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And with regard to your edit, I don't have a problem with passé simples myself. Legolas Send a noteboard - 13/12/2010 10:53:59 PM
EDIT: Never mind. Apparently you think the passé simple is obscure. I would venture to guess that about 50% of the verbs used in Le Rouge et Le Noir are passé simple. I don`t find it unusual at all. In fact, I think I have a problem with wanting to use it in spoken French. Je fus fatigué. Nous vinmes hier. Lût-il le livre? These are just the ones that I remember off the top of my head. Je le fis.

In fact I rather prefer them over the other past tenses in French. But all the same, as I said, when one learns French one is told not to use the passé simple, it's not drilled or requested that you learn it by heart (at least not here), so many readers are going to have difficulties with it. The same is true to a much larger extent still with the subjunctive imperfect.
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Maurice Druon - The Accursed Kings Legolas - 13/12/2010 08:19:21 PM 19550 Views
Thank you for giving this review - I had forgotten the name of the author and series. Tom - 13/12/2010 09:29:59 PM 2143 Views
You're welcome (and thanks for the correction, edited). Legolas - 13/12/2010 10:23:55 PM 2133 Views
I know it's not "literary". (EDITED) Tom - 13/12/2010 10:42:33 PM 2025 Views
Subjunctive imperfect, yeah. Legolas - 13/12/2010 10:51:34 PM 2108 Views
And with regard to your edit, I don't have a problem with passé simples myself. Legolas - 13/12/2010 10:53:59 PM 2442 Views
But how can one read any French literature at all without encountering the passé simple? Tom - 15/12/2010 03:39:37 AM 2257 Views
The point is it is a "literary" tense Camilla - 15/12/2010 10:19:59 AM 2246 Views
Why would I read a lower style of book (I won't use the term "literature" to describe them) ? Tom - 16/12/2010 06:11:36 AM 2037 Views
I don't want to start a fight here, but your attitude is seriously starting to grate. Legolas - 16/12/2010 06:54:30 PM 2301 Views
I don't care. Start a fight. Tom - 16/12/2010 08:24:22 PM 2222 Views
Well, or we can have a civil debate on French culture, I suppose... also fun. Legolas - 16/12/2010 09:09:20 PM 2212 Views
Well, I'm up for that, too. Tom - 17/12/2010 05:48:39 AM 2209 Views
Good. Legolas - 17/12/2010 09:01:37 PM 2555 Views
Ah - I support the subjunctive!!! Tom - 18/12/2010 05:10:38 AM 2404 Views
TANGENT Rebekah - 18/12/2010 09:56:31 AM 2267 Views
This whole conversation is just a pile of tangents, anyway. *NM* Legolas - 18/12/2010 01:30:09 PM 1026 Views
I enjoy the tangent. Tom - 21/12/2010 12:43:23 AM 1956 Views
But you don't think its disappearance corresponds to a decline in American culture? Legolas - 18/12/2010 01:29:43 PM 2198 Views
I read Der Zauberberg in English already. Tom - 21/12/2010 12:48:16 AM 2015 Views
About the passé simple, what Camilla said. As for medieval vocabulary... Legolas - 15/12/2010 07:17:44 PM 2227 Views
"Ne...point" is used in Stendhal all the time. Tom - 16/12/2010 06:08:40 AM 2074 Views
That looks like a really fascinating series. Rebekah - 13/12/2010 10:56:52 PM 2139 Views
Step up your French lessons!!! Tom - 13/12/2010 11:50:21 PM 2341 Views
That is a great reason to learn French. Legolas - 14/12/2010 07:29:54 PM 2055 Views
Re: That is a great reason to learn French. Rebekah - 14/12/2010 08:13:59 PM 2041 Views
Fancier English often turns out to be French, of course. *NM* Tom - 17/12/2010 06:41:19 PM 1093 Views
Ooooh Camilla - 14/12/2010 07:41:03 PM 1977 Views
I'm really not quite sure how you managed that. Legolas - 14/12/2010 08:09:55 PM 2127 Views
Re: I'm really not quite sure how you managed that. Camilla - 14/12/2010 08:13:48 PM 2028 Views
I meant Bertière, yeah. Dumas works too, though. Legolas - 14/12/2010 08:18:30 PM 2125 Views
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