Dictionary of Accepted IdeasThroughout his life Flaubert made it a game to eavesdrop for the cliché, the platitude, the borrowed and unquestioned idea with which the "right thinking" swaddle their minds. After his death his little treasury of absurdities, of half-truths and social lies, was published as a Dictionnaire des idées reçues. Because its devastating humor and irony are often dependent on the phrasing in vernacular French, the Dictionnairewas long considered untranslatable. This notion was taken as a challenge by Jacques Barzun. Determined to find the exact English equivalent for each "accepted idea" Flaubert recorded, he has succeeded in documenting our own inanities. With a satirist's wit and a scholar's precision, Barzun has produced a very contemporary self-portrait of the middle-class philistine, a species as much alive today as when Flaubert railed against him. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ABSINTHE Allusion animals antique Applies Archimedes architectural armies art is lost BAYADÈRE beautiful BLONDES bourgeois Bouvard Bromide BRUNETTES called Cause Chic cliché commit Confuse crime CURAÇAO dangerous Despise dessert dinner disease doctor drink English entries everything Express surprise Faïence Famous favor Figaro FLAUBERT DICTIONARY France Franco-Prussian War French French language George Sand gives hand hearing his name Henry HIPPOCRATES immoral Indispensable invariably JACQUES BARZUN jokes killed ladies language lascivious Latin Louis Louis XIV Meaning unknown mind Napoleon Never Nobler novels Obscene word ODALISQUES ODÉON one's painting Paris PARLOR SONGS PEDERASTY PIKESTAFFS PIMPLES play Podsnap poet political Popilius preceded by mad quote Racine's refer religion Revolution Rouen Ruins Sainte-Beuve School Second Empire secret Sign of health Snicker society speaking speech story style swank tell thing Thunder tionary TRADE UKASE uttered verb verse Voltaire Wax indignant woman women write young YVETOT
