The Philosopher's Demise: Learning to Speak French - Softcover

Watson, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1567922279 ISBN 13: 9781567922271

Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher, 2003

Synopsis

Richard Watson, scholar and spelunker extraordinaire is back. Having told how to win the fight against fat in The Philosopher's Diet, and having painted the definitive portrait of philosopher René Descartes (Cogito, Ergo Sum), here he confronts his most difficult challenge: how he learned to speak French.

Already an accomplished reader of French, Watson found himself forced to learn to speak the language when he was invited to present a paper in Paris in French. A private crash course and lessons at the Alliance Française only served to point out how difficult it can be to learn any foreign language, especially later in life. As he confronts his own national prejudices, Watson weaves in digressions on the contrasts between France and America, on the mysteries of French engineering, and on eccentric French cavers. This wry, witty book is not just for anyone who has ever tried to learn another language, but for anyone who has yearned desperately to learn something and worked to the limit to achieve it.

About this title

From Booklist:

Francophiles and Francophobes alike will take pleasure in Descartes scholar and novelist Watson's meditation on his decision, at age 55, to learn to speak the language he had been reading (and occasionally translating) for several decades. Asked to deliver a paper in French at a Paris conference, Watson spent six months in tutoring sessions with a friend in St. Louis (where the author teaches philosophy at Washington University) and then set off for the City of Lights, where he devoted most of his time to an intensive course at the Alliance Franc{‡}aise. His goal became an obsession; Watson was convinced that conversational fluency would win him entre{‚}e to the elite circle of Cartesian scholars in Paris. For the first time in his life, however, the distinguished professor did poorly in school. Could he ever learn to speak French? Blending confession with observation, The Philosopher's Demise is full of fascinating commentary: on the charms (and din) of Paris, on Watson's French friends and the teachers and multicultural students he encountered, on Americans abroad, and on the nature of language itself. A small delight. Mary Carroll

About this edition

• Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1567922279
• ISBN 13: 9781567922271
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160