Elitist Frenchies

If there is an institution that perhaps best symbolizes what Americans would tend to describe as French elitism, it may well be the Académie Française. Sitting in a majestic building on the left bank of the river Seine, it faces the Louvre on the right bank, where kings and emperors have ruled the kingdom of France for centuries.

Founded by Richelieu in 1635, l’Académie Française is actually one among the 5 academies of the Institut de France but is by far the most renowned of all. 40 members, known as “Immortals”, are elected by their peers and there have been only 713 members in 370 years. A rather exclusive club indeed… Highlight of each new entrance is a speech the newcomer delivers in honor of his predecessor, with full regalia, a sword and a beautiful costume. The speech is an important part of the intellectual life in Paris, with the French President sometimes attending the ceremony. There’s no denying, there’s some elitism here…

The main occupation of the Immortals is the redaction of a dictionary of the French language. There have been 8 editions so far, the 9th being a work in progress since… 1938. But contrary to the popular belief, the Académie neither forbids the use of any word nor excludes words coming from other languages when they are used in the French language (mainly English, especially since the end of WWII). It simply acknowledges the current usage and makes recommendations as to which word could be used, and how, in place of a foreign one. It may possibly coin new words when needed. 

In 1980 something a bit out of the ordinary happened to the Académie: the first woman, Marguerite Yourcenar of Belgium was elected to its ranks! It is said that then French President, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing “amicably” suggested to some insider friends of his that they should give their vote to Madame Yourcenar… 4 other women have also been elected since: Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, Jacqueline de Romilly, Florence Delay and just last year, Assia Djebar from Algeria. 

Another surprise in store for Americans is to learn that, after 335 years, the first foreigner to be elected “immortal” was… an American, Julien Green in 1970. So much again for the anti-Americanism of the French… After him, an Argentinean, a Romanian, a Senegalese and last year a Chinese have also been welcome in the company.

Americans don’t always know it but the links between America and the Académie, which seems to be so quintessentially French, are deep and numerous. Julien Green was mentioned, Marguerite Yourcenar had been living with an American in Maine (where she eventually died) for decades before she returned to Paris when her name was proposed to the election, Assia Djebar, the last woman to be elected had been a teacher at New York University for years. René Girard, Michel Serres and Claude Levi-Strauss also taught in American universities. Other names quite familiar in the US are Jacques Yves Cousteau or the famous Count Alexis de Tocqueville.

The Académie is often mocked, ridiculed or accused of staunch conservatism and yet, most French are secretly proud the country can boast such an old and tradition-rich assembly which so much symbolizes the arts and literature of France, notwithstanding the fact that the French owe much to the Académie with regards to the respect in which they hold their language. 

The Académie is unique in the sense that no other country has such a body whose responsibility it is to take care of the national language. Every now and then the British for example like to make fun of the Academy Française and its purportedly pretension to rule the language, which it doesn’t in the sense it is accused of. And yet, in a country that has countless Royal Academies for everything, it is hard not to think that the British feel a certain envy for a comparable body. 

Americans as well often seem to be disconcerted with this sort of European institution, as this article in the New York Times shows. And sometimes it also looks like there’s a need for something comparable. In fact, an editorial of the same New York Times in April 2004 deemed appalling the situation of English as spoken by the young and the role of the Académie Française was, unexpectedly, highly praised. The newspaper also made it clear it was to the honor of France to make the defence and respect of the French language a national ambition. 

So, what do you think of the idea of such an institution in the US? Laughable? Viable? And isn’t there a need for young Americans to be taught the importance of respecting their language?