Lecture 

Source: CC-BY-SA Catherine Prévert -  Vector image by COERLL after a photo found on Wikimedia

Préparation

Jacques Prévert (1900-77). French poet. Set to music by Kosma, interpreted by Yves Montand, learnt by heart in schools, dissected by academics, Prévert's poems have a uniquely important place in 20th-c. French culture. His is a poetry of the man in the street—essentially oral, often sentimental, disdainful of the high and mighty, respectful towards the underdog. Anarchic and playful, his spirit is pre-political, although the sketches he wrote during his participation in the agit-prop Groupe Octobre, some performed in factories in 1936, and his delightful script for Renoir's film Le Crime de Monsieur Lange, are quintessential expressions of the Popular Front ethos. A fringe member of the Surrealist group from 1925, he soon joined the dissidents along with his friends from the ‘Groupe de la rue du Château’ (Tanguy, Marcel Duhamel, Queneau).

Prévert began writing poems in the early 1930s. However, long before the publication of his first collection (Paroles, 1946) he had made his name as a writer of film-scripts: Drôle de drame (1937), Quai des brumes (1938), Les Visiteurs du soir (1942), Les Enfants du Paradis (1945), all directed by Marcel Carné and displaying a mixture of realism and poetry allied with a strong sense of character. The great success of Paroles after the war led Prévert to write more poetry […] mostly of a similar kind, dominated by clever punning, a sense of the marvellous, and an unerring feel for the quality of everyday life.

[Michael Sheringham]

Source: French Literature Companion: www.answers.com/topic/jacques-pr-vert

The text that you will read is from Prévert’s famed first collection, Paroles. It involves a play on words and is written in the format of a playscript, a dialogue between two characters. It is a “word play”!

1. The poem is entitled “L’accent grave.” Based on the information provided above about Prévert and his style of writing, what do you think the text will be about? What do you think it will be like to read it?

 Première lecture

Because this is a copy-righted poem, you will need to access the text online. (See the link that follows.) As you read for general comprehension, use the following decoding strategies for word meanings based on their forms, grammar and context. Do not use a dictionary!

1.  Underline all of the cognates (les mots apparentés) – all of the words that you can recognize English equivalents for, including in the title. Use these words as anchors for decoding.

2.  Look at the word, élève (line 2). Given the context, what can you guess is the meaning?

3.  What verb is at the core of the word, sursautant (line 3)? Hint: It is a verb used in cooking. What translation could you provide for sursautant in this context using the core meaning?

4.  Look at the prefix “mé-” in the word, mécontent (line 5). What would be an appropiate translation of this word in the given context?

5.  Look at the phrase, être ou ne pas être, in line 8. Think about Shakespeare’s Hamlet. What can you guess is the translation for the structure: ne pas être? Do you know the name of this grammar structure?

6.  Look at the word, excessivement (line 22). What do you think the suffix is? What does it mean? Is this word a noun, an adjective, an adverb or a verb?

 Le texte

The name of this poem is “L’accent grave,” (Paroles, Gallimard, 1949), and it is by Jacques Prévert.

To access the text, go to this ClicNet web address:

http://clicnet.swarthmore.edu/rire/textes/prevert.html

(If this link should no longer work, google the title and author as key words.)

Here are some further glosses to vocabulary and expressions in the text:

Hein? (line 4):  an interjection, "Huh?"

dans les nuages (line 8):  in the clouds

Pas tant de manières. (line 10):  Don’t be so pompous.

c'est vous qui n'y êtes pas (line 23):  you’re the one who’s not in the picture/who isn’t with it

mon pauvre ami (line 23):  Lit = my poor friend; I’m sorry to say

dans le fond (line 27):  after all

à la réflexion (line 27):  upon reflection

Regardez de plus près

Travaillez avec un partenaire et répondez aux questions suivantes:

Le professeur

1. What phrase does the teacher repeat three times in the text?

2. The teacher makes an error of capitalization in French that a reader can see but that would not be heard if spoken. What is the error?

Note culturelle – Platonic Forms

From the Chicago Manual of Style:
“Words for transcendent ideas in the Platonic sense, especially when used in a religious context, are often capitalized. Good; Beauty; Truth; the One.”

http://www.prdaily.eu/PRDailyEU/Articles/Capital_ideas_capital_offenses_When_to_uppercase_4035.aspx#

Here are some words in French expressing the idea of Platonic forms:  

pur, idéal, parfait, suprême, archétype, absolu, perfection, modèle

3. What do these instances of repetition and capitalization tell us about the teacher’s way of thinking? How would you characterize him?

L’élève Hamlet

4. Write the typical conjugation paradigm for the verb être:

5. Compare this with what l’élève Hamlet recites: Je suis ou je ne suis pas.

Translate Hamlet’s version:

6. Translate Hamlet’s responses, which replace ou with its homophone, où:

Je suis « où » je ne suis pas  (line 26)

être « où » ne pas être  (line 28)

7. Look at Hamlet’s behavior and language throughout the text.

What is your impression of him?

How would you characterize him?

