Story of French fascinating, if sometimes dense with detail
Sun Nov 5 2006 The Story of French Knopf Canada, 483 pages, $36 Reviewed by Ron Kirbyson NO doubt it is a sign of the times that a comprehensive account of the French language is being published in English. As Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow show in The Story of French, interest in the French language may be at an all-time high, globally as well as in Canada. Nadeau and Barlow are journalists in Montreal who, although only in their 30s, have well-established credentials in both official languages. In their investigation of the French language, they have once again combined a variety of research, travel and interviews. The result is a study that is almost too thorough in places, at least for readers who are not language specialists. The Story of French is nevertheless well-told, in terms of the information it contains. If it is sometimes dense with factual detail, it invariably fascinates with facts and anecdotes. It is difficult to think of an issue or dimension of language that they have overlooked. Even the trivial bits add interest. Did you know that American comedian Robin Williams graduated from a lycee (French language academy) and gives interviews in French? More typical is the report of the origins of the French Academy, associated with the powerful Cardinal Richelieu, in the 17th century. Generally the material is thorough and well documented (albeit not with footnotes), to the point of being academic. The authors dig up the origins of French as far back as the 10th century. They give examples of words created to suit changing times, such as the period of the French Revolution. (The word guillotine came from the name of the doctor of Louis XVI, one of the thousands to be executed with it.) They trace the development of the language through a myriad of influences, including political, military and technological. One of the ironies they point out is that the vocabularies of France and England have long influenced each other while the two peoples were traditional rivals, often at war. Canadian readers are likely to expect some illumination of the language situation in Quebec. They will not be disappointed. The authors sort through the efforts of governments, particularly those of Quebec since the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s. They describe the effects of laws promoting French, and the supportive actions of cultural agencies, such as the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity. Ultimately, then, the focus of The Story of French is the French fact in Quebec and Canada. The authors relate, from first-hand experience, differences between the language in France and Quebec. The latter, they explain, is the more motivated and diligent in protecting French against anglicisms. In Paris it is considered chic to spice one's talk with expressions from English. Not so in Quebec. Not in a place surrounded by more than 300 million English speakers. Some surprises occur in this volume. The index, for example, has some curious omissions, such as St. Boniface (like many other topics, it is in the book, just not in the index) and the CBC. French immersion programs are not credited in the parts dealing with the spread of the French language. In a future edition, the authors may wish to include in their selected bibliography such recent sources as Graham Fraser's excellent, ironically titled Sorry, I Don't Speak French and Philip Marchand's compelling Ghost Empire.
Winnipeg writer and teacher Ron Kirbyson speaks French like a native of River Heights. |