First, an admission. Before I start writing about How Do You Talk About Books You Haven't Read?, the Frenchman Pierre Bayard's latest volume, I should confess that I haven't read it. But I will. Honest - I've already ordered it from Amazon.fr.
And as Bayard himself surely should agree, not having read How Do You Talk About Books You Haven't Read? hardly disqualifies me from writing about it.
Over here, HDYTABYHR would be a half-hearted potboiler of the kind placed tactfully at Books etc checkouts before Christmas. To British ears, the title suggests a slim how-to volume along the lines of Does Anything Eat Wasps? with a dash of John Sutherland's So You Think You Know Jane Austen?
But a glance at Bayard's back catalogue suggests that something much more interesting is going on here. His Comment améliorer les oeuvres ratées? (How could we improve failed works?) suggested how parts of Victor Hugo and Molière might be made more compelling.
If the title of HDYTABYHR suggests a self-help manual for the literarily challenged, the contents almost certainly do not. Here's Le Monde on the book:
"The title should not be interpreted as mocking or cynical, but provocative ... [Bayard] comes from a background 'where we didn't read much'."
He writes of the need to "escape the oppressive image of a flawless culture, transmitted and imposed by family and school - an image we try in vain to live up to all our lives ... Being cultivated is not about having read this or that book, but knowing how to navigate among them ... and how to place each work in context."
Bayard compares that skill to knowing which book belongs where on a bookcase without necessarily having read them all. In Britain, it would probably be called bullshitting; in France, however, taking about books without having read them is a perfectly acceptable skill.
And Bayard has some useful tips, relayed by the Times today, for carrying it off: "Avoid precise details. Put aside rational thought. Let your sub-conscience [sic] express your personal relationship with the book." In other words: do not be intimidated by your own ignorance, and don't worry about being found out.
This approach is anathema to the British, who adore exposing pretention: for a start, spotting other people's gaffes is a great way of reminding yourself how well-informed you are.
When I mentioned the book in today's Wrap, a reader emailed: "There is nothing new about How To Talk About Books You Haven't Read. I used to do it a lot years ago - only then it was called Taking a degree in English Literature." Typical. We'd rather self-deprecate than pretend to have read Finnegan's Wake. Or read Finnegan's Wake.
But do you need to have read HDYTABYHR in order to talk about it? I'd like to think I've proved the contrary right here - but do go ahead and abuse me for it. Just don't pretend you've read it either.
Even the French are much keener on You're Not Going to Have the Last Word! - An Offhand Little Anthology of the Best Repartee, which is currently number three on Amazon.fr.