Allons plus loin

1. The main theme of this word play is to contrast personal philosophies of conformism and individualism. Did you use either of these words or ideas in describing the teacher or Hamlet?

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Be careful! As it turns out, the word individualisme carries different connotations in French than it does in English. In order to help students better understand certain cultural differences, in 1997, MIT’s French program created Cultura…

“a Web-based, intercultural project situated in a language class, that connects American students with other students in different countries. […]

The objective of Cultura is to help our students develop understanding of the values, attitudes, beliefs and concepts inherent in another culture; to understand how people in the other culture interact, look at the world and frame their thoughts and ideas. Those goals are epitomized by a phrase from Marcel Proust, which serves as a beacon to our project:

« La seule véritable exploration, la seule vraie fontaine de Jouvence, ne serait pas de visiter des terres étrangères mais de posséder d'autres yeux, de regarder l'univers à travers les yeux des autres. »

(Translation: "The only true exploration, the only true fountain of youth would not be to visit foreign lands, but to possess other eyes, to look at the universe through the eyes of others").

Source: http://cultura.mit.edu/community/index/cid/1

On the following linked page, you will see two columns. One, under the heading individualisme, has a listing of associations generated by students in France, and the other, under the heading individualism, has a listing of word associations generated by students in the United States. Compare their responses! :

Source: http://cultura.mit.edu/1999-fall-mit-int-21/

[Note: If you have difficulty accessing this page, google Cultura Exchanges MIT. Once on the home page, go to Archived Exchanges, find 1999-Fall-MIT and click on Answers & Discussions. Then in Questionnaire type: Word Association, click on individualism /individualisme]

As you can see, trying to directly translate a culturally influenced value is difficult. Here are some further thoughts on Prévert’s writing that may help. See if you can get the gist:

« Son hostilité à toutes les forces d’oppression sociale se traduit dans ses attaques pleines d’humour autant que de vigueur contre les hommes de pouvoir et les institutions en général. Son sens de l’image insolite et sa gouaille [cheekiness] populaire lui inspirent une poésie sortie de sa tour d’ivoire, destinée à tous les publics et ancrée [anchored] dans les sentiments de la vie quotidienne. Elle invite le lecteur à se fier au pouvoir de [to trust in the power of] « la parole » [the word] pour accéder au bonheur, individuel et collectif. »

Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/12849038/Poesie-quel-engagement

As closure, Prévert’s writing is described as containing…

 « un ferment actif de liberté » – an active agent or enzyme of freedom.

Does this information alter your understanding of Hamlet or of the teacher or of the cultural context of the text? Discuss your reactions and note your ideas:

2. Google the French movie, “L'école pour tous”, by Eric Rochant

(or go to Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2_W1pMB1QM 

a. Watch the first two and a half minutes, until you hear the utterance: “Oh, l'individualiste!”

b. Discuss with a partner why you think the character, Jahwad, says this.

3. Listen to the pronunciation of words in the text, “L’accent grave” that you do not know: http://www.larousse.com/en/dictionaries/french-english

Practice reading Prevert’s mini play out loud and rotate the roles with your partner.

Écriture

Source: Morguefile (free photo license)

Type de texte  

A dialogue in playscript form

Votre écrit

Imagine that you are studying French in France. Write a simple “word play” in the form of a dialogue, in which there is a misunderstanding between yourself and either your imagined teacher or a French student that you have just met. Look through the vocabulary and content of this chapter in your textbook to find a source for the confusion: a false cognate, a word that you find difficult to pronounce, a cultural practice that is different from what you are accustomed to. (Be careful to note any differences in capitalization between French and English, for example, for the days of the week or months.)

Include expressions of negotiation (see below) to ultimately clarify the faux pas.

Utilize the format of the playscript as modeled in the text, L’accent grave.

Include the title: « Comment ?! ».

Préparation

1. Negotiating Language

2. *The word grave in French can have different meanings. Go back to the answer that you wrote for the very first activity in this chapter about predicting your reading experience based on the title of the poem, “L’accent grave.” What are two ways that you could interpret this title?

3. Write a first draft (brouillon) of your dialogue.

Rédaction en collaboration

1. Exchange drafts with a partner.

a. Read your partner’s text once. If you have difficulty understanding something, ask for

clarification.

b. Read the text again and provide feedback on the following:

• Establishing an appropriate context

Identify the source of the misunderstanding and look at the given circumstances.

Is the faux pas realistically invoked?  If not, what recommendations can you make?

• Use of negotiating language

Underline all of the negotiating language. Do both parties respond appropriately to the misunderstanding?

• Maintaining appropriate register

Note the relationship between the two speakers in the dialogue. Should the register be formal or informal? Check to make sure that the register is consistent throughout.

• Applying playscript conventions

Look at the formatting. Does your partner’s script follow the appropriate playscript conventions as modeled in Prevert’s poem? If you see a problem, point it out.

2.  In response to your partner’s feedback, revise your draft accordingly and prepare your final version.

Allons plus loin

Work with a new partner. Read each other’s final scripts out loud, with you playing the role of yourself in your text and the francophone interlocutor in your partner’s text.