Allegations of using artificial intelligence and plagiarism have failed to hurt sales of C’était ça ou mourir (It Was This or Death) by Haitian-Canadian writer Thélisson Aurélien. Instead, the novel has seen a further surge in demand since the controversy erupted, topping the list of France’s best-selling novels.
اضافة اعلان
The novel received widespread critical acclaim following its release and was shortlisted for several major French literary prizes, including the Goncourt, Renaudot and Femina, before becoming the center of a major controversy on September 22 after Aurélien was accused of using artificial intelligence to write parts of the book. The author has categorically denied the allegations.
The controversy later led to the novel being withdrawn from the 2026 Goncourt Prize shortlist, while additional allegations emerged concerning possible cases of plagiarism in some of the author’s earlier writings.
Despite the controversy, sales figures showed that the dispute did not negatively affect the novel’s popularity.
According to figures from GfK cited by Le Parisien, the novel has sold 64,966 copies since its release on August 19, in just six weeks.
During the week from September 21 to 27, when the controversy began following the publication of allegations by an anonymous account on X claiming that AI had been used, 18,256 copies of the novel were sold.
Les Echos also quoted the French Observatory of Bookstores as saying that sales rose by 14% in a single week, compared with levels exceeding 12,000 copies per week during the three weeks preceding the controversy.
As a result, It Was This or Death, winner of the Fnac Prize, became the best-selling novel in France, surpassing works by well-known authors in the French market, including Agnès Martin-Lugand, Marc Levy and Morgane Moncomble.
The controversy, however, affected the author’s promotional activities. Aurélien, 38, was forced to suspend his promotional tour in France and return to Quebec over the weekend, according to people close to him who spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Aurélien continues to deny using AI to write his work. At the beginning of the controversy, he said he would discuss the issue in greater detail “when things calm down,” arguing that the campaign was targeting not only the novel but also his voice as a writer and seeking to silence him.
Resource: Al-Ghad.
