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That is not to say that no one objected to the rough vocabulary in the | That is not to say that no one objected to the rough vocabulary in the | ||
book. André Maurois, in his Preface to the French edition, mentions this aspect of the book when he describes The Naked and the Dead as “difficult, unpleasant sometimes irritating” just before he adds “but unforgettable” (Fuchs 184). Maurois comments that upon publication of the novel in England (note that it is England and not France where the problems arise) “some legions of decency were alarmed and attempted to have the book banned” (Fuchs 184). The Attorney General of England denied that demand on the grounds that “The intention to corrupt was absent and the quality of the work justified its tone” (Fuchs | book. André Maurois, in his Preface to the French edition, mentions this aspect of the book when he describes The Naked and the Dead as “difficult, unpleasant sometimes irritating” just before he adds “but unforgettable” (Fuchs 184). Maurois comments that upon publication of the novel in England (note that it is England and not France where the problems arise) “some legions of decency were alarmed and attempted to have the book banned” (Fuchs 184). The Attorney General of England denied that demand on the grounds that “The intention to corrupt was absent and the quality of the work justified its tone” (Fuchs ). Maurois also stresses that “the brutal and obscene” nature of the characters was “inevitable” and resembles the way French soldiers behaved and spoke in a novel written about the Dunkirk invasion, which had won the prestigious Prix Goncourt1 (Fuchs 184). | ||
First, the vocabulary needs to be examined. There are three verbs in French that all mean “to fuck”: “''baiser''”, “''foutre'',” “''enculer'',” and “''s’enculer''” (the reflexive form of “''enculer''”). | First, the vocabulary needs to be examined. There are three verbs in French that all mean “to fuck”: “''baiser''”, “''foutre'',” “''enculer'',” and “''s’enculer''” (the reflexive form of “''enculer''”). | ||
“''Baiser''” as a noun is innocuous and simply means a “kiss” (''le baiser''); over | |||
time, starting about in the Sixteenth Century, it came to mean sexual intercourse and is not used in polite conversation; “''foutre''” as a noun means “sperm” but as a verb it means the same as “''baiser''”; “''enculer''” also means the same as “''baiser''” but it has two extra added attractions: it refers to anal sex with “''cul''” as its root, which means “ass” and used reflexively, it can mean something you do to yourself, or something you can tell others to do to themselves. All three verbs, in one form or another, are used in Chapter 1 of the novel. |
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