Mario Vargas Llosa about to enter the French Academy

The Spanish-language writer Mario Vargas Llosa has all the numbers to become a member of the French Academy, the exclusive conclave founded by Cardinal Richelieu in 1634 that is charged with the defense and preservation of the language of Molière and Victor Hugo. At the meeting on October 7, the academics accepted the Peruvian Nobel nomination.

In the debate, French academics addressed the two pitfalls that could have prevented Vargas Llosa’s candidacy. The first was his age. According to the regulations, people over 75 years of age cannot enter the academy, and Vargas Llosa is 85. The second was the fact that he was an author who, despite his Francophilia and the influence on his work from France and his writers, he writes in Spanish and not in French. If elected, he will be a novelty in an institution often accused of stagnation and chauvinism.

“Our debates showed that neither of these two questions is an obstacle, so we accept his candidacy with pleasure, and I think that there is no problem for him to enter this Academy”, declares the novelist, diplomat and also academic Jean-Christophe Rufin to the newspaper El País of Spain.

“Vargas Llosa attests to the irradiation of French culture, and prolongs it worldwide. It is a formidable opportunity to show the links that exist between French culture and other linguistic universes, other continents. It is an extraordinary international opening and it is an extraordinary work ”, he added to the aforementioned media.

In this regard, the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut was also in favor of Vargas Llosa’s candidacy. “I understand the arguments of those who are against it: they are all admirers of Vargas Llosa, but they think that the French Academy is the French language and, therefore, a Spanish-speaking writer, no matter how legitimate and important, does not have his place there. I think we can accept it, because it is Vargas Llosa and he has a totally loving relationship with French culture, ”he explained to El País.

“I think it’s excellent,” celebrates French-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf. “A figure like Vargas Llosa, who represents both Spanish-language literature and a deep sentimental attachment and knowledge of French culture and language, will make a great contribution. I am pleased to hear that he will be joining our company, ”he said.

The final vote for Vargas Llosa is scheduled for November 25 and, if accepted, he would occupy seat 18 that the philosopher Michel Serres left vacant when he died in 2019 and previously occupied, among others, by one of the founding fathers of liberal thought, Alexis de Tocqueville, or Marshal Philippe Pétain, who led collaborative France with Hitler during World War II.