Dave's log, (German and French)

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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: Dave's log, (German and French)

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sat Oct 08, 2022 5:33 pm

snoopy wrote:
MorkTheFiddle wrote:Poetry for people who perhaps don't like poetry (though someone reading Donne must like poetry):

A Shropshire Lad by A. E. Housman ‎ 978-0140424744LL
The Poetry of Robert Frost ‎ 978-0805069860
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickenson 979-8516632860


You mentioned specific ISBNs, would you say that those are nice editions? I noticed that some English paperbacks have rather small font and not so good paper making them less pleasant to read, especially in case of poetry
I used ISBNs to avoid advertising for the 900 pound gorilla of the book market. Best I can say is that I have read all three books, perhaps not in those editions, and the paper and fonts were all comfortable. However, if you do go to that 900 pound gorilla, you'll probably get a good sense of conditions.
Don't forget your local library, if you are lucky enough to have a good one. You can drop by and check out the books yourself, all three authors being quite prominent so a decent library probably would hold all three. Currently I'm reading a library copy of Collected Stories by William Faulkner. The copy is an oldish paperback, 1995, but in decent shape.
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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

DaveAgain
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Re: Dave's log, (German and French)

Postby DaveAgain » Wed Jan 18, 2023 6:08 pm

German
My Christmas present to myself was a biography of Hannah Arendt by Alois Prinz. Ms Arendt was mentioned in passing in Lisa Fittko's Mein Weg Über die Pyrenäen, and I was curious to know a little more about her.

She was born into a wealthy Jewish family in what was then Königsberg in East Prussia, today Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave on the Baltic coast between Poland and Lithuania. Growing up she would have been exposed to Standard German, Yiddish and Polish. She emigrated to France in the 1930s as a political refugee, and then emigrated again to the USA in 1940, eventually becoming a naturalised USA Citizen. In her published journal (Denktagebuch) she wrote in German, English and French, and included some quotes in Greek and Latin.

In Miss Fittko's memoir Ms Arendt is described as being considered a high profile inmate in the French interment camp at Gurs where they were both imprisoned, presumably due to her published articles and her association with the Zionist movement, but Ms Arendt first became famous after the success of her book The Origins of Totalitarianism (German) in 1951, after which she earned her living a celebrity lecturer, and writer. Her articles on the Eichmann Trial, published in book form as, Eichmann in Jerusalem (German) in 1963 made her an International news story for a time, as she disagreed with the presentation of Mr Eichmann as a key architect of the Nazi's jewish policies, considering him a minor functionary, a Hanswurst. More controversially she criticised the jewish leadership in Nazi occupied Europe for failing to offer organised resistance to Nazi policies.

A recent film on her life centers on the furore around her Eichmann in Jerusalem book & articles.

Her life story has also been presented as a graphic novel, Die drei leben der Hannah Arendt.

Some radio programmes:

I've not been watching much German TV, but there's a new German mini-series on UK TV that I'm sure to watch at some point, Ein Krimi aus Passau (UK title: Dark Rivers).

Vocabulary
I'm still using the free version of Clozemaster.com, which is limited to 30 sentences a day and I've kept up a daily Anki habit. I've limited Anki's daily max reviews to 110, and new words a day to 10.

Limiting Anki to 10 new words a day means I very quickly build up a queue of new words I come across in reading. After reading Khayyam's description of how he approaches unknown words I've tried writing down unknown words after looking them up, instead of adding them to my Anki new words queue. I think Tungemål mentioned that writing things down is supposed to aid memory.

With French I never tried to learn any vocabulary, but I did write down and look up unknown words a lot. But French and English do have a awful lot of shared vocabulary too.

French
I listened to a very good four part radio documentary on Hannah Arendt, and a radio play set around the Eichmann in Jerusalem fuss (which I can't now find! :-) ).

My French themed Christmas present to myself was another book, la Bataille by Partick Rambaud. This a novel about the battle of Essling. This was new ground to me as almost all my knowledge of the Napoleonic wars comes from the novels of CS Forester and Bernard Cornwell and as the British military weren't involved in this battle, Messrs Forester and Cornwell did not include it in their heroes adventures. :-)
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Re: Dave's log, (German and French)

Postby CaroleR » Thu Jan 19, 2023 1:41 am

My Christmas present to myself was a biography of Hannah Arendt by Alois Prinz. Ms Arendt was mentioned in passing in Lisa Fittko's Mein Weg Über die Pyrenäen, and I was curious to know a little more about her.

