"Le Peau de Chagrin" by Honoré de Balzac

Friday, 2 March 2012

Honoré de Balzac (1799 - 1850)

French novelist and playwright extraordinaire, Balzac was one of the pioneers of Realism in European literature. His magnum opus, La Comédie Humaine (The Human Comedy), is a collection of interconnected novels portraying French society during the Restoration and July Monarchy. 

As you can see, not for the weak of heart to plunge in and read such an opus!

Balzac inspired novelists such as Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Poe, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gustave Flaubert, Marie Corelle, Henry James, William Faulkner and Jack Kerouac.

An aside: just read Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs' And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks, a brilliant forerunner to the Beat Movement, which consequently led me to devour more of William S. Burroughs' works (already have read much Kerouac). Je me regale! 

Bon, I digress! 

As Balzac was an early pioneer of Realism, he had a sharp eye for detail and gave readers an unfiltered representation of society. Balzac sought to present his characters as real people, neither fully good nor fully evil, but fully human. 

Balzac lived in a time of great political and sociological change, a time when brilliant authors were penning great epics, a time when magic and creativity were prevalent. (See the film Impromptu for an eye candy visual of cette époque.)

One of my favorite novels by Honoré de Balzac is Le Peau de Chagrin or The Magic Skin. 

One year prior to commencing his magnum opus, La Comédie Humaine, Balzac wrote Le Peau de Chagrin using fantastic elements to create a realistic portrayal of the excesses of bourgeois materialism. The central theme of the novel is the conflict between desire and longevity, the magic skin represents the owner's life-force. 

The novel consists of three sections: Le Talisman (The Talisman), La Femme sans cœur (The Woman without a Heart) and L'Agonie (The Agony). 

In the first section, The Talisman, a young man named Raphaël de Valentin wagers his last bit of money, loses and goes towards the River Seine to drown himself. On his way, he is drawn into a curiosities shop. 

The shopkeeper shows him a piece of shagreen, or rawhide, inscribed with what the old man calls Sanskrit, but what is really imprecise Arabic. The skin promises to fulfill any wish by the owner, shrinking each time a wish is fulfilled. 

The shopkeeper offers the skin to Valentin at no charge, while at the same time urging him not to accept the offer. Valentin takes the skin, ignoring the warnings and immediately wishes for a royal banquet filled with wine, women and friends. He is greeted by friends in the street who invite him to such a banquet. 

The second section, The Woman without a Heart, is a flashback to his life prior to receiving the magic skin. He tells a friend of his early days as a poor scholar, living with an elderly landlady and her daughter, Pauline. Valentin is blind to Pauline's affections, and tries fruitlessly to win the heart of a beautiful and aloof woman named Foedora. His tutor encourages him to immerse himself into the world of high society as a means to win Foedora's heart. Valentin succeeds in maneuvering into her social circle, only to be unable to gain her affection. He becomes the miserable and desperate man found at the beginning of section one. 

In the third section, The Agony, Valentin has used the magic skin to achieve a large income, but we find both his health and the skin dwindling. He panics. He is terrified that more wishes will hasten the end of his life. 

To avoid making any further wishes, he arranges for his home and his life to want for nothing. Yet events beyond his control oblige him to wish for various things, and the skin continues to shrink. 

Pauline, daughter of the elderly landlady from Valentin's life as a poor scholar, comes to visit him. She expresses her love for him. When she learns the truth about the magic skin and her role in Valentin's demise, she is horrified. Valentin cannot control his desire for her and she rushes into an adjoining room to escape him and so save his life. He pounds on the door and declares both his love and his desire to die in her arms. She, meanwhile, is trying to kill herself to free him from his desire. He breaks down the door, they consummate their love in a fiery moment of passion, and he dies.

Whew!

Reading Balzac's The Magic Skin is a journey into another time. I sometimes found it to be dense and difficult, but with patience, I came to love and adore his writing and the story. 

An aside: George Sand was one of the first people to read this novel, prior to publishing it. I adore this  French female author, you can learn more about her in my blog entry.)

