Absorption of foreign words accepted

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32706, 8 September 1971, Page 15

Absorption of foreign words accepted

The absorption by the French language of English words and phrases was neither good nor bad, but it was a pity French did not influence English to the same degree, a wellknown modem French novelist, Mr Michel Butor, who is visiting Christchurch, said yesterday.

Mr Butor, who is in Christchurch until today lecturing at the invitation of the University of Canterbury French Department, said he did not mind personally the introduction Of foreign words, but there were many conservative people in France who did.

What worried them was the replacement of existing French words, with foreign Xords, particularly of merican origin.

“In my books I use whatever expressions the characters would use, and if they say 1e pet’ or 'un Scotch,’ then I write it.” Mr Butor said that the French Academy was an organisation which was supposed to approve new words and phrases for general use, but it was without any real

influence and was largely ignored. Although only a few of Mr Butor’s novels have been published in English, he is recognised as one of France’s outstanding living writers, and is included in the “new novel” school. “La Modification” (A Change of Heart) is his best known work. Mr Butor said he became interested in writing when he was at high school; after the war, at university in Paris, he came to writing the novel as a result of reaching an accord in his mental life through study. The greatest influence on his writing was the German occupation during the war. “The occupation was the cause of a huge generation gap after the war. People tended to forget that it ever existed, but for people of my age it was a whole five years of our lives and we could not forget.”