"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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Un château hanté

Friday, 1 July 2011

Yesterday's haunted château escapade turned out to be bigger and better than I could have hoped for or imagined!! And that's saying a lot!

As this will be in my upcoming Haunted Guide to France, I can't tell you where it is or what name it goes by (otherwise, I'll have to kill you, mwah-ha!), but I can share some photos and some of the experience. 

Think château built during the Belle Époque period in France. Built by a wealthy man for his wife and family, this château was socially in the spirit of the Belle Époque era with its opulent architecture, its luxurious trapping and its famed social gathers and dinner parties. 

The château eventually passed from one hand to another up to today's current owner who lives in another country and refuses to sell and also refuses to preserve the château which was deemed an official Monument Historique in 1986. Sadly, the building has been utterly stripped of all its finery: original wood floors, chimneys, mirror, wood framing, etc. It has been squatted in, there are traces of sorcery and devil worship and it looks to be party central.

Voici quelque photos.

Living room stripped of everything, note the lack of wood flooring. 

Same for the salon.

The only intact piece of finery.

Madame's once opulent bedroom, complete with a small boudoir.

Madame's bath ...

... where we found traces of some sort of sorcery: burning of feathers and meat.

A rapper ode to love and Aids

Stripped bedroom

Staircase to attic

Grand staircase

Then my colleague (Ghost hunting is more fun à deux, so I have a big burly guy friend colleague who shall remain un mystère for the time being.) drags me down these dark, creepy stairs into the basement!!

At the bottom of which we find this amazing kitchen à la The Shining.

Then we go even further into the bowels of the mountain upon which the castle sits. Now, imagine the château was built upon massive (and I mean massive) vaulted arches as support. Cave-like rooms were dug back into the mountain from these arches to form rudimentary rooms.

Here is one of the arches.

One of the cave-like rooms in which--now get this--the owner in the 80's turned into a night club/pizzeria! What??? Hold the phone! 

How can I explain to you the surrealistic sentiment one gets when visiting a glorious Belle Époque masterpiece that has been raped and pillaged beyond reason, then one takes winding stairs, down, down, down and one finds this gaudy freakish 80's nightclub?

Some clever soul dubbed it "The Whore's Bar 24/24".

I'll have to admit, I was digging the glass walls (well, broken glass walls) looking out over the valley.

Where people have drunkenly launched bits and pieces of Belle Époque and 80's furniture and trimmings.

The pizzeria in arch number two.

The lounge. Love the one tiny remnant of tiger rug upon which sits the one remaining table upon which to pose your beverage. There was a psalm book open on the floor.

We spent several hours in the place simply digesting it all and feeling it. Then we went outside to the pool. I loved this arched gate that most likely led to the gardens, only I had absolutely NO desire to pass through it! It felt creepy and bad as did the pool. I felt as if it led to another dimension. (There were definitely creepy pockets of energy in the place, but overall it felt good)

Now ... just as we walked back towards the château, to head out, I clearly saw a ghost / spirit / presence. It was a flash, as though I had seen through a veil into another dimension. The ghost wasn't looking at us, he was simply walking as if heading downtown to do some errands. I sketched what I saw.

I think that because we spent so much time there and opened ourselves up to the place, I was able to see this spirit. I felt no harm. It was crystal clear and was just amazing to me.

Bon, back to my life as it is in Lyon!! Do stay tuned for next weekend as we are visiting a place that is documented to be haunted. 

Gros bisous des châteaux magnifique ainsi que surréaliste et a bientôt!

Love Charley

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