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Lénine et l'arme du langage
200 pages, Paperback
Published January 12, 2024
About the author
Jean-Jacques Lecercle
26 books19 followersJean-Jacques Lecercle is Professor of English at the University of Paris at Nanterre. He has published widely in the fields of philosophy of language and literary theory, and is the author of The Violence of Language, Philosophy of Nonsense, Interpretations of Pragmatics and Deleuze and Language.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 20, 2024
Excellent livre.
October 23, 2024
"A Weapon Called the Word"
-- The Levellers, debut album title
Jean-Jacques Lecerle, in an interview with the far-left French party Révolution Permanente, stated that "[f]or Lenin, the ideological struggle is a struggle for the reappropriation of the words hijacked by the class adversary [...]. It is a struggle to criticise the distortions that the class adversary imprints on these words: for instance, what the bourgeoisie means by democracy doesn't have much to do with true democracy. For Lenin, the ideological struggle has both a polemical and critical value. It is polemical because [...] it calls for the pouring of vinegar and bile into the sweet water of consensus and good-intentions that the dominating ideology, which dominates absolutely, imposes on us. [...]"
There are "two forms of language philosophy, one which is dominating and informs most linguistic theories with a scientific pretense, and the other which is dominated, but resisting." The first theory is built around two central theses: the first says that language is a cooperative tool of communication, and the second that the language phenomena must be reduced, or abstracted, to be scientifically described through a rules system - what Saussure understands as a "language". "Tool and system are the two keywords of this dominating philosophy."
The second, dominated, theory, is the opposite: the language is not a cooperation tool, but "a weapon in the relations between human beings and its main function is the establishment of a balance of power". Also, the language, "before being an abstract system, is a set of practices [...] fromthe world and in the world. What we call the 'system' of the 'language" is actually a cristallisation or a sedimentation of these practices as the generations of speakers come and go. Balance of power and practice are the keywords of this conception." We can recognise the Marxist materialistic analysis here.
Following an introductory chapter on the possible necessity of still reading Lenin today - as the author says, he is, after all, "the leader of the world's first [successful] socialist revolution", and a chapter where the interaction between language and communism are analysed (see above), and how Lenin positioned himself in this situation, Lecercle uses the case of Lenin's discourse On Slogans to start establishing a Leninist philosophy of the use of language, which he expands in the following chapter, titled as the book "the Weapon of Language".
In this chapter, he describes the three "levels" of use of the language, with the associated discursive and militant roles, produced documents, temporality and language games. Lenin was himself positioning on the three levels: theoretical principles, strategy, and tactics, taking alternately the roles of theorist, propagandist and agitator.
In the next chapter, we follow Lenin's analysis that gives us a comprehension of how he implements his language theory in the service of righteousness and truth. Then we continue by following Lenin's interaction with the literature of his time, especially the satirist Saltykov-Shchedrin, Gorki, and Tolstoï.
The last chapter talks about the style of Lenin's interventions, and outlines what the author calls Lenin's "virtues": solidity, firmness, hardness, lucidity, subtlety, and accuracy, illustrating how each of them were part of his persona in the leadup to, and following, the 1917 revolutions.
The book was initially a bit tough to read, on the purely linguistics aspects, but as it got rolling, it got easier and easier, and more and more interesting. Not only in the sense that it does give some interest in reading Lenin, but also for the linguistics aspects that are outlined: the two forms of language philosophy, the three levels of use of the weapon of language, and the comprehension of the notion of "truth" by different language games.
-- The Levellers, debut album title
Jean-Jacques Lecerle, in an interview with the far-left French party Révolution Permanente, stated that "[f]or Lenin, the ideological struggle is a struggle for the reappropriation of the words hijacked by the class adversary [...]. It is a struggle to criticise the distortions that the class adversary imprints on these words: for instance, what the bourgeoisie means by democracy doesn't have much to do with true democracy. For Lenin, the ideological struggle has both a polemical and critical value. It is polemical because [...] it calls for the pouring of vinegar and bile into the sweet water of consensus and good-intentions that the dominating ideology, which dominates absolutely, imposes on us. [...]"
There are "two forms of language philosophy, one which is dominating and informs most linguistic theories with a scientific pretense, and the other which is dominated, but resisting." The first theory is built around two central theses: the first says that language is a cooperative tool of communication, and the second that the language phenomena must be reduced, or abstracted, to be scientifically described through a rules system - what Saussure understands as a "language". "Tool and system are the two keywords of this dominating philosophy."
The second, dominated, theory, is the opposite: the language is not a cooperation tool, but "a weapon in the relations between human beings and its main function is the establishment of a balance of power". Also, the language, "before being an abstract system, is a set of practices [...] fromthe world and in the world. What we call the 'system' of the 'language" is actually a cristallisation or a sedimentation of these practices as the generations of speakers come and go. Balance of power and practice are the keywords of this conception." We can recognise the Marxist materialistic analysis here.
Following an introductory chapter on the possible necessity of still reading Lenin today - as the author says, he is, after all, "the leader of the world's first [successful] socialist revolution", and a chapter where the interaction between language and communism are analysed (see above), and how Lenin positioned himself in this situation, Lecercle uses the case of Lenin's discourse On Slogans to start establishing a Leninist philosophy of the use of language, which he expands in the following chapter, titled as the book "the Weapon of Language".
In this chapter, he describes the three "levels" of use of the language, with the associated discursive and militant roles, produced documents, temporality and language games. Lenin was himself positioning on the three levels: theoretical principles, strategy, and tactics, taking alternately the roles of theorist, propagandist and agitator.
In the next chapter, we follow Lenin's analysis that gives us a comprehension of how he implements his language theory in the service of righteousness and truth. Then we continue by following Lenin's interaction with the literature of his time, especially the satirist Saltykov-Shchedrin, Gorki, and Tolstoï.
The last chapter talks about the style of Lenin's interventions, and outlines what the author calls Lenin's "virtues": solidity, firmness, hardness, lucidity, subtlety, and accuracy, illustrating how each of them were part of his persona in the leadup to, and following, the 1917 revolutions.
The book was initially a bit tough to read, on the purely linguistics aspects, but as it got rolling, it got easier and easier, and more and more interesting. Not only in the sense that it does give some interest in reading Lenin, but also for the linguistics aspects that are outlined: the two forms of language philosophy, the three levels of use of the weapon of language, and the comprehension of the notion of "truth" by different language games.
March 14, 2024
Bonne première approche mais plus de critiques ça aurait été bien
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews