All Puns Intended: The Verbal Creation of Jean-Pierre BrissetLegenda, 2001 - 184 pages The 19th century in France spawned numerous 'fous litteraires, one of them being Jean-Pierre Brisset (1837-1919). An individualist among individualists, he dismantled the existing French tongue, reshaping it to suit his own grandiose purposes, which were to explain afresh the development of human beings (from frogs) and of their language (from croaks). Continuous and ubiquitous punning was a unique feature of his writing. In this study, Redfern examines such themes as the nature of literary madness, the phenomenon of deadpan humour, the role of analogy, and the place of institutional religion in Brisset's creative rewriting of the creation. |
Other editions - View all
All Puns Intended: The Verbal Creation of Jean-Pierre Brisset Walter D. Redfern Limited preview - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
accompli analogy animal association autre believed Bible bien bouche Brisset c'est calembour called choses claim common course creation d'une diable Dieu dieux esprit être etymology fact fait Foucault Fourier Fous French frogs Gallimard God's Grammaire grenouille homme human ideas Jean Jean-Pierre Brisset John kind l'esprit l'homme language langue later Latin Lecercle less linguistic living logical logique London meaning mind monde mots n'est nature Notes nous origins Oxford Paris parole paronym perhaps phrase play practice premier present puns puts qu'il quoted reasons reference Roussel says Science de Dieu seems sense sexe sexual sounds speak speech Studies talk terre theory things thinking tongue tout true University Press verbal whole words writing