Between Babel and Pentecost: Joseph de Maistre and the Diversity of Languages

Abstract

Joseph de Maistre’s theological theory of language has a strong bias against translation and plurilinguism. This position however coexists with constant references to ancient and modern languages, and reflections on what Barbara Cassin calls “philosophical untranslatables.” Paradoxically, this staunch critic of enlightened cosmopolitanism offers an original reading of foreign languages; one of its main effects is to de-center the universalism of the clarté and the ethnocentric translation of the belles infidèles. Unlike other counterrevolutionaries, such as the Viscount de Bonald or Lamennais, De Maistre, a foundational figure of anti-modernity, presents a radically fragmented and multilingual textuality, that allows him to reflect on the relation between language and truth. As we intend to show in this paper, this violence on classical French is closely connected with revolutionary violence.