Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez, a naturalized Spanish citizen, has been proposed to fill the vacant seat left by Mario Vargas Llosa in the Royal Spanish Academy. The initiative, supported by three academics, seeks to make room for the intermediate generation of Hispanic American authors, situated between the literary boom and those born from the sixties onward. Ramírez, a former vice president of Nicaragua, brings a long narrative career and a firm commitment to the language.
Artificial intelligence and writing: ally or competitor? 🤖
While the RAE debates tradition and renewal, technology advances at its own pace. Language models, like GPT, are capable of drafting essays and stories with impeccable syntactic correctness, but they lack the life experience and political context that nourish Ramírez's work. For a writer with his background, AI is a useful tool for correcting drafts or generating ideas, not a substitute for the narrative pulse born from memory and social criticism.
The lettered chair awaiting its new occupant 🪑
The news has sparked some irony on social media: some ask if Vargas Llosa's chair comes with an instruction manual for dealing with literary ego. Others suggest that, to warm the seat, Ramírez should write a short story about how to survive a dinner with academics without being asked for an opinion on the latest bestseller. At least he won't have to worry about spelling: the RAE has that covered.