The Place of Words

Download or read book The Place of Words written by Michael P. Fitzsimmons and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Place of Words examines the fifth and most controversial edition of the dictionary of the Académie Française, published in 1798 and spanning several regimes before the publication of the sixth in 1835. Full of anachronisms and appearing to slight the French Revolution, from the outset the edition received much judgement and critique. Under the Consulate, the government used it as an instrument to assert control over the language. As the first book-length study of this controversial fifth edition, A Place of Words offers insights into the Revolution and Napoleonic periods neglected in previous scholarship.