The Franco-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, 74, was elected this Thursday, September 28, without much surprise, perpetual secretary of the French Academy in front of his friend Jean-Christophe Rufin. Twenty-four votes were in favor of his candidacy, against eight for his competitor, indicated a member of the administrative commission of the French Academy.
The permanent secretary is the member who directs this institution responsible for defending and promoting the French language. There have only been 32 people to occupy this position since 1635. It had been vacant since the death in August of Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, who had held it since 1999. Strictly speaking, she has not appointed a dolphin. . But Amin Maalouf, 1993 Goncourt Prize for The Rock of Tanios, seemed his most natural successor. His personality is unanimous, he is very involved in the activities of the institution where he was elected in 2011.
“You are, in fact, a man of exquisite politeness and who on all occasions shows great consideration for those to whom he speaks,” praised, during his reception at the Academy in 2012, a certain Jean-Christophe Rufin. Because this rival in the election is a friend. The 71-year-old former diplomat and 2001 Goncourt Prize winner (Red Brazil), was elected academician in 2008. He was delighted to welcome a man of whom he said: “I sometimes have the impression that our dreams have made us more than friends. Brothers”. This second candidate hesitated a lot. He even let people believe that he had given up, before taking the plunge. Jean-Christophe Rufin found it frustrating that an institution which prides itself on being more and more modern misses out on this exercise of democracy. “It’s North Korea,” he declared, quoted on Saturday by the magazine M from Journal The world.
Renovate the Cupola
The vote took place behind closed doors, during the Academy’s back-to-school session. “It’s an excellent choice, […] an immense writer, a man of fraternity, of dialogue, of appeasement”, greeted the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, also Franco-Lebanese, arriving under the dome after the election. She stressed that it was a “magnificent symbol for all French speakers in the world”.
The new permanent secretary is immediately relieved of a task to which Hélène Carrère d’Encausse has devoted a lot of energy: completing the ninth edition of the Dictionary of the Academy. It’s almost done. Two other pressing questions will occupy him. First, finances. The French Academy, like the other branches of the Institut de France, is in a delicate financial situation, which lives off the proceeds of its financial assets, and from donations and legacies. In 2021, the Court of Auditors urged the rapid renovation of the Coupole, Quai de Conti in Paris, in the face of the risk of fire. This remains to be done. The attempt by the Chancellor of the Institute, Xavier Darcos, to make the Academies lose in autonomy what they would gain in management consistency, fizzled out, in the face of the hostility of Hélène Carrère d’Encausse.
Then, attractiveness. Rejuvenating and feminizing the “Company”, currently made up of 28 men and seven women, is a long-standing objective, but very difficult to achieve. As the former permanent secretary (who insisted on the masculine) knew, “the green coat”, to be worn every Thursday, attracts retirees, very little the active ones. There is no shortage of seats to be filled: there are five today. But when younger candidates present themselves, nothing ensures their election. Thus, Frédéric Beigbeder or Benoît Duteurtre were failed in 2022, at the ages of 57 and 62 respectively.