ABSTRACT
I would like to begin by thanking many people: by thanking all of you for coming here today; by thanking the French-American Foundation and the Florence Gould Foundation for providing this generous award; by thanking the eminent members of the jury for recognizing my work after taking the time to read a book that has often been characterized as unreadable and untranslatable, and which was said by the first professor with whom I studied it to have been repeatedly thrown across the room by him in exasperation; and by thanking my wife, Héloïse Fink, for having painstakingly reviewed all 900 pages of the translation line by line! Many other people helped me in a significant yet more sporadic way with the work, and I have thanked them in my introduction to the translation, but my wife deserves special mention because of her unfailing willingness to ensure that I didn’t put my feet in the plate, as the French say, or at least my foot in my mouth, that I didn’t do anything overly stupid—at least regarding the translation.
