But in an interview with Canal+ on Sunday, Pellerin was forced to admit that she had never read any of the acclaimed³ French author's novels.

 

"I haven't had time to read anything in the last two years except for a lot of notes, legislative⁴ 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 beacon⁵ 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 prestigious⁶ Goncourt literature prize, told France Inter² radio that Pellerin's lack of knowledge was "shameful⁷".

 

"It's very sad," he said. "It is a culture minister's political duty to delve⁸ into literature. It is not possible that she hasn't read a single Modiano novel. It is lamentable⁹, but then we live in an era when culture is not taken seriously at all."

 

Writing in the Huffington Post on Monday, commentator¹⁰ Claude Askolovitch said Pellerin's failure to stay tuned¹¹ in to the country's literary achievements was "barbarian¹²" 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."

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