The ''Dictionary of Received Ideas'' (or ''Dictionary of Accepted Ideas''; in French, ''Le Dictionnaire des idées reçues'') is a short
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
work collected and published in 1911–13 from notes compiled by
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...
during the 1870s, lampooning the clichés endemic to French society under the
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Empire, Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the French Second Republic, Second and the French Third Republic ...
. It takes the form of a dictionary of automatic thoughts and
platitudes
A platitude is a trite, meaningless, or prosaic statement, often used as a thought-terminating cliché, aimed at quelling social, emotional, or cognitive unease. The statement may be true, but its meaning has been lost due to its excessive use.
...
, self-contradictory and insipid. It is often paired with the ''Sottisier'' (a collection of stupid quotations taken from the books of famous writers).
Purpose
At the time of Flaubert's death, it was unclear whether he intended eventually to publish it separately, or as an appendix to his unfinished novel, ''
Bouvard et Pécuchet
''Bouvard et Pécuchet'' is an unfinished satirical novel by Gustave Flaubert, published in 1881 after his death in 1880.
Background
Although it was conceived in 1863 as ''Les Deux Cloportes'' ("The Two Woodlice"), and partially inspired by a ...
''. In some of his notes, it seems that Flaubert intended the dictionary to be taken as the final creation of the two protagonists. In other notes, it seems the ''Sottisier'' is intended as their final work.
Background
The idea of a spoof encyclopedia had fascinated him all his life. As a child, he had amused himself by writing down the absurd utterances of a friend of his mother's, and over the course of his career he speculated as to the best format for a compilation of stupidities. In
a letter to Louis Bouilhet from 1850, Flaubert wrote: "Such a book, with a good preface in which the motive would be stated to be the desire to bring the nation back to Tradition, Order and Sound Conventions—all this so phrased that the reader would not know whether or not his leg was being pulled—such a book would certainly be unusual, even likely to succeed, because it would be entirely up to the minute." He wrote to Louise Colet in 1852: "No law could attack me, though I should attack everything. It would be the justification of ''Whatever is, is right''. I should sacrifice the great men to all the nitwits, the martyrs to all the executioners, and do it in a style carried to the wildest pitch—fireworks... After reading the book, one would be afraid to talk, for fear of using one of the phrases in it."
Examples
*ABSINTHE. Extra-violent poison: one glass and you're dead. Newspapermen drink it as they write their copy. Has killed more soldiers than the Bedouin.
*ARCHIMEDES. On hearing his name, shout "Eureka!" Or else: "Give me a fulcrum and I will move the world." There is also
Archimedes' screw
The Archimedes screw, also known as the Archimedean screw, hydrodynamic screw, water screw or Egyptian screw, is one of the earliest hydraulic machines. Using Archimedes screws as water pumps (Archimedes screw pump (ASP) or screw pump) dates back ...
, but you are not expected to know what it is.
*FEUDALISM. No need to have one single precise notion about it: thunder against.
*OMEGA. Second letter of the Greek alphabet.
*THIRTEEN. Avoid being thirteen at table; it brings bad luck. The sceptics should not fail to crack jokes: "What is the difference? I'll eat enough for two!" Or again, if there are ladies, ask if any is pregnant.
*WALTZ. Wax indignant about. A lascivious, impure dance that should only be danced by old ladies.
Parallels
The dictionary is comparable in many respects to
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book ''The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by t ...
's ''
The Devil's Dictionary
''The Devil's Dictionary'' is a satire, satirical dictionary written by American journalist Ambrose Bierce, consisting of common words followed by humorous and satirical definitions. The lexicon was written over three decades as a series of insta ...
'', but takes the opposite tack by affirming all the
commonplace
Commonplace may refer to:
*Commonplace book
*Literary topos
In classical Greek rhetoric, topos, ''pl.'' topoi, (from grc, τόπος "place", elliptical for grc, τόπος κοινός ''tópos koinós'', 'common place'), in Latin ''locus'' ( ...
notions.
Influence
The British impresario and humorist
Willie Donaldson
Charles William Donaldson (4 January 1935 – 22 June 2005) was a British satirist, writer, playboy and, under the pseudonym of Henry Root, author of ''The Henry Root Letters''.
Life and career
Son of Charles Glen Donaldson (1904–1956) and ...
was long interested in the ''Dictionary''; and, as "Henry Root", published something similar for the Britain of the 1980s: ''Henry Root's World of Knowledge''.
[London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982; (hardback). London: Futura, 1983; (paperback).]Terence Blacker
Terence Blacker FRSL (born 5 February 1948, near Hadleigh, Suffolk) is an English songwriter, author and columnist.
__TOC__
Biography
Blacker is the son of General Sir Cecil Blacker, and the brother of sculptor and former jockey Philip Blacke ...
, ''You cannot live as I have lived and not end up like this: The thoroughly disgraceful life and times of Willie Donaldson'' (London: Ebury Press, 2007; 978-0-09-191386-1), pp. 197–203.
See also
*
Commonplace book
Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are simi ...
* Idée reçue
Notes
References
External links
*Flaubert, Gustave. 1954 (revised 1968). ''Flaubert's Dictionary of Accepted Ideas.'' Translated by
Jacques Barzun
Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, and ...
. New York: New Directions. .
* Barger presents some of the entries, reordered thematically.
{{Authority control
1911 non-fiction books
Satirical books
Received Ideas