French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Rey, Des pensées et des mots
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
Alain Rey, Des pensées et des mots
Paris: Hermann, "Vertige de la langue" series, 2013
EAN: 9782705686871
272 pp.
Price: 25 EUR.
In bookstores: June 21, 2013
Publisher's presentation:
The words of our culture are, in their own way, virtual authors, for their history constitutes a kind of work, a series of semantic novels all in tune with social history.
On the other hand, authors, philosophers, poets, and storytellers have made themselves the servants and champions of these words which they seemingly used, in order to discover the secrets of their power.
From the heart of the lexicon, where he long remained through the making of dictionaries, the author of these essays attempts to illustrate the back-and-forth between the creativity of the text and the depth of its components. Every work is dependent on the instability, the vibration of the words it organizes. Every thinker, every poet is at once its master and its slave.
From Villon to Barthes, from the classics to Valéry, from Littré to Jakobson, the use of language is weighed and exalted. As for words, society and its adventures reveal themselves in Work, Progress, Revolution…, while Comedy, Artist, and Luxury bring us the memory of culture.
Two constantly intertwined fields; a single approach, illustrating the emblem of the "Vertige de la langue" series.
The author:
Alain Rey, after studying literary history, Old French, art history, philosophy, and political science, became the primary collaborator of lexicographer Paul Robert. Co-author of the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert (with Josette Rey-Debove and Henri Cottez), editor-in-chief of the Dictionnaire Historique de la langue française and, with Danièle Morvan, of the Dictionnaire culturel en langue française, he has written numerous works on dictionary theory, the history of language, French and English literature, theater (with Daniel Couty), comics, etc.
To access the book's presentation page on the Éditions Hermann website, click on the following link:
Alain Rey situates his collection within the rich tradition of French lexicography and stylistic inquiry. As a foundational figure behind the renowned Robert dictionaries, the author brings a lifetime of linguistic expertise to examine how vocabulary shapes literary creation. The essays engage with key figures from French intellectual history, including François Villon, Paul Valéry, Émile Littré, Roland Barthes and Roman Jakobson, bridging the gap between historical semantics and literary criticism. This volume will particularly interest students of French literature, lexicographers, translators and anyone curious about the complex mechanisms of linguistic expression.
The book addresses enduring questions regarding authorship, cultural memory and the evolution of social concepts through language. By tracing terms such as work, progress, revolution, comedy, artist and luxury, Rey demonstrates how vocabulary reflects societal shifts and historical transformations. The text belongs to the Vertige de la langue series published by Hermann, which focuses on the philosophical and aesthetic dimensions of language. It offers valuable insights into the reciprocal relationship between writers and the lexicon they employ, illuminating the profound ways in which words condition thought and artistic achievement.