Bon, happy reading et bon weekend à tous!

Love, 

Charley

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Marthe Richard

Friday, 10 February 2012

Marthe Richard (1889 - 1982), prostitute, spy during both World Wars, author of erotic fiction and politician. 

"De la petite à la grande vertu": from a woman of easy virtue to a woman of great virtue. 

In Nancy, in 1903, at the age of fourteen, Marthe Richard became an apprentice to a tailor. By the age of sixteen, she was registered as a prostitute. A soldier accused her of giving him syphilis, and she fled to Paris. There, she married wealthy industrialist, Henry Richer, in 1907.

In 1912, Henry bought her a plane. In 1913, flying the plane herself, she claimed to have broken the female record for the Le Crotoy-Zurich trip. The reality was that she only flew the plane to Burgundy, and had it shipped to the country outside Zurich, where she then flew it into the city of Zurich, but the record stayed intact.  

Marthe's husband, Henry Richer, died during World War I, in 1916. 

(Still from the 1937 film, "Marthe Richard au service de la France")

Shorlty after her husband's death, she became a spy under Captain Georges Ladoux, thanks to her lover, a young Russian Anarchist. Part of her duties as a spy were to become mistress to Von Krohn, head of the German Navy in Madrid. Upon her return to France, Marthe discovered that Captain Ladoux was a double agent and he was placed under arrest. 

In 1926, she married Thomas Crompton, financial director for the Rockefeller Foundation, and patron of restoration for Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon. He died unexpectedly in 1928.

She published the best seller, "My Life As A Spy In The French Service", which, in 1937 was turned into a film,  Marthe Richard espionne au service de la France, starring Erich von Stroheim and Edwidge Feillere, directed by Raymond Bernard. 

Her lover at the time, French Prime Minister Édouard Herriot, gave her the Légion d'honneur for Foreign Affairs. 

(Still from the 1937 film, "Marthe Richard au service de la France")

During World War II, Marthe again became a spy, revered in France and detested in Germany. She became close to several members of the Gestapo, including François Spirito.

By 1945, Marthe was a famous French heroine of two wars, and was elected to the Municipal Court of the IVeme arrondissement in Popular Republican Movement party.

A brothel

In that same year, she presented her plan for the closing of all brothels in her district. Her will was done in the short space of three months, and Marthe proceeded with a campaign to close brothels in all of France. 

In 1946, a bill was passed entitled La loi Marthe Richard (The Law of Marthe Richard) with the help of The Christian Democrat MRP and the Communist Party. On April 13, 1946, 1,400 brothels were closed. (Many of these brothels were converted into hotels, where prostitutes continued to do business.) 

To clarify: prostitution was still legal, but several acts surrounding it were illegal.

In 1948, she was accused of involvement with organized crime, smuggling jewels and of covering up crimes. In 1954, these accusations were pronounced false, her reputation was saved.

From these processes came the nickname La Veuve Qui Clôt (The Widow who closes the deal), a pun on the premium champagne Veuve Cliquot. 

In her later years, Marthe wrote erotic fiction, and gave seminars about her time as a spy. 

Marthe Richard died in 1982 at the ripe old age of 92.

Bon weekend et groses bisous des femmes... intéressantes. 

Love, Charley

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Mylène Farmer

Monday, 30 January 2012

Mylène Farmer, French singer, songwriter, actress and author.

Some say she is France's Lady Gaga, bien sur, before the latter was even born. Others say she is a sort of Madonna with more substance, imagination and artistry (la French touch), some compare her to Michael Jackson as, like Thriller, her music videos changed the way music clips were being made. What is certain is that Miss Farmer is a mega-star.

Mylène Farmer has sold more than 30 million records, is one of the most successful recording artists of all time in France and holds the record for the most #1 hits in the French charts with 12 to date, 8 of which were consecutive. She is the only French singer to have a #1 hit throughout four consecutive decades.

Pretty impressive.

