Mork the Fiddle's 2019 Log

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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: Mork the Fiddle's 2019 Log

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sun Apr 24, 2022 6:04 pm

French
Radio interview: Radioscopie : Henri Troyat (1976)

Troyat was a biographer and novelist. His family moved from Russia and settled in Paris in 1920, when he was 10 or 11. A prolific writer, he published more than 100 books in his lifetime. For the record, I havn’t read any of them.
Of interest perhaps to language learners, Troyat discloses that he dreamt in French, not Russian.
Don't let the photo of the url fool you: the interview is voice only
Spanish
Continuing with La Novela de Genji. Reached so far (Kindle) page 1997, or 91%. The novel is ever fascinating.
Ancient Greek
Re-reading Book 8 of Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War. My earlier work mindmapping a few words of ancient Greek is paying dividends, helping both with words already studied and with training me to look more closely at unknown words for clues to meaning.
9 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

DaveAgain
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Re: Mork the Fiddle's 2019 Log

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Apr 25, 2022 5:45 am

MorkTheFiddle wrote:French
Radio interview: Radioscopie : Henri Troyat (1976)

Troyat was a biographer and novelist. His family moved from Russia and settled in Paris in 1920, when he was 10 or 11. A prolific writer, he published more than 100 books in his lifetime. For the record, I havn’t read any of them.
Of interest perhaps to language learners, Troyat discloses that he dreamt in French, not Russian.
Don't let the photo of the url fool you: the interview is voice only
I've read a few of Mr Troayat's books, of those I liked his Rasputin biography best. My jaw dropped at one point and didn't close until I finished the book. :-)

In the Dumas one we learn that Mr Dumas' grandfather went to the carribean to find fortune, and started a family with a slave (?). Later to raise money for the fare back to France he SOLD HIS CHILDREN, eventually buying back one he liked, who then went on to become a General in the Napoleonic army, and the father of Alexandre Dumas the author.

I think one of his novellas might have been a set book for British school children at one point, bit of a sad one.

There's a collection of interviews published called "un si long chemin" that I've been meaning to buy for a while. [promoted in the Radioscopie interview! :-)]
4 x

Aloyse
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Re: Mork the Fiddle's 2019 Log

Postby Aloyse » Mon Apr 25, 2022 9:31 am

DaveAgain wrote:I think one of his novellas might have been a set book for British school children at one point, bit of a sad one.

It must have been required reading in France too (or at least in the school I attended) because I remember reading it.

Re: Dumas père, it is widely known that his grandma was Black (see his story "Georges" about a young biracial child being bullied at school, also his famous answer to someone who asked him whether he was "descended from a monkey"), but I had no idea about the grandpa selling his other kids, wow!
Talk about a throwback to ancient Rome or something.
2 x
Future me already did it.

DaveAgain
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Re: Mork the Fiddle's 2019 Log

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Apr 25, 2022 9:54 am

Aloyse wrote:Re: Dumas père, it is widely known that his grandma was Black (see his story "Georges" about a young biracial child being bullied at school, also his famous answer to someone who asked him whether he was "descended from a monkey"), but I had no idea about the grandpa selling his other kids, wow!
Talk about a throwback to ancient Rome or something.
The grandson repeated it in way, he 'bought' the daughter of a poor fishing family when she was a teen, as his mistress? ward?

Bill Wymann of the Rolling Stones did something similar himself! :-)
2 x

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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: Mork the Fiddle's 2019 Log

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Mon Apr 25, 2022 5:59 pm

Our city library has 17 of his books, 4 in French, of which I have reserved La tête sur les épaules. Unfortunately, none of the works you all mention is there, but thanks for the discussion.
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Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

Aloyse
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Re: Mork the Fiddle's 2019 Log

Postby Aloyse » Tue Apr 26, 2022 8:24 am

MorkTheFiddle wrote:Our city library has 17 of his books

Had the same reflex but apparently our library network has every Troyat book except for the one about Dumas :evil:
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: Mork the Fiddle's 2019 Log

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sun May 01, 2022 1:08 am

French
The library has located the Troyat I reserved, but no chance to pick it up until Tuesday.
I have struggled with Yourcenar's Memoires of Hadrian, so kindly given to me by a friend, but I have failed. The beginning is so off-putting with a description of foods and eating that I could never get past it. Sorry, my friend.

