Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Who needs ennui when we have old-fashioned boredom? . . . Scholar’s émigrés often manage to be posh and phoney at the same time, while still carrying a kind of precision it would be hard to find without them. . . . [In
Émigrés] words have historical lives and tell us stories we may not know how to hear."
---Michael Wood, London Review of Books"A well-researched, convincing account of how our language has welcomed foreign words—but not always their native speakers." * Kirkus Reviews *
"Scholar . . . reflects thoughtfully and sometimes surprisingly on the use of French words in English. . . . Given the current interest in immigration, Scholar’s book on immigrant words is erudite, witty, and surprisingly timely." * Publishers Weekly *
"Like the émigré lexical items themselves,
Emigrés crackles with hidden energy and is worth serious study." * Choice *
"The
émigrés that Scholar highlights—
à la mode,
galanterie,
naïveté,
ennui, and
caprice—don’t assimilate and, in this act of resistance, reveal new ways of being."
---Meghan K. McGinley, AmeriQuests"This thoughtful summation of how much English owes to French, and other languages, has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi and cultural relevance."
---David Caddy, Tears in the Fence"[A] lively and always entertaining book. . . . Although Professor Scholar clearly has a wealth of learning at his fingertips, enjoyment of
Émigrés need not be limited to academic readers. The book will be readily understood by academic and non-specialist readers alike. . . . The habit of using émigré words is infectious: for his sang-froid, savoir faire, and bonhomie in guiding us on this voyage through the complexities of our national love-hate relationship with French—and the French—we are all indebted to Richard Scholar."
---Annette Tomarken, H-France Review"The ‘émigrés’ of this engaging book . . . occupy an uneasy centre ground between donor and borrower language, being neither French nor fully integrated into English. This ambiguity, Richard Scholar argues, reflects a long-standing ambivalence in English cultural attitudes to things French, ranging from fascination to disdain. . . . The book takes us on an eclectic journey from Restoration comedy to Winnie-the-Pooh’s companion Eeyore, John Le Carré and the Oscar-winning
Little Miss Sunshine."
---David Hornsby, Modern Language Review"
Émigrés . . . takes an approach informed by both French and English literature, and sets its findings in a cultural context which is wider still. This is pleasing, as the historical study of language perishes in a vacuum. . . . [A] humane and humanistic book."
---Anthony Grant, French Studies"The dream of a primordial linguistic simplicity has a flip side: the fear of linguistic creolization followed by a loss of national identity. Richard Scholar’s book exorcises this atavistic fear."
---Maria Neklyudova, Shagi / Steps."Fascinating and informative. His research is excellent, he writes clearly, and the book is full of charming and memorable detail . . . .[Scholar] has written a captivating book in an accessible style. It would be good if reading him became
de rigueur among students of language and literature, but perhaps
ça serait trop beau."
---Alan Dent, Northern Review of Books
