François Mitterrand is well remembered for his polititical leadership and of 14 years at the Presidency of France. He left behind a legacy of architectural highlights of which the 4 open books as the modern world idea about a cathedral size public library. The prolongation of the “Axe historique” to “La Défense” originated also in Mitterrand’s first term in office. However, only few would know about the literary ambitions and accomplishments of François Mitterrand. The Institut François Mitterrand organized a conference on the literary achievements of Mitterrand an his eloquent style and careful editing of speeches, his letters and journal writing (2026-10-16). The expert panel highlighted the literary sources of Mitterrand’s own reading and references to authors like Zola, Camus, Proust, Stendhal, Blum, Jaurès, Chateaubriand or also the letters of Simone de Beauvoir, to name but a few. The appreciation of the politician François Mitterrand by a German language author (Kimmel 2022) allows to get more familiar with an “external view” of a great politician, who ensured that also the enlarged Europe would still have a solid French foundation. Merci. Maybe Mitterrand has been the founder of a “literary leadership style”. Possibly in close resemblance to the antique or Roman vision to have philosophers as states(wo)man.
