“Immortal.” Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal was elected this Thursday, 29 January, to the Académie Française, a consecration that comes three months after his release from prison in Algeria. Members of the prestigious institution dedicated to the protection of the French language endorsed Boualem Sansal in the first round, with 25 votes in favor and one blank ballot out of 26 voters, the Académie announced.
The author of 2084 will take, on a date yet to be determined, the seat left vacant by lawyer and historian Jean-Denis Bredin, who passed away in 2021. He will be inducted during a closed-door ceremony, during which he will receive a green embroidered ceremonial jacket and a sword. Six candidates were in the running, but Boualem Sansal was by far the most well-known among them.
Founded in 1635 by Richelieu, chief minister of King Louis XIII, the Académie Française has the mission of “giving certain rules to our language and making it pure, eloquent, and capable of addressing the arts and sciences.” It produces a dictionary and rules on spelling standards. In November, the Académie elected two new members, writers Florian Zeller and Eric Neuhoff.
Savoring “the little things”
The Franco-Algerian writer joins the ranks of the “immortals”, the nickname given to members of the Académie, alongside philosopher Sylviane Agacinski, Franco-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, writer Erik Orsenna, a former speechwriter for President François Mitterrand, physician, writer and diplomat Jean-Christophe Rufin, as well as novelist and essayist Chantal Thomas. The writer, who obtained French nationality in 2024, had already had a first taste of the institution on 4 December, when he was honored by the Académie, which awarded him the Cino del Duca World Prize three weeks after his release on 12 November.
“I am a little euphoric because I am tasting freedom, the little things. I am not talking about the big ones. The little things. Good small meals, little pleasures. You cannot imagine how small things are great pleasures,” he declared on Monday while receiving the medal of the city of Strasbourg in eastern France.
The life of this former Algerian civil servant changed on 16 November 2024, when he was arrested upon his arrival in Algiers from Paris, before being imprisoned. Highly critical of the Algerian regime, he was arrested following an interview with the media outlet Frontières, in which he denounced what he described as the totalitarian drift of the Algerian authorities and addressed the issue of western Algeria’s belonging to Morocco.
His fate immediately stirred emotion in France, where a campaign was launched in support of this self-declared atheist, a staunch opponent of jihadists and a fierce critic of the authorities in Algiers. He was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “undermining national unity” before benefiting from a pardon granted by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and finally regaining his freedom.
Boualem Sansal is the author of around thirty novels, short story collections, and essays published since 1999. He received the Grand Prix du Roman of the Académie Française in 2015 for 2084. The End of the World (Gallimard), inspired by George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984, ex aequo with Franco-Tunisian writer Hédi Kaddour. He is also the author of Rue Darwin, The German Village, and Living.
Editorial team/le7tv