Spanish
Apple engineering has succeeded magnificently in rendering iPod useless in communicating with the rest of cyber space. Once upon a time you could see the file structure on an iPod and copy something into it. Now no more. Why is Mork ranting about Apple? On the suggestion of Iguanamon, I found and downloaded the first episode of an (insular) Spanish TV series called Dos Vidas (which reminded me, I must say, of an Erik Estrada TV series made in Mexico called Dos mujeres, un camino; if memory serves, Estrada played a truck driver, to explain the 'camino'). That occurred around 1 PM (the download, not the Estrada vehicle). The next four hours were spent understanding how the download worked, how the iPod worked with downloads, where iPod stored downloads (still a mystery), and how to get the download from the iPod to my desktop. Only the Antman would find watching a show on the tiny screen of an iPod fun and easy.
Never did figure out transferring the show to the desktop. Nevertheless, the show did download, and this afternoon I watched it. It should be explained that connecting with RTVE required a VPN, and part of yesterday's sleuthing was spent verifying that my regular VPN had an iPod app and that the app actually worked. And further explained that watching the download also required the VPN, so apparently the download stored at RTVE, not on the iPod, so not possible to offload.
Dos Vidas tells the story of two lives (duh!) separate in time and place but with a family connection. Don't want to give too much away. Well told, plausible if unusual story, interesting and believable characters, suitable dialogue, etc. Will continue, corporate obstacles be damned. Enjoyed, and recommended.

Ancient Greek
It being that time of year, some (still unfinished) spring-cleaning was required on my desktop, which turned up Günther Zuntz's Greek: A Course in Classical and Post-Classical Greek Grammar from Original Texts in 2 volumes. Which, by coincidence, Beli Tsar mentions today, too (https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... #p207734a0). And mentioned also in the Classical Languages Study Group (https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... tz#p189814). The 2 volumes cover three parts, one readings, one grammar, and one vocabulary for the readings. At the beginning, the readings are modeled on quotations or modified quotations from the literature, quite short but sufficient for illustrating the vocbulary and associated grammar. I have been finding them good review material.

Here is an example from Lesson 11, page 41, vol. 1
B. 1. Ἠ θάλασσα (θάλαττα) δουλεύει ἀνεμοις. 2. Τὴν τῆς θαλάσσης ἀρχήν τοτε Μίνως εῖχεν.

Of course, as the book progresses the readings become longer and more complex.

In other Ancient Greek, I have read through Chapter 84 (about half way) of Chapter 8, the last book, of The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. Even at his simplest, as he mostly is in this chapter, Thucydides is bracing.
9 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

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Carmody
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Re: Mork the Fiddle's 2019 Log

Postby Carmody » Sun May 01, 2022 1:55 am

MorkTheFiddle » Sat Apr 30, 2022 2:08 pm
French
I have struggled with Yourcenar's Memoires of Hadrian, so kindly given to me by a friend, but I have failed. The beginning is so off-putting with a description of foods and eating that I could never get past it. Sorry, my friend.
Am so relieved to find out your experience with Yourcenar was exactly what mine was. Thank you...thank you. :D
1 x

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MorkTheFiddle
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 11#p133911
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Re: Mork the Fiddle's 2019 Log

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Fri May 06, 2022 2:13 pm

Carmody wrote:
MorkTheFiddle » Sat Apr 30, 2022 2:08 pm
French
I have struggled with Yourcenar's Memoires of Hadrian, so kindly given to me by a friend, but I have failed. The beginning is so off-putting with a description of foods and eating that I could never get past it. Sorry, my friend.
Am so relieved to find out your experience with Yourcenar was exactly what mine was. Thank you...thank you. :D

Occurred to me that the French are foodies, so starting with food might have been for that reason a good strategy.
0 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

User avatar
MorkTheFiddle
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Languages: English (N). Read (only) French and Spanish. Studying Ancient Greek. Studying a bit of Latin. Once studied Old Norse. Dabbled in Catalan, Provençal and Italian.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 11#p133911
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Re: Mork the Fiddle's 2019 Log

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Fri May 06, 2022 2:23 pm

Henri Troyat's La tête sur les épaules is now in my hands.
The creepy beginning is not going to deter me from trying to read the whole novel, which is not so very long at 243 pages.
The library acquired this copy 25 Oct 1978, and Le Livre de Poche published it 1951. If memory serves, it was around that time that celebrated British actor Laurence Olivier interpreted Hamlet with a Freudian twist.
Perhaps there is a connection, or perhaps not. Haven't seen it, can't judge.
4 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson


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