Coincidentally, there's a podcast in French about Hannah Arendt on my "must listen" list. It's from Radio-Canada's Aujourd'hui l'historire. I think you should be able to access it if you're interested. There's a great photo of her, along with one of Eichmann, and a decent write-up as well. Hannah Arendt, la philosophe de la fragilité humaine.
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DaveAgain
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Re: Dave's log, (German and French)

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Feb 06, 2023 6:20 pm

German
I've just finished reading Hotel Adlon by Hedda Adlon. This book is a collection of anecdotes about the creation, running and destruction of Berlin's first luxury hotel.

I first heard of the Hotel Adlon in a Bernie Gunther novel, but it turns out it had a life beyond whodunnits. The founder Lorenz Adlon was a carpenter by trade who made a fortune in the restaurant business. He had a vision of a world class hotel that he felt Berlin lacked, but needed. With the vocal support of the Kaiser he was able to secure a prominent location, that required the demolition of a palace, and 20 million reichmarks of debt finance.

Opened in 1907 the Adlon was located close the seat of government at the prestigious 1 Unter den Linden address, and was often recommended by the Kaiser to his guests as a more comfortable place to stay than the royal palace.

The Adlon survived the fall of the Kaiser, the Weimar instability and the bombing raids of WW2. In 1945 it was severely damaged in a fire caused by Russian troops looting the wine cellar, but a wing survived and continued to operate as a hotel until the 1960s.

Mrs Adlon sold the right to use the name to a hotel chain, on the condition that the new Hotel Adlon was built on the same spot and in 1997 the a new Hotel Adlon opened in Berlin.

The book was adapted into a 1955 film, and contributed to a largely fictional mini-series Das Adlon, eine familiensaga.

Some media links:
--------
After listening to a radio play about a traditional Christmas carp dish, adapted from Vicki Baum's story, I found myself wondering why I've never eaten carp.

I have a clear memory of school lesson where carp ponds were mentioned a staple part of a medieval farm, and recent polish immigrants to the UK, like the Germans in Ms Baum's story, include carp in their Christmas celebrations, but I've never come across it, Whyso?

---------
In Ein Krimi aus Passau (UK title: Dark Rivers) I learnt that there's a japanese martial art for tying villians up quickly, "Hojojutsu". New one on me :-)

French
I've mostly been listening the radio, Radio France, Europe 1, and Sud Radio, but I also watch the La Sueur YouTube channel for their MMA coverage.

I finished La femme au temps des cathédrals, towards the end of the book Ms Pernoud highlighted two women from humble backgrounds who had a significant impact on events, Joan of Arc, and Catherine de Sienne, who successfully campaigned for the Pope to relocate to Rome from Avignon. I've downloaded le dialogue de Catherine de Sienne, but I'm thus far not too taken by it.
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DaveAgain
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Re: Dave's log, (German and French)

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Feb 13, 2023 1:45 pm

German
I've just finished reading Vicki Baum, a biographical novel (?) by Yvonne Schymura, I borrowed it from the Goethe eLibrary.

Ms Baum wrote an autobiography Es war alles ganz anders which was published shortly after her death, the manuscript being found amongst her papers.

Vicki Baum was a professional musician when she married her first husband, Max Preis, who worked as a freelance journalist and writer. Mr Preis was unfortunately better at sitting in Cafés discussing writing, than sending in completed work on time. Ms Baum's interest in her husband's work, and her desire to help him, passed from conversations, to offering him her hobbyist writing attempts for source material, to occasionally writing in his place. They stayed on good terms after their divorce, and years later when he was working as an editor at Ulstein Verlag he published Ms Baum's first novel.

Her relationship with Ulstein was a good one for both parties, with Ms Baum eventually taking a contract to work there (Ulstein published periodicals as well as books), writing and commissioning articles, in addition to continuing to produce novels. The worldwide success of her novel Menschen im Hotel (1929) gave Ms Baum the opportunity to venture outside of Germany.

To give a speech to the British PEN society Ms Baum wrote the speech in German, had it translated into English, and then memorised it. Before travelling to the USA she took a Berliz language course, and while living there she continued to talk with a teacher/interpreter initially provided by her USA publisher. In 1938 she became a naturalised USA citizen.