Born in Quebec in 1961 to French parents, she moved to France when she was 8. At 17, she discovered acting and changed her surname name to Farmer in tribute to her idol, actress Frances Farmer. In 1984, she met 17-year-old film student, Laurent Boutonnat, after responding to an ad for an actress in a small film he was working on. They became friends, writing and producing music together, with Boutonnat being the force behind Mylène's music videos--a collaboration that still survives today.

It was with the release of the single "Libertine" on her 1986 album, "Cendres de Lune" that the tone for Mylène's musical style was set, the lyrics  are sensual and romantic, inspired by 19th century literature. Boutonnat, who directed and produced the video, was inspired by Stanley Kubricks film "Barry Lyndon" and the novels of the Marquis de Sade. It is the very first video in which a French female singer appears full frontal naked. 

Here is part one of two of Mylène's richly decorous erotic epics set in 18th century France. They are certainly more films than music videos, carrying the watcher back to another époque. 

Libertine

Her second album, "Ainsi soit je" (a play on the French expression "ainsi soit-il", or "so be it"), has a much darker ambiance, and is more sexually ambiguous than her previous album. Its songs are inspired by Mylène's favorite authors, including French romantic poet Charles Baudelaire and American horror writer Edgar Allen Poe. 

The first #1 hit of her career from her second album, "Pourvu qu'elles soient douces"is the suite to "Libertine". 

Pourvu Qu'elles Soient Douces

Mylène Farmer notoriously shied away from the public eye, and hesitated to tour in concert. Finally she agreed in 1989 to a full scale 52-date tour in Europe; her costumes were designed by Thierry Mugler.

The release of her 3rd album in 1991, "L'Autre..." made her an icon with its single "Désenchantée" (the best selling French single of all time according the Guinness Book of World Records). Unfortunately, a man who had been stalking her entered Polydor Records in Paris and held employees at gunpoint demanding to speak with Miss Farmer. He murdered the receptionist. Mylène fled to Los Angeles to live for a short while. 

Désenchantée

In 1992, her album "Dance Remixes" was releases which included a new song, "Que mon cœur lâche", a song dealing with AIDS and sexual relations, and directed by the amazing French director, Luc Besson (I will blog about this director soon as his films are absolute masterpieces).

During her time in California, she wrote her forth studio album, Anamorphosée, again, a huge success.

In 1999, her fifth studio album, Innamoramento, was released, and later that year she toured, the Mylenium Tour, which set the record for the highest grossing tour by a non-English speaking artist.

In 2001, her first greatest hits collection came out, "Les Mots", whose title track and single, a duet with Seal, became a huge hit.

After a long period of silence, in December 2004, Mylène held a press conference to announce her new album "Avant que l'ombre" with her new single "Fuck Them All". The album went multi-platinum. This was followed by a 13-night concert engagement in Paris in 2006. There was little to no promotion, marking a new level of reclusively for the icon (to date, nothing is known about her personal life). This show was designed by Mark Fisher, and featured two stages connected by a mobile bridge and a curtain of words written with water.

She recorded a duet with Moby entitled "Slipping Away", to which she translated the lyrics into French.

Mylène then worked on Luc Besson's film "Aurther and the Minimoys", doing the voice of Selenia whose character was voiced by Madonna in the international version.

2008 marked the release of her electro-driven album "Point de Suture". Mylène Farmer beat her own record of having more #1 hits in France than any other artist with 5 singles from the album at #1.

"Bleu Noir" was released in 2010, produced by Farmer, RedOne, Moby and Archive with collaborations with Line Renaud and Ben Harper.

Her single "Oui mais... non" was produced by RedOne who co-produced "Poker Face", "Bad Romance" and "LoveGame" and who has worked not only with Lady Gaga, but with Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull.

Mylène Farmer performed this last Saturday at France's NRJ (pronounced energy) Music Awards.

So, my big question is... what is she going to surprise and astound us with next? En tout cas, well done, Miss Farmer, chapeau (hats off)....

Groses bisous de musique original et a bientôt.

