last time you asked a counter clerk what she thought of The Princess of Cleves?" he enquired, playing to the gallery. Cue laughter from the audience. The future president's point was a moot one: just because an acquaintance with the classics isn't strictly necessary to perform administrative tasks – menial or otherwise – doesn't mean it should be discouraged. What was doubtless intended as a populist plea for more common sense came across­ as haughty philistinism. Should time and money be wasted teaching counter clerks to read above their station? Do these people want to end up crushed by a bookcase à la Leonard Bast? Let them eat Da Vinci Code!

But the presidential aspersions cast on Madame de La Fayette's masterpiece have kept coming. Last year, for instance, Sarkozy declared that voluntary work should be taken into account when civil servants are considered for promotion. It's just as important as knowing The Princess of Cleves off by heart, the clearly traumatised head of state argued. He went on to confess, in a joking tone, that he had "suffered" at the pages of that confounded novel as a schoolboy, which prompted Régis Jauffret – a famous author – to surmise that his mother must have soundly spanked him for getting a poor mark on the subject. Le Figaro, meanwhile, suggested that the president's aversion may be due to the fact that his personal secretary (allegedly) failed an exam because she was incapable of saying who had written the book ­ ironic, given that its authorship remains shrouded in mystery (it's now generally thought to be a collective work orchestrated by Mme de La Fayette).

So what's the story with this book, so famous in France, so little-known elsewhere? The Princess of Cleves is undoubtedly a literary landmark. It is widely regarded as one of the first historical and psychological novels; indeed, it's one of the first novels full stop. Its intellectual take on matters of the heart made it a template for much French literature and cinema. Yet, in spite of its brilliance, it is also a resolutely old-fashioned tale of unconsummated passion in which duty triumphs over love ­ one that most French people are force-fed at school and are happy never to read again. Until now, that is.

Sarkozy's personal vendetta – cloaked in anti-elitist demagoguery – has managed to turn The Princess of Cleves into an unlikely symbol of political resistance. In the eyes of many, it now exemplifies the sheer effusion of a culture that cannot be squared with this government's vulgar mercantile ethos. Christophe Honoré was so incensed by the president's declarations that he adapted the supposedly irrelevant novel into a teen movie set in a Parisian lycée (La Belle Personne). University lecturers and students, who have been on strike against governmental reforms for the past two months, have organised several marathon readings up and down the country.