<<Julie, in the 17th century there came about the Academie Francaise, whose job it was to bring order to and regulate the language. They exist today, known as the 40 immortels. Ils empissent le franglais et toutes choses etrangeres dans la culture francaise. Look in google under "Academie Francaise.">> Thank you. It seems a bit like the forced vocalization of Hebrew, for standardization purposes. Descriptive always eventually becomes prescriptive.... development of language, natural to artificial, is fascinating. Julie Krueger ========Original Message======== Subj: [lit-ideas] Rimbaud Date: 2/9/05 4:16:22 P.M. Central Standard Time From: _ballnw@xxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:ballnw@xxxxxxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent on: The thread was a bit fun. Thanks Judy and Robert: Complete drunken boat, either in French or English, still leaves me glassy eyed , as do most of the symbolistes. In the translation I sense some of Eliot's "Wasteland" and a hint, or odor, of Old Ezra Pound, the enfant terrible of Haley, Idaho. Rimbaud might have driven his mate, Verlaine (whom I can understand), a bit crazy too. Les sanglots longs des violins d'automne..... Rimbaud himself must have become confused with his own stuff: he stopped writing in his late teens, already famous in European literary circles, and took up gun running in Africa. L'enfant terrible. Julie, in the 17th century there came about the Academie Francaise, whose job it was to bring order to and regulate the language. They exist today, known as the 40 immortels. Ils empissent le franglais et toutes choses etrangeres dans la culture francaise. Look in google under "Academie Francaise." Et tout le reste est literature...... Bill Ball a Rindge P. S. Julie, before the Academy, etre (with circumflex) used to be estre. William Ball Norma Ball=20 ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html