French Lessons

November 1, 1993
Kaplan ( Reproductions of Banality ), a teacher of French literature at Duke University, describes the impact of her preoccupation with the French language on her life. Initially, her passion for French culture provided her with a route out of her midwestern Jewish background. While studying in France, she was drawn to the work of Celine, the brilliant French novelist who was also a virulent anti-Semite. At Yale she wrote her dissertation on French fascist intellectuals; she discusses here the impact of the later discovery that her revered professor, the deconstructionist Paul de Man, had written for the pro-Nazi Belgian press. Since Kaplan's father was a judge at the Nuremberg Nazi war crimes trials, her intellectual investigation adds a unique personal component to this eloquent memoir.

September 15, 1993
Kaplan (French, Duke Univ.) initially used French as an escape to an inner world of self-expression. She admired French intellectual achievement, but harsh reality intruded when she confronted the writings of French fascist intellectuals like Louis Ferdinand Celine. These discoveries formed Kaplan's "French lessons." Fascinated by the music in Celine's Journey to the End of the Night, she was nevertheless baffled by his anti-Semitism. Also, her famous scholar-teacher at Yale, Paul de Man, disappointed her, a fact made more poignant by the relevation in the mid-Eighties that de Man had written articles for the Nazis in Belgium during World War II. This memoir is spiked with anecdotes, personal observations, and insights about learning French and teaching French. It provides entertaining and enjoyable reading for everyone, particularly French scholars and professors. Highly recommended.-- Bob Ivey, Memphis State Univ., Tenn.

Copyright 1993 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.