“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.”

Pellerin, 42, became culture minister in August following a cabinet reshuffle, having previously served as a junior minister for tourism and external trade as well as being responsible for promoting small and medium-sized businesses, innovation and the digital economy.

French news site lepoint.fr on Monday called for the overworked minister to be given a break.

“We should welcome her frankness in telling us that a minister’s schedule leaves little place for the calm needed to enjoy reading,” the site said in an editorial.

“In not mugging up on notes about the author, she spared us from a lie.”

据France24网站10月27日报道，法国文化部长芙勒·佩乐琳（Fleur Pellerin）在电视采访中表示，两年来她从未读过任何一部小说，对获得诺贝尔奖的法国小说家帕特里克·莫迪亚诺（Patrick Modiano）的作品也一无所知。

【法国奇葩文化部长称“没时间读书”被要求下台】相关文章：

★ 清华这条宣传片火了！家里第一个大学生，意味着什么？

★ 国外专家称每周泡5次酒吧对肝脏有益

★ 北京将建“不文明游客”黑名单 “上榜”游客或被禁入公园

★ 那个善良的女孩，让我热泪盈眶

★ 学霸一般每天学习几个小时？

★ 法国人10个生活方式小窍门

★ 小小的善举，却有莫大的回报

★ Uber上市后首次公布盈利状况，股价暴跌

★ 夏日无尽头？挪威小岛或将“抛弃时间”

★ 苏格兰酒店为迎中国游客出奇招 全球各国将迎来“春节时间”