illiterate or hyperliterate?
over at the consipracy, eugene volokh expresses his disdain for the new french prime minister, ridiculing his flowery language. volokh would apparently rather have a political leader who thinks “misunderestimate” is a word than one who is familiar with greek mythology. disdain not withstanding, i think the examples nicely illustrate the difference between the french and the american philosophies of government. the french code civil has been called the greatest work of french literature; in comparison, i hardly think this excerpt (or any other) from the u.s. code could be described as anything other than pedantic:
Wherever, in the statutes of the United States or in the rulings, regulations, or interpretations of various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States there appears or may appear the term “products of American fisheries” said term shall not include fresh or frozen fish fillets, fresh or frozen fish steaks, or fresh or frozen slices of fish substantially free of bone (including any of the foregoing divided into sections), produced in a foreign country or its territorial waters, in whole or in part with the use of the labor of persons who are not residents of the United States.
granted, the code civil is annoyingly sexist (not to mention maddeningly vague, from a legal standpoint), but at least it’s beautifully written.
UPDATE (13 june): see the stopped clock for some insight into the actual context of the french quote. seems it was from poetry written in the pm’s spare time, not from a speech or interview or other somesuch source.
June 8th, 2005 at 8:50 pm
Fish Fish Sishy…
The Koran is arguably the most beautiful poetry in the history of written word. And it is sexist and mentions not fish as far as I can tell.
Le Code Civile also arguably set up a structure of government that allowed 10,000 elderly folks to die of heat because it was 99 degrees in northern France.
And I think Legal Seafood has good chowder.
June 9th, 2005 at 12:43 pm
even i who frequently indulge in poesy feel utility and clarity is more important than meter and rhyme. i wouldn’t write if it didn’t serve a clear purpose (at least to myself).
your comparison seems to imply that american legal code, like the new pm, is ignorant?
the excerpt is clear, though i guess it leaves one wondering about the labelling of fish chunks, whole fish, and slices of fish substantially not free of bone… and the next big thing, slushee fish…
June 9th, 2005 at 1:20 pm
not at all. my comparison was a comment on the differences between french & american culture, philosophy, mode of legal thought. a comparison of the code civil and the u.s. code suggests that americans are far more concerned with nailing down minutiae and administrative clarity; the french are more concerned with grand concepts and philosophies. i think “misunderestimate,” while not previously part of the american lexicon, is a wonderful word for the succinctness with which it combines the concepts of “misunderstand” and “underestimate,” and is very much in the american mode of directness.
and what’s this about the french pm being ignorant?
June 9th, 2005 at 3:21 pm
Just wait for the legal code of the coming post-literate society. Almost entirely off the topic, but the title reminded me of some of the problems faced by a post-literate society described in Illium by Dan Simmons. Language and technology without the use of a written language is an interesting concept.
June 12th, 2005 at 12:50 pm
Hm. I doubt that the Code Civile and the US Code are really the right objects of comparison. The latter is the whole corpus of federal statutes. If you dip into some random statute passed by the French legislature, I’m sure pedantry and administrative minutae will be in evidence.
The Code Civile is either comparable to elements of the Constitution plus the UCC, or else to the whole of the common law caselaw, right? And I’ll bet that Anglo-American caselaw has literary merit to match against Napoleonic abstractions, and much more literary merit than the output of French functionary-judges.
(Also: the thought that the code’s language bears matching against that of real French literature bespeaks a worisome love of system for its own sake. I’d rather have dull unlovely legislation than have people who loved legislation so much that they thought it more beautiful than art.)
EV is soft on W, no doubt. But I’d rather live in a country that was neither led by an illiterate nor by someone who sounds like the pompous kid you would have smacked in a college discussion section. Part of successful erudition is knowing when to stop and how to use a light touch. If you need to keep hitting the point– “See how smart I am? That phrase I just used came from a classical source, and in case you didn’t recognize it, I’ll tell you all about it!– you’re not doing it right, in English or in French.
June 12th, 2005 at 6:58 pm
jacob! how did your year go?
the code civil (no terminating e) covers private law for the most part — individual rights, family law, property, and contract. i chose to compare it to the US code as they are both, well, codified law, and my intent was to compare the spirit of government of the two countries. i don’t think a comparison to US caselaw would’ve been preferable, as it reflects the tone of the individual writing rather than the government as a whole.
i do think you have the literature/law comparison backward, though — i believe the appropriate characterization would be to say that the code civil was written by a people who loved literature so much they believed it should be reflected even in their legislation.
as far as your last point — if the audience knows what the speaker is saying and relates to the way in which the speaker says it, then the speaker has demonstrated “successful erudition.” which suggests that it’s quite possible both our president and the french pm are equally erudite, and my original point about the difference between american and french culture (philosophies) still stands.