La parole en question

This article investigates the importance of language in Étienne de la Boétie’s Discours de la servitude volontaire, considered as much from the point of view of utterance – language impaired by tyranny and voluntary servitude – as from the point of view of enunciation. Aware of its own shortcomings and the difficulties inherent in naming, la Boétie’s language forgoes rhetorical effects and is essentially natural. It also establishes a distinctive connection with the reader, which is the very reverse of the glamor inherent in persuasion.