Nicolas carreau
, modified at
8:45 am, September 24, 2021
INTERVIEW
When he moved to the Ministry of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer was unable to repatriate his entire library. A heartbreak, he assures us. But in his new “home”, we still come across a lot of books, essays, history and law, as well as a lot of novels. He has taken his classics with him, which he wants to recommend to friends or to be able to read again. And there are the books “on hold”, the ones he hopes to be able to read soon. We were able to access his library and talk to him about literature.
From South American literature …
What marks first is perhaps the apparent disorder. Novels rub shoulders with History and Law, Latin America rub shoulders with Raymond Aron. “I moved a lot!”, The minister apologizes. Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel Garcia Marquez … Latin America still holds a large place there, with an entire shelf full. The minister has lived and worked in Colombia. He loves this literature, the shift, the fantasy and the dreamed reality of these authors.
Garcia Márquez even theorized this when talking about magical realism. It’s true. They were inclined to it by the fact that their society, the world in which they grew up and lived, is an extremely original world, where reality is – even offers so much catch to the imagination and to incredible situations that it was a breeding ground of extraordinary literature “, tells us Jean-Michel Blanquer.
… and the French classic
On another shelf, we meet Victor Hugo, Baudelaire, but also any Human comedy by Balzac in 24 volumes. “It’s a universe, a whole world which lives through it. And then it is this 19th century France which is there before our eyes, with this sense of behavioral analysis which is its own”, explains Jean-Michel Blanquer.
These classics, we also find them on the benches of the school … Which, sometimes, does not make you want to reopen them. Should we continue to force students to read certain authors, even if it means disgusting them? “That there is an element of constraint, it is not necessarily negative in itself. I think of the readings that I was able to do at this age. Even those that I liked less are part of a background that is in my head and that I am happy to have, ”replied the Minister.
Before specifying: “But everything must not be ‘constrained’, we must cultivate pleasure. We realize that in primary school, we can cultivate a taste for reading, children read with pleasure. But, as in the rest of the world, at the age of 11, there is a loss of taste for reading, especially among boys. You have to be able to maintain this taste. This goes through great literature, sometimes through extracted, sometimes through books. I think it’s good to leave the choice. But I still try to ensure that the students do not miss too much of the great works. “
When does a minister read?
The novel reflects the identity of a culture, according to him. “The novel is essential in the way the country sees itself. Hence the importance of what happens in literature at school, college and high school. Any young Frenchman who goes through school knows that Proust exists, knows that Victor Hugo exists and that Jean Valjean is an essential character “, he rejoices.
But how to read with a ministerial schedule? Very, very early for Jean-Michel Blanquer, who gets up at four in the morning, every day.
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