Customer Reviews

French Ways And Their Meaning

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This delightful little volume is a compilation of articles written for American troops bound for France in World War One. While their effect on the average doughboy may be questionable, they give a powerful and invaluable insight into one of the most perceptive minds of the age.
Wharton, in her most engaging and always readable style, discusses First Impressions, and examines issues of Reverence, Taste, Intellectual Honesty, and Continuity, and, in her essay on the New Frenchwoman, reveals perhaps more about herself than her subjects.
Highly recommended as a fine introduction to the author.

(The numerical rating above is an ineradicable default setting within the format of the site. This reviewer does nor employ numerical ratings).

It's important to know that this edition (Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (April 10, 2007)) is a bound photocopy. That is, it has an ordinary softcover binding, but most of the pages are blurry photocopies of the original edition. (All of this is explained in a note at the start of the book, but is not mentioned in the ordering information.)

The background of the pages is dark, dotted gray and the print is not clear. Many of the pages also have underlining and notes (that is, the original pages that were photocopied have these marks). The dark gray background affects about three fourths of the pages; perhaps half the pages are marked with underlines or comments.

Needless to say, all of this affects the book's value. Most of the book is physically hard to read because of these problems, which are not (currently) mentioned in the book's description information.

My one star is for the physical problems with this particular edition, not the contents of the book itself. (Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't have any way to differentiate between them.) The book is hard to find and people who are interested in it may well be willing to put up with the ugly physical presentation in order to get an affordable copy, but you should be informed before you buy it that for reading purposes this isn't any better than a bad fax or photocopy of a real book.

Edith Wharton was a very observant writer and a great novelist. Her observations on the French in most cases are right on target. However, people traveling to France for work or pleasure need to understand that she is writing about a France in the early part of the 20th centur before and during World War I. When a person writes about a culture there observations only pertain to that particular time and that particular place. Another, thing to rember she is also writes about upper-class french life, which is a problem I find with almost all books on the French. Other then those two critices this is a very entertaining and insightful book on the French.

On parting coment, remeber that when someone writes about a diffrent culture they are using generalizations that may be true of the culture but not everyone in it.

The product does not deserve to be called a book.

It is more like a pamphlet full of misprints.

This transaction was a very bad reflection on Amazon.

I have been a committed customer, but this is giving me second thoughts.

Edith Wharton makes clear what being French means without a starry eyed view of Paris nights or glorification of sensuality. Wharton is first a social scientist and second an American writer living in France. This book is a description of various parts of French culture compared to her American perspective. Her candid discussion of the differences between French and American political culture makes clear how French history has shaped the distinctive Franco political and social cultures. I found the chapter on Taste to be particularly valuable. I had read "The Gospel According to Chanel" but did not really understand the French idea of taste. Unfortunately, Wharton's ideas on women are outdated, making only certain chapters of the book valuable for social science course reading. But, presented as a contrast to de Toqueville's French view on Americans and American democracy, the two volumes would offer interesting discussions about historical social science methodology.