Vargas Llosa: “In France I began to feel like a Latin American writer”

The Spanish-Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa was received this Thursday as a new member of the French Academy, an occasion that he took advantage of to thank France for the “paradox” that it was that nation that helped him feel “a Peruvian and Latin American writer”.

Specifically, the author of “La fiesta del Chivo” recalled that, when he landed in French territory in 1959, the French, “fascinated by the cuban revolution” before it became a “tyranny”, they had discovered and read before him authors such as “Borges, Cortázar, Uslar Pietri, Onetti, Octavio Paz and, later, Gabriel García Márquez”.

“Thanks to France I discovered the other side of Latin America, the problems common to all its countries, the horrible legacy of military coups and underdevelopment, the guerrillas and the shared dreams of liberation.he said in his speech in French at the Institut de France headquarters, dressed in the olive leaf-embroidered suit of academics and carrying the traditional sword.

“Therefore, it was in France – what a paradox! – where I began to feel like a Peruvian and Latin American writer.”, he highlighted before the members of the institution created in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu to ensure the French language.

Among the guests of this ceremony are, among others, King Emeritus Juan Carlos de Borbón and his daughter Cristina, as well as the children of the Spanish-Peruvian Nobel Prize winner and his ex-wife, Patricia Llosa.

The other members of the French Academy also occupy a place of honor, including the writer of Lebanese origin Amin Maalouf or the historian and political scientist Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, who is also the “perpetual secretary” of the institution.

In a long speech, Vargas Llosa thanked the opportunity to occupy the institution’s 18th chair and, following the canons of the Academy, a part of his address was “praise” to his predecessor in the seat, the philosopher Michel Serres, who died in 2019.

He also recalled how Gustave Flaubert and French literature helped him become the writer he is.

“The same afternoon I arrived in Paris, in 1959, as I said, I bought a copy of ‘Madame Bovary’ at La Joie de Lire (The Joy of Reading), a bookstore that I found very nice.”, he recalled.

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Vargas Llosa stressed that “Literature needs freedom to exist” and ended his speech by assuring that the literature of the future will be “what we want”.

“Can it disappear? It would be possible, no doubt, but a world without dreamers would be poor and sad.”, he expressed.

On behalf of the French Academy, the writer, editor and diplomat Daniel Rondeau responded, describing as a “great joy” the opportunity to welcome the author of “The City and the Dogs” in Molière’s great temple of the language.

The election of Vargas Llosa as a new member of the Academy took place in November 2021 and already generated criticism from groups of French intellectuals, both because the 2010 Nobel Prize winner has never written in French and because of his political positions, which some considered close. to the far right.

His admission age also does not follow the canons of the institution, which since 2010 had established a limit of 75 years as a maximum to run for one of the 40 seats.

“The Immortals” meet once a week, every Thursday, in private and at 3:00 p.m., and their mission is to contribute to the improvement of the French language and update the dictionary.

Source: EFE