The language of wood is not dead
If glasnost has done its work in Eastern Europe and books glorifying the communist system and the USSR have melted like snow in the sun... it is not the same in France. Even among publishers usually reputed for their seriousness - the Presses Universitaires de France - they continue to distribute two Que-sais-je worthy of the "Nobel... de la langue de bois"!. Two books, one on Hungary, the other on Poland, signed by the same author, Henri Smotkine - professor (?) at the University of Paris VIII. We are thus happy to learn that Hungary was the theater in 1956 of a "counter-revolutionary movement using criticisms formulated by the propaganda of the national and foreign reaction, especially American which was expressed from German soil" ( sic), and that in Poland "the agitation which began in 1980 under the influence of the 'Solidarity' trade union which does not represent any corporate branch but groups only Poles hostile to socialism has only increased the difficulties of Poland ". Dramatically zero! But taken in the second degree, what a model of hilarity from which this entire collection should be inspired... Precisely at the publisher, we answer: "It's a mistake, we didn't have time to read the script ". Curious error which is repeated twice, in 1984 and 1986, and which has lasted since, since the publisher does not hesitate to continue supplying the bookstore! Delusional...
Nicolas Gros © Chained Duck 1993
