I guess being in France for the best part of a fortnight this month has had its effect on us as a mini-family. Mark keeps wanting to eat his tea outside (but not managing it due to inclement weather), our Girl now likes to greet acquaintances with the double-cheek kiss business and me...well, I keep hearing French things in my head, making French noises ('bouf', 'bah...', 'urm...') and just generally thinking about things non-British a lot of the time.
For a start I heard a new version of the Fairport Convention song 'Si tu dois partir' on the radio this week (by young English folk singer Ruth Notman) and then found myself singing it all week long. You can hear a snippet of the Notman version on her myspace page (it's very good) and the Fairport version is here. Indeed Bob Dylan singing the original song in English is even closer - right here in fact:
Also I'm still reading 'A Place of Greater Safety' by Hilary Mantel (published in 1993 it is a fictionalised history of the French revolution). I think I'll be reading it all summer - it is 872 pages long and I don't want to rush it as it's SO sparklingly good. At the moment I'm nearly halfway through, the royals still have their heads and Guillotin is so far just an 'expert on public health'. It's fantastique, mes amis, really fantastique.
Then yesterday I watched (with mother) a French film 'Il ya longtemps que je t'aime/I've loved you so long' (Philippe Claudel 2008). It features the very smouldering Kristin Scott-Thomas and it's quite French in being slow and moody and really very sad. I liked it. It is sad without being drawn-out-to-the-point-of-agony sad plus after watching 'Marley and me' (one of Our Girl's current favourites) the night before I was ready for...well...any film other than 'Marley and me' really. (We got an armful of dvds from the rental shop this week and Girl is still dog-mad...right now she is watching a film about a kids soccer team with a dog in it).
But there is still more to life than France (and dogs...and dogs in France). This week I also caught up on old newspapers and read a lovely interview in the Independent with poet Carol Ann Duffy (who is what exactly...a bit Scottish, a bit English, presumably fairly Irish too, non?). The interview is here and was written by our old friend Christina Patterson. It contains some really special moments (on Ted Hughes, on families, on writing) and it also features Duffy describing how her Dad told her to 'get a proper job' instead of becoming a poet. And so, Duffy explains in the article, “part of my vocational sense about poetry is to do with asserting the space that poetry can have. It's as important as anything else...because it's the music of being human.” Now I'm not sure I completely agree with her (isn't music the music of being human?) but it sounds great, doesn't it? And such is poetry...n'est-ce pas?
Promise to stop sticking bits of French in all over the place soon too. It's probably really annoying.
x
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
22 comments:
Not annoying...I just don't speak French. {No, I can murder Spanish fairly well but it's true: don't use it, lose it.}
I'm glad you had such a nice time vacationing that it followed you home. Someone told me about the ending of "Marley and Me", therefore can't bring myself to watch it.
Have a great weekend...in whatever language. :)
I surprised myself by actually remembering quite a lot of French (from school) when we were away. Not all the brain cells have gone apparently.
As for that dog film - the dog dying at the end is so not the saddest aspect of the film. I don't want to be too cynical and nasty about it as our Girl really loves it so I will just say nothing much. It's about a family that has a dog. That's about it. You see a lot of Jennifer Anniston in shorts.
x
Oh look I spelt her name wrong. It's Aniston.
x
Thanks for pointing the way with C.A.D. interview - loved it.
And aren't holidays brillaint... the French through-out your post adds that certain je ne sais quoi...; )
x
(even the word verifier is at it...'nuit men'!)
Yes, it is a very enjoyable piece (the CAD interview). Is it partly that women going into literature don't expect major success and so when they get it...wow, are they happy and keen to make the most of it? Maybe that's simplifying things a little... but I think there is some truth in there.
x
Enjoyed the Dylan vid. It went well with the bits of I'm Not there I watched again on TV the other night. I still can't decide if I like that movie (in a weird Altman-y kind of way) or hate it (ditto). Maybe I should try watching it all the way through instead of getting confused and channel surfing away... Oh, and I like the French sprinkles.
