Your host rarely singles out bad writing for mention solely on the grounds of the sheer awfulness of the text. But this line from French philosophical rock-star Bernard-Henri Levy in today's Wall Street Journal (from the free part of the site) is so jaw-droppingly redundant, so repetitious, so intending to provoke by making the ears bleed from hearing the same thing over again...ugh, this is such an atrocity, it actually can contaminate your mind. Without further ado:
And it is hard not to link this provocation, the deliberate circulation of these cartoons, the quasi-home-delivery of a Danish paper that no one could have guessed had so many readers in the Muslim world, it is hard not to link this self-inflicted blasphemy, this calculated offense (calculated, mind you, by the organizers of the distribution of the cartoons), it is hard not to link this blasphemy to a new planetary configuration, itself determined by three recent and major events.
Technically, the English version of this sentence was perpetrated by Messr. Levy's translator, according to the biographical note at the bottom of the article. But SC has no reason for supposing it to be anything less than a faithful rendering of the original text. Especially since so much of the rest of the article is written this way, only with periods where about half of those commas are. Also since Garrison Keillor tore into Levy's recent book on America for some of the same reasons. SC has seen a number of articles over the last few years indicating that this man is enormously popular in France. Why?
I think Bernard-Henri Levy deserves this price since a long time. He has been working hard to get it... http://www.arenes.fr/livres/fiche-livre.php?numero_livre=132
A lot of people in France agree with the fact that he is just ridiculous. Since a year, at least 4 books have been published to explain to saty famous while very poor signs of thought have been found in his books.
Levy is actually famous for having received cream tarts almost 5 times while he was on a tv show. He is more famous for being ridiculous than for his ideas.
Olivier Verdier
Posted by: Olivier | March 10, 2006 at 05:57 AM
This really made me laugh !! Thank you...
But, as a French person myself i would wish to rectify the end of the article.
I dont think Mr BHL is so popular in France,we see & hear him a lot (too much!)but it's just because he has a powerful influence in the media.They are trying to "ram him down our throats"(sorry not sure of the spelling or even of the sentence),praising him and his so called intellect etc...It is quite appalling but this is the way most of the media is unfortunately.As the person above me just said Mr Bernard henri Lévy is more (rejoicingly) famous for being ridiculed by people who throw "slapsticks" at him regularly than his philosophy !!
Posted by: emma louise | March 31, 2006 at 10:02 AM
Yes he's very famous in France. But he only wishes to be popular...
Posted by: loz | April 07, 2006 at 05:02 AM
it sounds rhythmically quite black, like a repetitive phrase by a preacher. Maybe that is the sort of underlying parody he had in mind, given the criticism of religious fundamentalists implied.
Posted by: satz | December 04, 2006 at 09:54 AM
These prayers help me to keep God in my life, especially with the many distractions I encounter.
Posted by: Marly | April 28, 2009 at 08:51 AM
I praise God for answering my prayers. God, you are so wonderful, majestic. Jesus Christ, I adore Your Sacred Heart.4
Posted by: Albert | May 13, 2009 at 02:13 AM
I am interested in it for a long time! Levy is actually famous for having received cream tarts almost 5 times while he was on a tv show. He is more famous for being ridiculous than for his ideas.
Posted by: donne ucraine | May 25, 2011 at 05:39 AM
He is more famous for being ridiculous than for his ideas.
Posted by: frauen | July 13, 2011 at 02:28 AM
Levy is actually famous for having received cream tarts almost 5 times while he was on a tv show. He is more famous for being ridiculous than for his ideas.
Posted by: Jim Parsons | September 23, 2011 at 05:20 AM
Levy is actually famous for having received cream tarts almost 5 times while he was on a tv show. He is more famous for being ridiculous than for his ideas.
Posted by: isis clothing | September 23, 2011 at 05:21 AM
When editors have the day free and the writers don't double check their work. This is the thing that it happens.
Posted by: xlpharmacy | October 21, 2011 at 08:57 AM
this happen when people is used to let other people check their spelling, try to make this for yourself, and this too the root of the problem in our days, all the people is used to spell short words like lol, lym, rofl, all the acronyms are killing our spelling.
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Posted by: διαγωνισμοι | November 26, 2011 at 07:18 PM