Javier Cercas ingresa en la RAE: “Cuando alguien me dice que no le gusta leer, lo que se me curre es darle el pesame”

The writer Javier Cercas (Ibahernando, Cáceres, 1962) entered the Real Academia Española (RAE) this Sunday, November 24, criticizing the “stupid” writers who do not care about the “general, de politics”. “.

“La palabra idiota comes from the Greek word idiotes, which means a person who only cares about himself and desentiende de lo ordinary, es decir de lo public, es decir de la politica. Hoy como siempre, un escritor de verdad puede ser cualquier cosa, menos un idiota”, he defended Cerkas during a speech in which he also reflected on the “utility” of literature.

Under the title 'Malentendidos de la modernidad'. The new academic expressed this criticism to the writers who did not leave their “ivory towers”, who “did not compromise with the fate of their country”, such as Marcel Proust, Frank Kafka, Jose Luis Borges. or James Joyce, whom Cerkas calls “stupid” writers on many occasions.

“No escritor (or el artist, o el científico) se desentienda de su tiempo y sus semejantes. Su tiempo y sus semejantes.

As such, Cercas will take the RAE's “R” seat, which has been vacant since the death of Javier Marías, on September 11, 2022. He was welcomed by academic Clara Sánchez on behalf of the corporation.

The plenary meeting of the Real Academia Española elected Javier Cerkas academician at the session of June 13, 2024. Academicians Pedro Alvarez de Miranda, Clara Sánchez and Mario Vargas Llosa presented his candidacy.

According to the Definición, he classified his predecessor as “a great Spanish novelist, a secas”, while also valuing Marías' commitment to participate in the issues of “más espinosos”, an example of what a writer should be. que Cercas ha given.

“For decades, he wrote about the reality surrounding him in weekly newspapers, he did not hesitate to take sides on the most difficult issues, engage in polemics, relentlessly fight against errors, insults, vices, degenerations, injustices and stupidities. o con los que sintió que convivía with whom he lived.

“Glorificar al artista es ridiculo”

Cercas focused his speech on the importance of literature and its “usefulness”, although he also criticized the actual “glorification of the artist”, which he considered “ridiculous”.

“For the great Italian cinematographer Roberto Rossellini, this praise of the artist made him 'want to vomit'; to me it seems simply ridiculous (…) Here is the second, great misconception: the misconception consists in believing that the hero of la literatura es el autor: la literatura es el lector, que es quien termina los libros;

In this sense, the writer argued that the idea of ​​”utility of literature” is related to the fact that literature is “always useful” when it does not show itself, but rather “propaganda”.

“Reading, in addition to being a pleasure, is a form of knowledge about yourself and others, like sex: that's why when someone tells me you don't like reading, the first thing that comes to my mind is to give him pesame. ” . deja de ser literatura, al menos literatura de verdad, y deja de ser útil,” he repeated.

Cercas concluded his speech by encouraging readers who were currently “un a bomb de relojería ambulante”.

“A man or woman with a good novel in hand is a public menace, an ambulatory time bomb, a potential thinker on his own account. Original literature consists of words in rebellion, and this is a danger to him.” , para cualquier poder, que por esa razón -porque solo quiere ciudadanos sumisos, gente que dice Síempre aspirerá a controlarla, a somemeterla, a él dependiera, no duden: la prohibiría de mediato”. conclude.