Not surprisingly I haven't seen that movie, Deborah (I'm very behind with movies...). I did read the Chronicles Vol 1 autobiography thing a couple of years ago (and enjoyed it) though.
My him indoors is more the Dylan fan here but I like Dylan's songs a little more with every year that goes by. I knew the song I mention first in French (the FC version) - they sound such different songs in many ways.
x
What is it about French phrases (pidgin, on my part) that you so want to keep on saying them? Even when we just have French people to stay I still walk around murdering their language for the next 2 weeks. Bof!
Really enjoyed the Carol Ann Duffy interview, I think what impressed on me the most was her ... solidity. She seemed so very real and present.
"Marley and Me"? Chevaux sauvages!
Now we may have to include a complimentary French/English dictionary with this blog if we carry on like this...
Made me lol though, Titus. Is lol a verb on its own yet? What do the French type for lol? Must ask my French cousin.
x
Interesting, you're reading about the start of the revolution and I've just started reading Victor Hugo's plea for an end to the death penalty. It's considerably shorter I'm happy to report. Probably my favourite film of all time is by a Frenchman, Truffaut's The Man who Loved Women. I've not watched it in years though. I have a tape of it but even though I still own a video recorder we never think to use it. Dogs I can live without – either in the flesh or on screen – but we did get to see my daughter's cat a couple of weeks back. Was he a sook or what he a sook?
Now here's a thing...have I seen any Truffaut films? I feel like I should have done but I just went and looked at the full list and I'm not sure I have. I know I saw heaps of French 'classics' at the French Institute in London when we lived in that city but I'm not sure any of those titles ring a bell. Is that yet another hole in my cultural archive? I'm not sure I can take any more holes! And now our Girl is watching that film with the singing chipmunks in the background here (damn you rain!). I'm pretty sure it's not French or arthouse...Zut alors!
x
Interesting: amusing - and thought-provoking, though I imagine that was unintentional. Nostalgia-inducing too: reminded me of when our son was small, no matter where we went on holiday, he came back sounding like the natives. (I don't think he could do it now.)
Hmm...and thought-provoking comment too, Dave! Was I being intentionally thought-provoking or not...do I even know? Isn't most blogging about getting a response of some kind (not necessarily a comment...they are just the responses we know about)? Is all communication about provoking thought or action or both?
Hard to think with these chipmunks singing a la Pinky and Perky in the background, I can tell you.
x
I know where you are with the French seeping into your life and staying there. I'm still doing the double cheek kiss. I'm using all the Italian I can. Even the hand gestures which really is a bit eccentric.
I've even made focaccia from scratch (it failed. it was more like pizza. and I didn't use enough yeast.) I have a nice collection of Italian DVDs.
I learned to much from Italy, in hindsight, I learned not to simply revert back to Glaswegian alcoholism and infantilism.
Would like to hear an account of your Italian stay some time!
x
I'm off to Germany soon, but I won't be blogging while I'm away. A word or two may schleich in when I get back.
Oh yes, Colin, but I hope being surrounded by German does not a bizarre effect on your word order have.
x
Funny how one keeps wanting to do things the way one did them while away. Just got back from camping in the Lake District (peed it down) and find the layout of the house very confusing. I can't wash up in bed anymore
Yes, funny how quickly we get used to the different existence and then take a while to adjust back! Poor old brains...they have a lot to cope with.
x
Just catching up... I really like Ruth Notman (seen her twice live, she's from Nottingham, y'know). Check out her wonderful version of 'Caledonia' - it's one of two songs of hers on Solitary Radio at the moment... And the Dylan, well, yes, yes, of course, superb.
And as for Truffault... Just see the Antoine Doinel series (specially the 1st one - 'Les Quatre Cents Coups') and 'Jules et Jim' - personal favourites...
Better tard than jamais, SW.
x
Post a Comment