FOREIGN MATTER
Sir,-I entirely agree with "Smooth Passage" in disliking the unnecessary introduction of foreign words into English; but surely it is recognised as good English practice to use foreign words for which there is not a native substitute. Fowler, who condemns the gallicising habit as strongly as anyone, also points to the justifiable use of agent provacateur, esprit de corps, cadre, "and a hundred other words that save circumlocution." I submit that poéte maudit is a term of this kind. It is in recognised critical use, and I take it to stand for something like the idea of the poet-as-scapegoat, expiating the sins of society by accepting its "curse." There is no English term that gives this meaningobviously the literal translation (‘‘accursed poet’) won't help. I further submit that the term properly applies to Mr. Baxter’s work in Poems Unpleasant and certain other places. It may be, as "Smooth Passage" alleges, that the term was unfamiliar to some readers; thanks to our joint efforts, that is now changed and (to use another untranslatable foreign expression) they ken fine the noo.
M.K.
J.
(Auckland).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530619.2.12.5
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 727, 19 June 1953, Page 5
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184FOREIGN MATTER New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 727, 19 June 1953, Page 5
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