Love, Charley

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History of the French language - part two

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

La suite.

A quick recap from my last blog, History of the French language, and on to the rest (la suite). 

France was first inhabited by the Celts, an Indo-European and ethno-linguistically diverse group of tribal societies in the Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages. This Celtic culture had expanded over a large area to the British Isles (Insular Celts), France (Gauls), Central Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, northern Italy and the Balkans. By the first millennium CE, following the Roman invasions and the Great Migrations, the Celtic culture became restricted to Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and to northern France (Brittany).

Expansion of the Celtic culture, BCE.

Roman invaders

Then the Romans invaded, and Vulgar Latin quickly took hold among the urban aristocracy for mercantile, official and educational reasons, but did not prevail in the countryside until some four or five centuries later.

The Franks

The Franks: From the 3rd century on, Western Europe was invaded by Germanic tribes from the north and east, and some of these groups settled in Gaul.  

Scandinavian Vikings

Scandinavian Vikings invaded France from the 9th century on, which threw a few Old Norse words in the mix such as: mouette, crique, hauban and hune.

Arabic scholars

About the same time, many words from the Arabic language came into the mix primarily via Medieval Latin, Italian and Spanish. Words such as: élixir, orange, safran, alcool, bougie, coton, alchimie, hasard, algèbre and algorithme.

An aside: beginning in the 7th century, Arabic became what Greek had been to the Hellenistic world, a common language to the Islamic world. The language created an international network of letters, science, philosophy and medicine. Islamic people practiced religious tolerance, cultural tolerance, excelled in trade and were a curious people who quickly became experts in philosophy, astronomy, geography, mathematics, chemistry and medicine. Hence the words above. (For more, take a look at this series of films: The Byzantine Empire Parts four and five.)

So, where does all this leave us? With a mix of Celtic Gaulish and Vulgar Latin, sprinkled with German, Scandinavian, Old Norse and Arabic.

Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in northern France, modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th to the 14th century. Old French is broken down into two principal types: langue d'oïl in the north, and langue d'oc, the Occitan language spoken in Provence. 

Medieval French Scholar

In the third Council of Tours in 813, priests were ordered to preach either Romance or Germanic since the common people could no longer understand formal Latin. 

Charlemagne

Crusaders

Old French became a literary language with the chansons de geste which told tales of the paladins of Charlemagne and the heroes of the Crusades. 

And, in 1539, by the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, King Francis I made French the official language of administration and court proceedings, ousting the Latin that had been used up until then. 

This French is called Middle French (moyen français).

Académie française

In the 17th and 18th centuries, following a period of unification, regulation and purification, the language developed into what we call Classical French. The foundation of the Académie française in 1634 by Cardinal Richelieu created an official body whose goal has been the purification and preservation of the French language.

.A total aside: (The Cardinal is played by Charlton Heston in  a film based upon Alexandre Dumas père's The Three Musketeers, or read a little Alexandre Dumas père or fils.) 

During The Age of Enlightenment, from the 17th to the 19th centuries, French became the lingua franca of educated Europe especially in regards to arts, literature and diplomacy.

Weimar's "Courtyard of the Muses"

An interesting side note: According to historian Eric Hobsbawm, "in 1789, 50% of the French people didn't speak French at all, and only 12 to 13% spoke it 'fairly'" as there were many local dialects or "patois". "...in the north as in the south of France, almost nobody spoke French."

In the last century, there has been a great influence of English in the French language (Franglais), especially in regards to international business, the sciences and popular culture. 

Recently, there has been pressure from some regions of France for recognition and support for their regional languages (remember all those "patois" dialects above?).

Today, the Académie française continues to preserve the French language.

Whew, that was fun and interesting!!

Groses kisses et see you bientôt.

Love, Charley

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Molière

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin aka Molière

(1622 - 1673)

Known to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature, Molière was a playwright as well as an actor. He wrote dozens of plays, some of the most famous of which are: 

Le Misanthrope (The Misanthrope), 

L'École des femmes (The School for Wives), 

Tartuffe ou L'Imposteur, (Tartuffe or the Hypocrite),

L'Avare (The Miser), 

and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman)

Les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies), 

L'École des maris (The School for Husbands), and

Le Malade imaginaire (The Hypochondriac).