Some media links:
French
I've been listening to radio programmes about Walter Benjamin, and reading Hannah Arendt's Walter Benjamin book.

Ms Arendt got to know Mr Benjamin when they were both living in Paris in the 1930s. As presented by Ms Arendt Mr Benjamin's ambition was to be a literary critic, with a university post, and have his income supplemented by his well-to-do family. Alas he never got the academic position he hoped for, the family money evaporated in the Weimar era inflation, and his finances were very limited during his time in France.

Mr Benjamin was in the first party Lisa Fittko guided over the French-Spanish border in 1940, but he suicided shortly after his arrival in Spain, having been told by the border guards he would be returned to the French/German authorities rather than permitted to travel through Spain as he had hoped.

EDIT
ARD Radio currently have Ms Baum's autobiography Es war alles ganz anders (part one, two, three).
Last edited by DaveAgain on Sun Feb 11, 2024 9:25 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Le Baron
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Re: Dave's log, (German and French)

Postby Le Baron » Mon Feb 13, 2023 2:26 pm

INteresting story about Vicki Baum. I'd never heard of her.

A thought about this:
DaveAgain wrote:Mr Benjamin was in the first party Lisa Fittko guided over the French-Spanish border in 1940, but he suicided shortly after his arrival in Spain, having been told by the border guards he would be returned to the French/German authorities rather than permitted to travel through Spain as he had hoped.

Suicided is something I always wince at when I see it. I know the American dictionaries legitimately confirm it as a verb (though not the British ones) and I find it hard to accept. I read an article which was aiming to deprecate the phrase 'commit suicide' on the grounds that it somehow made the person equal to someone 'committing a homicide' or 'a sin'.. the latter of which I thought bizarre anyway. Yet it's the word we should look at and no matter what the connotations are we'd never say someone 'homicided' or 'matricided', would we? So why should suicide be treated differently?
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Re: Dave's log, (German and French)

Postby luke » Mon Feb 13, 2023 3:32 pm

Le Baron wrote:A thought about this:
DaveAgain wrote:but he suicided shortly after his arrival in Spain,

Suicided is something I always wince at when I see it. I know the American dictionaries legitimately confirm it as a verb (though not the British ones) and I find it hard to accept. I read an article which was aiming to deprecate the phrase 'commit suicide' on the grounds that it somehow made the person equal to someone 'committing a homicide' or 'a sin'.

I'm with you. As someone from the American side of the pond, when I see "suicided", I think of someone bumped off, which is then "explained" as a "suicide" so as to preclude further investigation. The person using the term "suicided" is tacitly accepting that a murder is being explained as a suicide and is just side-stepping the issue.

Not saying that's the only way it the term is used, but it's what I would think of as the primary meaning of the term.
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Re: Dave's log, (German and French)

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:19 pm

luke wrote:
Le Baron wrote:A thought about this:
DaveAgain wrote:but he suicided shortly after his arrival in Spain,

Suicided is something I always wince at when I see it. I know the American dictionaries legitimately confirm it as a verb (though not the British ones) and I find it hard to accept. I read an article which was aiming to deprecate the phrase 'commit suicide' on the grounds that it somehow made the person equal to someone 'committing a homicide' or 'a sin'.

I'm with you. As someone from the American side of the pond, when I see "suicided", I think of someone bumped off, which is then "explained" as a "suicide" so as to preclude further investigation. The person using the term "suicided" is tacitly accepting that a murder is being explained as a suicide and is just side-stepping the issue.

Not saying that's the only way it the term is used, but it's what I would think of as the primary meaning of the term.

I didn't ponder over it when writing, and on reflection, I'm still OK with it as is.

We'll have to agree to disagree :-)
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Re: Dave's log, (German and French)

Postby Le Baron » Tue Feb 14, 2023 1:57 pm

Of course! You are freely entitled to be wrong.

(I'm joking).
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Re: Dave's log, (German and French)

Postby luke » Tue Feb 14, 2023 2:10 pm

The dictionary is of course the final arbiter, and it agrees with Mr. Dave.

But it would be interesting to see how ChatGPT would respond to a question like, "Did Jeffrey Epstein commit suicide or was he suicided?" :lol:
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