The Fake Nobel that Duped the Romanian Academy

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Published on 18 January 2019

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Romanian Academy member Eugen Simion recently received the „Nobel Medal for Philology”, which was also allegedly awarded in previous years to cultural VIPs such as Umberto Eco and Noam Chomsky. Even though no one had heard of the institution that was awarding the medal, nor of the distinction itself, a large part of the local media extolled the achievement: we’d finally nabbed a Nobel prize! Our team went searching for the International Society of Philology and spiralled down a rabbit hole of lies, false information, and distorsions. At the bottom of it, we discovered a ruse for scientists, planned out by a Frenchman with a passion for Jules Verne and vampires. Two Romanian MEPs fell for it and are preparing a ceremony for awarding the fake medal this spring, at the Seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Last December, professor Eugen Simon, director of the Institute for Literary Theory and History „George Călinescu” with the Romanian Academy, former president of the Academy itself for nearly a decade, was notified that he had won the “Gold Medal for Philology Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Prize for Philology”. Simion (85) has authored numerous books and articles on literary criticism and has also coordinated some major editorial projects of the Romanian Academy, amongst which The General Dictionary of Romanian Literature, the complete series of facsimilies of national poet Mihai Eminescu’s manuscripts and the Pléiade-type collection Fundamental Works, which has seen the publication of over 250 titles.

The one-page document he received, written in French and not exactly impeccable English, briefly runs through the history of the Gold Medal for Philology and informs the Academy member that he will receive the accolades at the Seat of the European Parliament in spring 2019. It concludes by congratulating Romania.

Romania received the news with glee and relief: a Romanian was finally receiving the “Nobel” prize! Most of the press published the release sent by the Romanian Academy without any fact checking, while several literary critics and historians shared it as well. According to the release, “the idea of creating a special prize for grammar or literature analysis critics and scholars was born in 1927, when French philosopher Henri Bergson received the Nobel Prize for Literature, despite the fact that he was neither a poet, nor a novelist. Thus, it was decided that every five years the International Society of Philology would award a Gold Medal of Philology in memory of Alfred Nobel, modeled after the Fields Medal for Mathematics”.

The press review, following the release on Eugen Simion’s “Nobel” sent by the Romanian Academy

How some of the most important Romanian literary critics and historians reacted to the news of the “Nobel” win

For a prize that claims to have such a long history and such select company - Nobel and Fields - the Gold Medal received by Chomsky and Simion is as obscure as they come. Google doesn’t know much about it either. So we contacted the Swedish Nobel Foundation, in order to find out if they have anything to do with Simion’s prize. They told us they don’t. “The Nobel Prize is a Nobel Foundation registered trademark. The Nobel Foundation is in no way affiliated with the institutions you mention in your email [International Society of Philology and University of Philology],” wrote Mikael Östlund, communication and PR officer with the Nobel Foundation. The same email read that, should trademark infringement be at play, the Nobel Foundation will pursue legal action.

Then, we followed the threads that lead to the three headers of the letter received by the Romanian Academy member - Centre Unesco de Besançon, International Society of Philology and University of Philology - and attempted to figure out what this “Nobel Prize for Philology” really is.

From the little house in the woods to the company in the tax haven

The first company to back the award, according to the letter, is “Centre Unesco de Besançon”. Since the web page in the header leads nowhere, we asked the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for further clarifications - after all, its logo reigns at the top of the document received by Eugen Simion. “This center is not in our database. It is not patroned by UNESCO, nor is it a second category center,” wrote Laetitia Kaci, from central UNESCO headquarters in Paris, denying any affiliation with the Gold Medal of Philology....