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FeaturesApril 2001 Discovering LaRochefoucauld Lessons from the great French master of the discomfiting aphorism.
I remember the day I discovered La Rochefoucauld; or rather, to
put it the way round that is now de rigueur among historians of
the Spanish conquest of America, the day La Rochefoucauld
discovered me. I was twelve years old, and I had been sent to the
local barbers for my two-weekly haircut. I had half a crown
pocket money to spend, and I was in the habit of buying
books that were slightly too difficult for me to read. Those were
the last days in British history when people wanted to appear
cleverer, instead of stupider, than they were.
Next door to the barbershop was a newsagent that had a small revolving rack of books. How can I put this without sounding absurdly nostalgic or golden-ageist? You could go to a lot of newsagents in England nowadays without finding a copy of La Rochefoucauld. Anyway, this Penguin Classic, whose bright green border I remember vividly, suited my purposes admirably; a slender volume, it offere ... This article is available to subscribers and for individual purchaseSubscribe to TNC (Print and Online editions) Subscribe to TNC (Online only) This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 19 April 2001, on page 28 Copyright © 2012 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/larouchefoucauld-dalrymple-2206
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