Orélien ends effort to document novel’s origins amid AI allegations

Quebec author Thélyson Orélien has abandoned an effort to assemble evidence supporting his denial that artificial intelligence was used to write C’était ça ou mourir. The work had been intended to document the novel’s composition before it was submitted to Éditions du Boréal, but its end leaves the central allegation unresolved. Renaud Roussel, Boréal’s co-director, confirmed that the initiative was Orélien’s, rather than the publisher’s, although the house supported it. “That decision is his to make, and we accept it,” Roussel said, adding that Boréal would have preferred definitive answers to the allegations. Orélien had earlier told Libération that he was gathering material with publishers in France and Quebec, and said he had nothing to prove to his accusers. Boréal disclosed in September that it was working with the author to compile a detailed record of the manuscript’s development. The publisher said it received the manuscript on Sept. 12, 2025, and could not independently verify how it had been written before then. Orélien has said he began the book in 2017 and completed a first draft of more than 300 pages in 2019. As this publication reported Oct. 14, Boréal had already decided to keep C’était ça ou mourir in bookstores despite the absence of a definitive finding on the AI allegations. The publisher has maintained that its role is to support authors rather than demand proof, leaving readers to decide whether to buy the book. The novel was removed from consideration for the Prix Goncourt amid the AI allegations and separate accusations concerning Orélien’s earlier writings. He acknowledged plagiarising some earlier work, apologising for what he called unacceptable mistakes made in his youth, while continuing to maintain that no sentence in the novel was machine-generated. C’était ça ou mourir had sold about 40,000 copies by Sept. 25 and had won the Prix du roman Fnac. Boréal now says sales have slowed since the dispute began, though it declined to give figures. That assessment differs from the experience of Renaud-Bray, whose spokesperson Floriane Claveau said the retailer had not observed a significant change in sales in recent weeks. Demand has also remained visible in libraries: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec recorded 1,713 reservations for the digital edition through its online lending service as of Oct. 14. The book remains available in bookstores, although Boréal was out of stock and expects a new printing next week.