About the passé simple, what Camilla said. As for medieval vocabulary...
Legolas Send a noteboard - 15/12/2010 07:17:44 PM
Using outdated words of "chivallerie", as Chaucer would put it, is a different matter entirely. However, I doubt that Druon went so far as to use the mediaeval spellings of words...he didn't, did he? I think it's too late to cancel the order anyway, but that would grate on me after a while.
he doesn't use medieval spellings, but he does use words that are antiquated - not that they've been in disuse for centuries, but for a good while at least even at the time he wrote the series. A good example is his regular use of "ne ... point" instead of "ne ... pas" - I'm not really quite sure when that went out of fashion in the spoken language, but even when he wrote the books, it was already said only by people who wanted to sound intentionally old-fashioned. There are other regularly recurring examples, such as "courroux" for "anger", "savoir (qqn) gré" for "being grateful", "davantage" for "more", "bru" for "daughter-in-law" and so on (some of those might be used on occasion still even in the spoken language, but they feel rather old-fashioned to me at least). I imagine you'll have encountered most of those at some point or other in your readings already. I should imagine your main problem with the language will be the same one I had - highly specific medieval vocabulary, names of weapons, tools, that sort of thing.
Maurice Druon - The Accursed Kings
13/12/2010 08:19:21 PM
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Thank you for giving this review - I had forgotten the name of the author and series.
13/12/2010 09:29:59 PM
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You're welcome (and thanks for the correction, edited).
13/12/2010 10:23:55 PM
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I know it's not "literary". (EDITED)
13/12/2010 10:42:33 PM
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And with regard to your edit, I don't have a problem with passé simples myself.
13/12/2010 10:53:59 PM
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But how can one read any French literature at all without encountering the passé simple?
15/12/2010 03:39:37 AM
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The point is it is a "literary" tense
15/12/2010 10:19:59 AM
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Why would I read a lower style of book (I won't use the term "literature" to describe them) ?
16/12/2010 06:11:36 AM
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I don't want to start a fight here, but your attitude is seriously starting to grate.
16/12/2010 06:54:30 PM
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I don't care. Start a fight.
16/12/2010 08:24:22 PM
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Well, or we can have a civil debate on French culture, I suppose... also fun.
16/12/2010 09:09:20 PM
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Well, I'm up for that, too.
17/12/2010 05:48:39 AM
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Good.
17/12/2010 09:01:37 PM
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Ah - I support the subjunctive!!!
18/12/2010 05:10:38 AM
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But you don't think its disappearance corresponds to a decline in American culture?
18/12/2010 01:29:43 PM
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About the passé simple, what Camilla said. As for medieval vocabulary...
15/12/2010 07:17:44 PM
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That looks like a really fascinating series.
13/12/2010 10:56:52 PM
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Step up your French lessons!!!
13/12/2010 11:50:21 PM
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That is a great reason to learn French.
14/12/2010 07:29:54 PM
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Ooooh
14/12/2010 07:41:03 PM
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I'm really not quite sure how you managed that.
14/12/2010 08:09:55 PM
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