Laurence de Marchaumont publishes Le nouveau Candide on distraction, expertise and choice

Laurence de Marchaumont’s new essay collection, Le nouveau Candide: Essais sur l’optimisme distrait, examines how expertise, consumer contracts and information overload have reshaped everyday life. The book adds QR codes for an interactive reading experience and is now available from Editions Coollibris. Why it matters: - Le nouveau Candide frames familiar social changes as a loss of choice, attention and civic agency. - The book aims at readers looking for a reflective take on how modern systems shape behavior through expertise, subscriptions and constant content. - The collection also tries to extend literary nonfiction with QR codes, adding a digital layer to a traditional essay form. What happened: - Laurence de Marchaumont released Le nouveau Candide: Essais sur l’optimisme distrait, a three-essay collection published by Editions Coollibris. - The book is presented as an inquiry into “optimism” under pressure from modern life. - The essays are titled L’Expert est dans la salle, Du contrat social au contrat d’abonnement, and L’éloge du vide. - The press material says the work is available for €23.90 and carries ISBN 979-10-435-6382-6. - More information is available in the publisher’s listing . The details: - The first essay looks at the shift from thought to expertise, and from debate to panels and certification. - The second essay traces a move from citizenship toward consumption, with subscriptions replacing direct engagement and choice. - The third essay argues that emptiness and silence can function as breathing room in a culture that fills every interval. - The book describes itself as a filiation with Voltaire’s Candide, but in a setting where platforms replace gardens and experts replace preceptors. - The author presents the collection as a way to relearn the verb “choose.” - Laurence de Marchaumont is described as a discreet writer whose style aims for reflection rather than slogans. - The press text places the book in a French prose tradition associated with Montaigne and Camus. - The book includes QR codes spread through the pages to extend the reading beyond the printed text. Between the lines: - The central argument is less about technology alone than about how comfort can quietly reduce autonomy. - The use of Candide signals irony: optimism is not rejected, but treated as something that can be dulled by distraction. - The QR codes suggest the book is also testing a hybrid format, where an essay invites continuation outside the page. - The quotes in the release position the work as skeptical of both empty pessimism and scripted optimism. What’s next: - Editions Coollibris is now handling the book’s distribution and public presentation. - The linked online listing gives readers a direct path to learn more or acquire the book. - The release does not specify additional events, but the interactive format may encourage follow-up reading and discussion. The bottom line: - Le nouveau Candide turns a literary essay collection into a critique of modern habits, asking readers to notice how often choice, judgment and silence are surrendered without resistance.