Five curious facts about Mario Vargas Llosa’s admission to the French Academy (and why it makes him an “immortal”)

The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa has his posterity assured. In addition to being a Nobel laureate for Literature, he has written several books that are widely considered masterpieces. And as of this Thursday he begins to be an “immortal” in France thanks to his admission to the Language Academy of that country.

This is how academics -in charge of caring for the French language- are known: “Les immorteles”. This nickname comes from the motto “À l’immortalité” inscribed on the seal given to the Academy by its founder, the famous Cardinal Richelieu.

Notable members have included Voltaire, Montesquieu, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas.

Many of you may know that Mario Vargas Llosa is not only the first writer in Spanish, but also the first not to write his work in French who agrees to the honor of being appointed academic since 1635, the year in which the institution was founded.

But perhaps they are unaware of any of the following 5 facts that BBC Mundo presents to you:

1. Nationality is not an objection

Although Vargas Llosa is the first academic (currently there are 35, with 5 free positions) to occupy an armchair without having written his work in French, he is not the first foreigner to achieve this honor.

The first was the American Julien Green (born in Paris to US parents), who wrote most of his work in French (he is best known for his diary, published in 19 volumes). He was elected an academic in 1971.

Although born in Paris, he never had French nationality and in fact rejected it in 1972, when then-President George Pompidou offered it to him.

Another academic of foreign origin that deserves mention is the Romanian Eugene Ionesco, a pioneer of absurd theater and known for works such as “The Bald Singer” (originally written in French). He entered the academy in 1970, when he already had French nationality.

2. Vargas Llosa belongs to other language academies

The Peruvian and the Spanish. He entered the first one in 1977, when he had published three of his great novels: “The City and the Dogs” (1963), “The Green House” (1967) and “Conversation in the Cathedral” (1969), and his masterpiece comic “Aunt Julia and the writer.”

His introductory speech was “José María Arguedas between frogs and hawks”dedicated to the author of “Ríos profundos”, to whom he would later devote an entire book: “La utopia archaica” (1996).

Since 1994 it has also belonged to the Spanish Academy, founded in 1713 to “fix, clean and give splendor” to the language. Although born in 1936 in Arequipa, Peru, Vargas Llosa has held Spanish nationality since 1993 and currently resides in that country.

He took office on January 15, 1996 with a speech entitled “The discreet fictions of Azorín”where, in addition to giving high praise to the writer of “La Ruta de Don Quixote” -a work about which he speaks with special affection in the speech- he says about Spain:

“Since thirty-five years ago, thanks to a group of doctors from Barcelona who were fond of short stories, I had the joy of seeing my first book published, I am thanking Spain for something. My debt has been increasing since then until reaching third world dimensions”.

3. He is the first writer over 75 to enter since 2010

It was something that various French media highlighted, such as Liberation and the worldwhen Vargas Llosa was elected on November 27, 2021, at the age of 85.

From 2010 was considered a requirement that the candidate was less than 75 years old, something that was ignored by the eighteen academics who voted to give the Peruvian author the 18th seat.

The last person of such age to be elected was the magistrate and politician Simone Veil in 2008, when she was 82 years old.

4. His chair was occupied by Tocqueville

French academics have their position for life. The last occupant of number 18, which now belongs to Vargas Llosa, was the philosopher Michel Serres, who was there between 1990 and 2019, the year of his death.

Other recognized occupants are the marshal of the first world war Ferdinand Foch and the former French head of government Edgar Faure.

The 18th most notorious academic, however, is Alexis de Tocqueville, author of “Democracy in America,” an analysis of the American democratic system that began as a visit to American prisons and is now considered A classic of political theory.

He held his chair from 1842 (although he was elected in 1841) until his death on April 16, 1859.

5. First Nobel Prize in Literature chosen after winning the award

Indeed, Vargas Llosa is the first writer to be elected academic after receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature (in 2010).

Before him, four authors (all born in France) had received the coveted prize, but after becoming “immortals.” One of them, Sully Prudhomme, was the first to receive the newly created Nobel Prize in Literaturein 1901. He had been elected to the academy in 1881.

The others are the poet Anatole France (Nobel 1921, elected 1896), the philosopher Henry Bergson (Nobel 1927, elected 1914), and the novelist Francoise Mauriac (elected 1933, Nobel 1952).

As a last curious fact, three other academics They have received the Nobel Prize, but for disciplines other than literature: Louis de Broglie (Nobel Prize in Physics in 1929), Francois Jacob (Medicine, 1965) and Jules Hoffmann (Medicine, 2011). (YO)