Stephen Potter’s Guide to Reading

Megan links to the now almost famous Not Reading post and recalls a conversation we had:

Me:  I’ve never read Camus in English. Alex:  That’s brilliant!  I’m going to use that. Me:  “I’ve never read Camus in English?” Alex:  No, like this:  “I’ve never read Camus in English” . . .   That way I don’t have to tell them I’ve never read Camus in French, either.

Grand stuff. My recollection, however, is subtly different:

Megan:  I’ve never read Camus in English. Alex:  That’s brilliant!  I’m going to use that. Megan:  “I’ve never read Camus in English?” Alex:  No, like this:  saying “I’ve never read Camus in English” carries the implication that you have read Camus in French.

This is, you’ll understand, classic One-upmanship. It can be adjusted, naturally, to other languages – eg, “In my experience Lampedusa/Rilke/Turgenev loses too much in translation to be worth reading outside the original language.” Due care and attention should of course be taken not to risk such a gambit in conversation with native speakers of said languages, who might be in a position to call your otherwise impeccable bluff.