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This Thursday, in a ceremony at the Amphitheater of the French Institute in Paris, the Peruvian writer will become the first Spanish-language to enter the prestigious institution. The choice of the author of ‘La fiesta del chivo’ was not immune to criticism. The French Academy, founded in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, has as a fundamental task to ensure the French language.
Mario Vargas Llosa is at the gates of history. At the age of 86, the Peruvian writer becomes part of a select club that includes names like Victor Hugo, Montesquieu or Louis Pasteur: the French Academy. The election was announced in 2021, but this Thursday, February 9, its access will be made official.
He, also a Nobel Prize laureate, is in France with his family. He is even accompanied by his ex-wife, which represents the symbolic force of the moment. “An old love story,” his son Álvaro tweeted, accompanied by a photo of his father observing the emblematic Eiffel Tower.
Exclusive is not a simple adjective to describe the official entry of Vargas Llosa. The ceremony will take place in the Amphitheater of the French Institute and among the few attendees will be, invited by the writer himself, the emeritus king of Spain, Juan Carlos I, and his daughter, the infanta Cristina.
A historic entry but with mixed opinions
Despite the historical importance of the event for the world of letters, Mario Vargas Llosa’s admission to the Academy was not without criticism. French intellectuals criticized his appointment because he has never written in French.
The age of the Peruvian writer was also a debated aspect. The institution’s rules establish that the maximum admission age is 75 years, but Vargas Llosa is 86, so it will be an exception to the rule.
Other detractors also point to him for his political positions, associated with the extreme right.
“Within respect for traditions, it is sometimes necessary to make exceptions,” said Jean-Marie Rouart, French chronicler and writer in an interview with the EFE news agency. “When a great writer enters the Academy, it is always a symbol,” added Rouart, who stressed that no candidacy is received unanimously.
Despite the criticism, there is one aspect that Jean-Marie highlights about the Peruvian-born writer: his deep bond with France. “Then why not?” the lyricist wondered.
In fact, the institution was conceived as a badge of the “link between France and its literature”, an aspect that its founder, Cardinal Richelieu, “understood perfectly”, concluded Rouart.
The French Academy, more than 300 years of history
The entry process of the Latin American writer is not exempt from protocols and old customs. This Wednesday he was presented with a sword, another symbol normally carried by academic members of the select group. A sign that equates them to the noble and ancient classes.
And it is that the French Academy is a creation with a vast history. It is considered one of the oldest in France and its fundamental objective is to care for and ensure the local language, French.
Your membership is for life and space is limited: 40 seats. Those who take these positions are known as “The Immortals”, a reference to the society’s motto, “To Immortality”.
Among other prominent names that have passed through that foundation are those of Jean Cocteau, Alexis de Tocqueville and Claude Levi-Strauss. However, other greats have not been part of the selection, such as Descartes, Proust or Balzac. Absences that are recognized by the expression “chair 41” by the writer Arsène Houssaye, who thus immortalized a non-existent position for the ignored.
At the Academy, there are currently 35 members. Vargas Llosa will occupy the position of the philosopher Michel Serres, who died in 2019. Among those who will be companions of the Spanish-Peruvian Nobel Prize winner are Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, “perpetual secretary” of the group since 1990, or the Bishop of Angoulême, Claude Dagens.
In more than 300 years of history, only 10 women have held a position in the 40 elected. The first was Marguerite Yourcenar, in 1980.
The work of its members is not simple. They must meet every week, specifically on Thursdays at three in the afternoon, to contribute to the improvement of French.
In addition to the public ceremony, there is another more private one, in which the initiate is assigned a word from the dictionary. With it he must improvise a reflection so that later he is given the institution’s medal. The word assigned to Vargas Llosa was “xérès”, or sherry in Spanish.
with EFE
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