John L. Brown’s Epistolary Wit

John L. Brown’s Epistolary Wit

John Lackey Brown was a literary correspondent in Paris in the aftermath of World War II. He was later posted as cultural attaché in Brussels, Rome and Mexico City during the first two decades of the Cold War. Those who knew him best say he was appreciated for his good humor, wit and love of culture...

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Vydáno v:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles,
Hlavní autor: Ricaud, Raphaël
Médium: Article ou chapitre numérique
Jazyk:Anglais
Vydáno: Angles 2020
Témata:
États-Unis
trait d’esprit
politique étrangère
Guerre froide
public diplomacy
Brown John L.
foreign policy
wit
USA
Cold War
On-line přístup:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
id openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_2074
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spelling openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_2074 https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.2074 urn:doi:10.4000/angles.2074 en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/2074 2020-07-16T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/9n0r https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ John L. Brown’s Epistolary Wit Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles Ricaud, Raphaël États-Unis trait d’esprit politique étrangère Guerre froide public diplomacy Brown John L. foreign policy wit USA Cold War public diplomacy Brown John L. John Lackey Brown was a literary correspondent in Paris in the aftermath of World War II. He was later posted as cultural attaché in Brussels, Rome and Mexico City during the first two decades of the Cold War. Those who knew him best say he was appreciated for his good humor, wit and love of culture. He is even said to have set the standard for the profession. Verba volant, scripta manent (spoken words fly away, written ones remain). Due to the ephemeral and private nature of asides, one can only speculate on this Cultural Affairs officer’s use of wit and its efficacy. However, there is a host of archival material at the Lauinger Library (Georgetown University) which can be mined for answers. Based on a sample of these letters, this paper sets out to classify and analyze the use of wit Brown made in his varied correspondence, and to study the extent to which it served a diplomatic purpose. In the end, I show wit was not an addition to Dr. Brown’s diplomatic endeavor; it was an integral part of it. Quips were tension relievers, strengthening trans-national bonds that united him to his peers. But they were also a way to word what could not otherwise be said. John Lackey Brown was not the epitome of the cultural attaché because he used wit and diplomacy. He stood out because he used wit as diplomacy. John Lackey Brown était le correspondant littéraire du New York Times en poste à Paris au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Lors des deux premières décennies de la Guerre froide, il fut attaché culturel dans les ambassades américaines de Bruxelles, Rome et Mexico. Ceux qui le connaissaient le mieux disaient de lui qu'il était apprécié pour sa bonne humeur, son esprit et son amour pour la culture. Au sein de sa profession, il faisait figure de modèle. Les paroles s’envolent, les écrits restent. En raison de la nature éphémère et privée des apartés, on ne peut que spéculer sur l'utilisation de l’esprit dont faisait preuve cet attaché culturel dans ses démarches diplomatiques. Les archives de sa correspondance, en revanche, demeurent et méritent être étudiées (elles reposent à la bibliothèque Lauinger de l’université de Georgetown, à Washington D.C.). Cette étude, fondée sur un corpus représentatif de cette correspondance, vise à classer et analyser l'esprit épistolaire de Brown, et à dégager le bon usage de l’humour en matière de diplomatie. Les échanges épistolaires de Brown témoignent du fait que l'esprit n’est pas un « plus » diplomatique, mais qu’au contraire, faire preuve d’esprit entre pleinement dans le cadre du processus diplomatique. En effet, les traits d’esprits permettaient à Brown de détendre l’atmosphère et de resserrer les liens transatlantiques qui l’unissaient à ses pairs. Par ailleurs, les bons mots permettaient d’exprimer ce qui ne pouvait être formulé autrement. Ce n’est donc pas parce qu’il faisait preuve d’esprit et de diplomatie que Brown était considéré comme le modèle même de l’attaché culturel, mais bien parce qu’il se servait de l’esprit en tant qu’outil diplomatique.
collection OpenEdition Journal
language Anglais
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/
topic États-Unis
trait d’esprit
politique étrangère
Guerre froide
public diplomacy
Brown John L.
foreign policy
wit
USA
Cold War
public diplomacy
Brown John L.
spellingShingle États-Unis
trait d’esprit
politique étrangère
Guerre froide
public diplomacy
Brown John L.
foreign policy
wit
USA
Cold War
public diplomacy
Brown John L.
Ricaud, Raphaël
John L. Brown’s Epistolary Wit
description John Lackey Brown was a literary correspondent in Paris in the aftermath of World War II. He was later posted as cultural attaché in Brussels, Rome and Mexico City during the first two decades of the Cold War. Those who knew him best say he was appreciated for his good humor, wit and love of culture. He is even said to have set the standard for the profession. Verba volant, scripta manent (spoken words fly away, written ones remain). Due to the ephemeral and private nature of asides, one can only speculate on this Cultural Affairs officer’s use of wit and its efficacy. However, there is a host of archival material at the Lauinger Library (Georgetown University) which can be mined for answers. Based on a sample of these letters, this paper sets out to classify and analyze the use of wit Brown made in his varied correspondence, and to study the extent to which it served a diplomatic purpose. In the end, I show wit was not an addition to Dr. Brown’s diplomatic endeavor; it was an integral part of it. Quips were tension relievers, strengthening trans-national bonds that united him to his peers. But they were also a way to word what could not otherwise be said. John Lackey Brown was not the epitome of the cultural attaché because he used wit and diplomacy. He stood out because he used wit as diplomacy.
author Ricaud, Raphaël
author_facet Ricaud, Raphaël
author_sort Ricaud, Raphaël
title John L. Brown’s Epistolary Wit
title_short John L. Brown’s Epistolary Wit
title_full John L. Brown’s Epistolary Wit
title_fullStr John L. Brown’s Epistolary Wit
title_full_unstemmed John L. Brown’s Epistolary Wit
title_sort john l. brown’s epistolary wit
publisher Angles
publishDate 2020
container_title URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.2074
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/2074
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