Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Jeremiad against Jeremiah
Anatole France (1844-1924), quoted in Geoffrey Madan's Notebooks: A Selection, edd. J.A. Gere and John Sparrow (1981; rpt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), p. 4:
Thanks to Heath Hutto, who tracked down the quotation, not in any work by Anatole France, but in Ernest Renan (1823-1892), Histoire du Peuple d'Israel, Tome III (Paris: Calmann Lévy, 1891), p. 175 (chapter XII; note the absence of "ce"):
Related post: Motes, Beams, Lice, Ticks, Rucksacks.
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On eût fort étonné ce Jérémie si on lui eût dit que le péché des autres ne le regardait pas.I can't find any other printed source for this quotation, which means (I think):
One would have shocked this Jeremiah if one had told him that other people's sins were none of his business.Perhaps "ce Jérémie" is not the prophet himself but some contemporary fulminating like Jeremiah.
Thanks to Heath Hutto, who tracked down the quotation, not in any work by Anatole France, but in Ernest Renan (1823-1892), Histoire du Peuple d'Israel, Tome III (Paris: Calmann Lévy, 1891), p. 175 (chapter XII; note the absence of "ce"):
On eût fort étonné Jérémie, si on lui eût dit que le péché des autres ne le regardait pas.Pierre Wechter also independently identified the correct source.
Related post: Motes, Beams, Lice, Ticks, Rucksacks.
