No one can dispute Mario Vargas Llosa’s place in universal literature, despite the fact that there are readers who feel that his newer editions do not reach the quality of his first novels, or others resent him for a complete turn in political criteria. His appearances in the heart press over seven years led to his name being considered within the entertainment culture he so criticized. Commenting on sentimental situations along with the importance of a work of art is a fad I will not fall into.

letters to an old writer

It challenges me to understand the motives of the French Academy for integrating a Peruvian writer as a member, in violation of two of its stipulations: that he never wrote in Gaelic (no matter how much he was an admirer and popularizer of French literature) and that he far exceeded the maximum age required for appointment (75 age says the statute; he is 86). Academies, it is well known, are ancient institutions, slow to evolve (Marguerite Yourcenar designed a special costume for the ceremony; today the women wear the same fringed jacket as the men), faithful to their rites. Vargas Llosa obeyed them and entered with sword in hand, put on his ornate jacket and gave a speech in bad French, they say, for 63 minutes. And he became “immortal”, a name given by academics.

Why France? Why literature?

All good or, at least, a fact that deserves an opinion. That’s why I ask my first question here: why didn’t the writer Jean-Marie Le Clezio enter the French Academy? The author of more than 50 books, born in Nice in 1940, received the Nobel Prize in 2008 as “a novelist of rupture, poetic adventure and ecstatic sensuality, an explorer of humanity beyond and below civilization.” Swedish Academy. His works in defense of endangered cities and poor people are well known. Be active and post.

(…) in the case of Vargas Llos, didn’t his exposure to the media, his appearance on the front pages influence…

Second question: why didn’t the writer Patrick Modiano, Nobel laureate in 2014, enter? His commitment to historical memory is remarkable, with stories almost always set in World War II. Has his deliberate exploration of his country’s political responsibilities in a pact with the Nazis to consign the Jewish population to the Holocaust always unsettled the conservative conscience? For many intellectuals, it might be better not to touch the past, to stick to the sound fame.

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

I’m sure there must be many more names that deserve the honor of recognition. They already have this when they are read, when they are declared to contribute to the maturity of humanity, through translations that allow us to cross the distance of language. French is used by 32 countries, 200 million speakers; it is the only one present on five continents. It is the language spoken by the world’s cultural elites until the 20th century.

Each academy can appoint honorary members as it deems appropriate, create awards, decide on approaches that connect the goals of its meritorious contents. But in the case of Vargas Llosa, wouldn’t his exposure to the media, his appearance on the front pages, his belonging to the international jet set have an effect? (OR)