Molière was born into a well to do family. His mother died when he was ten years old. His father purchased a post from the court of Louis XIII, that of "valet de chambre ordinaire et tapissier du Roi" ("valet of the King's chamber and keeper of carpets and upholstery"). After having completed his studies at the Jesuit Collège de Clermont, he followed his father's plans taking up the King's post which would serve to help him in the future as a great network of contacts. 

When he was twenty-one, he decided to pursue a career on the stage, a big decision for a man of his class at the time. Actors were no longer seen as utter villains under King Louis XIV, but they were not allowed to be buried in hallowed ground. This is perhaps why he took the stage name, Molière, to spare his father any embarrassment. 

Partnering up with fellow actress Madeleine Béjart, he founded L'Illustre Théâtre in 1643. This company went bankrupt and another was formed which lasted twelve years. During the travels of this second company, Armand, Prince of Conti, governor of Languedoc and member of the reigning house of Bourbon (more on that in the next blog, as I visited the Chateau de Chantilly, home of the Bourbons and Princes of Condé), became his patron.

That is until Armand, Prince of Conti contracted syphilis from a courtesan, attempted to cure himself through religion and turned against Molière. (The drama!)

Armand, Prince of Conti

In Lyon, Molière's troupe picked up a ballet dancer and actress; a certain Marquise-Thérèse de Gorla, stage name Mademoiselle Du Parc.

Known for her love affairs, she was the object of affection for several famous people including Corneille who wrote poems about her. A star of the troupe, "She made some notable antics, because we saw her legs and part of her thighs through its split skirt on both sides, with silk stockings attached to the top of panties". After Racine and Molière quarreled (as Molière refused to perform one of Racine's works), Racine began a love affair with Mademoiselle Du Parc and she consequently transferred over to his acting troupe.

In 1658, Molière performed Corneille's tragedy Nicomède in front of the King at the Louvre. The King as delighted and Molière was awarded the title Troupe de Monsieur and he joined a famous Italian Commedia dell'arte company. 

In 1661, Nicolas Fouquet (see my blog) requested that Molière perform his play Les Fâcheux for the first time at a magnificent fête in King Louis XIV's honor at his new castle, Vaux-le-Vicomte. One of the biggest fêtes in the history of France (the head chef was non other than the famous François Vatel, take note of this name, more to come). Fouquet was arrested that night for embezzlement (he was the King's treasurer), imprisoned for life and his wife and son exiled. 

Vaux-le-Vicomte

As Molière frequently wrote satires on social mannerisms and affections, he was often attacked and criticized for his works. The King always stood behind him, although sometimes admonishing him by obliging him to write something on a more softer tone. Several of Molière's plays were banned during this time, among them Tartuffe and Dom Juan ou le Festin de Pierre. 

It is important to recognize the amazing feats that Molière performed: during his fourteen year reign in Paris on the stage, he wrote thirty-one of the eighty-five plays performed and single-handedly held the troupe together. 

Suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, Molière collapsed on stage in a fit of coughing while performing in his last play Le Malade imaginaire (The Hypochondriac). He insisted upon finishing the play, collapsing again with a large hemorrhage. He was taken home at the end of the play and died two hours later in his bed. 

As I mentioned above, French actors were not allowed to be buried in hallowed ground. Molière's widow begged the King for a night funeral and the King agreed, allowing Molière to be buried in the back part of the cemetery reserved for unbaptised children.

In 1817, Molière's remains were brought to the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris where you can visit today. 

In 2007, director Laurent Tirard made the film entitled Molière starring one of my favorite actors, Roman Duris (see my blog), Fabrice Luchini and Ludivine Sagnier. Voici le trailer:

Voila! gros bisous de comédie exquise et a bientôt!!

Love, Charley  

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