- Le Langage fleuri: histoire et analyse linguistique de l’euphémisme par André Horak
The present monograph, which is one of very few book-length studies on euphemism in French, offers the fruits of a decade’s work on this figure of discourse by André Horak. Having presented his definition of it at the outset of the coverage—‘l’euphémisme est un procédé discursif et figuré consistant à positiver l’expression d’un référent et/ou d’un concept qui, dans un contexte déterminé, apparaissent indésirables’ (p. 19)—the author goes on ambitiously to explore a wide range of materials to highlight the diverse ways in which this figure has been exploited through time, and the differing analytical interpretations that it has received. These historical aspects dominate the overall coverage, [End Page 329] occupying the first two chapters, which fill nearly three quarters of the text. In contrast, general theoretical questions relating to the analysis and scope of euphemism are addressed rather summarily in the two remaining chapters, the text being completed by a section with very brief concluding remarks. Looking more closely at the two historically orientated chapters, the first contains a survey of euphemistic usage running from antiquity, which receives well-researched coverage, through the less commonly considered medieval period, and up to the seventeenth century, for which contrasting case studies investigate the use of the figure in préciosité and La Princesse de Clèves. The following chapter completes the historical coverage with an impressively detailed and systematic review of previous research on euphemism. This begins with a discussion of the traditional, rhetorical work found in the period from antiquity to the seventeenth century, before passing on to distinguish a transitional period exemplified by the writings of Nicolas Beauzée and Pierre Fontanier who, though greatly influenced by preceding works, engage much more deeply in the analysis of the theoretical status of euphemism. Finally, a ‘linguistic period’ is identified, inaugurated by two pioneering studies: Walter Bökemann’s Französischer Euphemismus (Berlin: Meyer & M¨ller, 1904), and the concise but much more influential coverage of Kristoffer Nyrop, which appeared in 1913 in the fourth volume of his celebrated Grammaire historique de la langue française (6 vols (Copenhagen: Gyldendals Forlagstrykkeri, 1899–1930)). These usher in growing scholarly interest in euphemism for which the author identifies and assesses seven directions in recent research. General theoretical issues are addressed in the two remaining chapters in a rather disappointing way due in part to their previously mentioned brevity. In the first of these, the formal means used in expressing euphemism are considered (lexical substitution and accompagnement or the presence of attenuating co-occurring material) and a possible typology for euphemism is proposed. A short chapter completes the text with an attempt to position euphemism as a figure of discourse in relation to litotes and hyperbole, an exercise that might perhaps have been more usefully attempted earlier on and extended with rather greater scope and detail. The monograph is completed with a bibliography and scholarly name index but unfortunately no subject index.