by Michel Tournier · Folio · libro de bolsillo · ISBN 9782070400744
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«Le Pied de la lettre» is Michel Tournier's essay on words and dictionaries, published by Folio in paperback (143 pages, in French).
The author proposes reviewing the hundreds of thousands of words in French dictionaries and keeping those that stand out for their rarity, comic quality, beauty, or the drift of their usage. From this selection of some three hundred terms emerges a reflection on language, precision, and probity, conceived as an enjoyable examination of conscience.
The work's subtitle is «Trois cents mots propres»; it originally appeared in 1994, and this paperback edition is from 1996.
Recommended for those who enjoy French vocabulary and reflection on language, as well as for readers of literary criticism.
Michel Tournier was a French writer. He won awards such as the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1967 for Friday, or, The Other Island and the Prix Goncourt for The Erl-King in 1970. His inspirations included traditional German culture, Catholicism and the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard. He resided in Choisel and was a member of the Académie Goncourt. His autobiography has been translated and published as The Wind Spirit. He was on occasion in contention for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
