It was too good to be true. BHL, France's top philosopher-star, quoted extensively and repeated Jean-Baptiste Botul, well known author of best seller, The Sexual Life of Emmanuel Kant. For this he won the dubious honor of the "Prix Botul", delivered each year by the "Botulism Foundation".
I first read about Botulism forty years ago (I'm that old) in a terrifying Reader's Digest article about a can of killer peas. "Minutes after Jane Doe swallowed the first pea," it stated breathlessly, "her vision blurred and she was dead!"
Dead! From peas!
No, the article calmly explained. From Botulism.
Well this terrible blight claimed another victim last week when it was revealed that Jean-Baptiste Botul never existed. Not just in the philosophical sense ( What is existence? Dasein? I doubt therefore I talk a lot...), but in the he-was-never-born sense. BHL speaks English, so the name should have been a tip off. But French intellectuals snub humor. Just don't get it.
Now, of course, all the BHL-bashers are having a field day. He's taken it like a man, however, complementing the clever rogue who tricked him. Christophe Barbier of l'Express has even come to his defense, which is kinda sweet.
