法国奇葩文化部长称“没时间读书”被要求下台

When French novelist Patrick Modiano won the Nobel Prize for literature earlier in October, the country’s Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin said it showed the “influence and vitality of French literature in the eyes of the world”.

But in an interview with Canal+ on Sunday, Pellerin was forced to admit that she had never read any of the acclaimed French author’s novels.

“I haven’t had time to read anything in the last two years except for a lot of notes, legislative texts and news wires,” she said.

Not many people outside France had ever heard of Modiano when he was presented with his prize.

But in France, the culture minister is expected to be a beacon of the country’s cultural achievements.

And for many, a complete ignorance of France’s top literary laureate is an unforgivable sin.

Writer Tahar Ben Jelloun, who is on the jury for France’s prestigious Goncourt literature prize, told France Inter radio that Pellerin’s lack of knowledge was “shameful”.

“It’s very sad,” he said. “It is a culture minister's political duty to delve into literature. It is not possible that she hasn’t read a single Modiano novel. It is lamentable, but then we live in an era when culture is not taken seriously at all.”

Writing in the Huffington Post on Monday, commentator Claude Askolovitch said Pellerin’s failure to stay tuned in to the country’s literary achievements was “barbarian” and called on the minister to resign.

“If you can be a culture minister without reading books, what we are reduced to [culturally] are technicalities and budgets,” he wrote. “Nothing will uplift us, the soul is an illusion and all the great works are reduced to less than the minutes of a cabinet meeting.”

What annoyed Askolovitch even more was that Pellerin had not even bothered to pretend: “She isn’t the slightest bit interested in Modiano."

He added: “She didn’t bother to look up one book, or a single phrase, to make it look like she knows about him. She didn’t even want to pretend.”

Pellerin, 42, became culture minister in August following a cabinet reshuffle, having previously served as a junior minister for tourism and external trade as well as being responsible for promoting small and medium-sized businesses, innovation and the digital economy.

French news site lepoint.fr on Monday called for the overworked minister to be given a break.

“We should welcome her frankness in telling us that a minister’s schedule leaves little place for the calm needed to enjoy reading,” the site said in an editorial.

“In not mugging up on notes about the author, she spared us from a lie.”

据France24网站10月27日报道，法国文化部长芙勒·佩乐琳（Fleur Pellerin）在电视采访中表示，两年来她从未读过任何一部小说，对获得诺贝尔奖的法国小说家帕特里克·莫迪亚诺（Patrick Modiano）的作品也一无所知。

今年10月初，法国小说家帕特里克·莫迪亚诺（Patrick Modiano）荣获诺贝尔文学奖。法国文化部长芙勒·佩乐琳（Fleur Pellerin）曾评价其体现了“世界人民眼中法国文学的影响力和活力”。

但在26日的电视采访中，佩乐琳被迫承认他从未读过这位广受赞誉的法国作家的任何一部作品。“过去两年间，我除了看一些通告、立法文件和电传资讯之外，没有时间读书。”

莫迪亚诺获得诺贝尔文学奖的消息传来时，法国以外地区的民众对他了解甚少。但在法国本土，人们都期待这位文学大师成为法国文坛的明灯。对于大多数人而言，对法国优秀文学一无所知是不可原谅的。

法国龚古尔文学奖评委塔哈尔·本·杰隆（Tahar Ben Jelloun）在接受法国国际电台（France Inter）采访时表示，佩乐琳这种缺乏知识的表现“很丢脸”。

他说，“这真让人感到悲哀。钻研文学本该是一个文化部长的分内事，她怎么能连一部莫迪亚诺的小说都没读过。真可悲，我们所处的时代根本没把文化当回事。”

27日，《赫芬顿邮报》评论员克劳德·阿斯克洛维奇（Claude Askolovitch）认为佩乐琳没能及时了解法国文学成就是种“野蛮行径”，他要求这名文化部长辞职。

佩乐琳连做点样子假装想去了解的态度都没有，这更加让阿斯克洛维奇恼火。他说，“她根本对莫迪亚诺没有一丁点儿兴趣。她可以假装查阅一本书或者只言片语，以便看上去好像知道莫迪亚诺其人。但是她连装个样子都不肯。”

现年42岁的佩乐琳于今年8月内阁改组后担任文化部长一职。此前，她曾任旅游及对外贸易部副部长，同时负责推进中小型企业发展创新及数字经济的事务。

27日的法国资讯网站lepoint.fr曾要求给这位超负荷工作的部长放假。

该网站在其社论中表示，“我们要对她的坦诚表示肯定。她告诉我们部长紧凑的日程安排没能留出享受阅读乐趣的时间。还好她没有靠死记硬背作者介绍来欺骗我们。”