Ok, I will tell you at the outset that I am definitely not a Houellebecq fan, however, he does have many fans, so , in the interests of fair play I thought you might light to know the latest news...
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220107-france-s-prophet-of-doom-houellebecq-launches-political-thriller
By all means, do as you choose.
A French Book Reading Resource
- Carmody
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- Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource
As readers of this thread already know, I am very interested in Vichy, 1940-44, “the dark years.” I will probably always be interested in it but after reading four books on the topic I think I will give it a rest.
The book I am reading (Intensively, 2nd time through) right now is Vichy, Un passé qui ne passe pas by authors Conan and Rousso. I find it to be a fascinating read that answers so many questions that I have on Vichy. I also find it a book that no one reading this review should read. The fact is that it is very detailed; it really drills down and you don’t need that.
However, people interested in Vichy may wish to read:
L'Étrange Défaite Marc Bloch
Le régime de Vichy Henry Rousso
Le syndrome De Vichy, de 1944 a Nos Jours Rousso
I have read them and they are worth the time.
However, what makes Vichy, Un passé qui ne passe pas by authors Conan and Rousso so interesting is that it goes beyond the general to details that are not often covered. In most books, the topics are always the collaborators versus the Resistance, but in this book one discovers so many more layers to the history and it is fascinating.
I will add one point and that is why I find Vichy so fascinating. Vichy is many things to many people. In the way that Napoleon is a Rorschach inkblot test for many, likewise Vichy is many things at different times over those “dark years.” And one of the things that it was in part was a civil war between the Left and the Right in France. Watching how the forces of the Right rose up with the Nazis is fascinating. For me, it had many similarities with the struggles between Left and Right in the USA of today. I am not allowed to talk about politics here but if I could it would be very interesting to explain.
So in summary, although I loved the book and suggest that no one read it, I would give it an:
8/10
The book I am reading (Intensively, 2nd time through) right now is Vichy, Un passé qui ne passe pas by authors Conan and Rousso. I find it to be a fascinating read that answers so many questions that I have on Vichy. I also find it a book that no one reading this review should read. The fact is that it is very detailed; it really drills down and you don’t need that.
However, people interested in Vichy may wish to read:
L'Étrange Défaite Marc Bloch
Le régime de Vichy Henry Rousso
Le syndrome De Vichy, de 1944 a Nos Jours Rousso
I have read them and they are worth the time.
However, what makes Vichy, Un passé qui ne passe pas by authors Conan and Rousso so interesting is that it goes beyond the general to details that are not often covered. In most books, the topics are always the collaborators versus the Resistance, but in this book one discovers so many more layers to the history and it is fascinating.
I will add one point and that is why I find Vichy so fascinating. Vichy is many things to many people. In the way that Napoleon is a Rorschach inkblot test for many, likewise Vichy is many things at different times over those “dark years.” And one of the things that it was in part was a civil war between the Left and the Right in France. Watching how the forces of the Right rose up with the Nazis is fascinating. For me, it had many similarities with the struggles between Left and Right in the USA of today. I am not allowed to talk about politics here but if I could it would be very interesting to explain.
So in summary, although I loved the book and suggest that no one read it, I would give it an:
8/10
4 x
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource
I read a memoir by a lady who spent a few months in 1940 'smuggling' people over the French-Spanish border.Carmody wrote:In most books, the topics are always the collaborators versus the Resistance, but in this book one discovers so many more layers to the history and it is fascinating.
https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 80#p192019
Everyone in the village knew what was going on. The customs officers, the police, the town hall civil servants all knew what was going on. They just pretended not to know.
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- Amandine
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource
On Vichy: I have a Henry Rousso book in English that I definitely want to read and I'n currently reading (in English) Bad Faith by Carmel Callil about Louis Darquier, the French "Commissioner for Jewish Affairs". The messy aftermath is very interesting to me, why some people got tarred as collaborators and suffered consequences and others, it appears equally as, or more, implicated kind of skated through.
Currently I am a quarter of the way through Notes sur l'Affaire Dominici by Jean Giono. The Libé polar newsletter mentioned this as a kind of French In Cold Blood and while stipulating to all the problematic aspects of Truman Capote's book, it's still one of my faves and in general I read a lot of true crime so I bought the Giono. It was published in 1955 and is Giono's account of the trial of Gaston Dominici for the murder of two English tourists and their daughter. The conviction has never been overturned but there is doubt about it.
Giono was a novelist (and going back to Vichy had his share of troubles re that, see his wikipedia entry) but its pretty straightforward not overly "literary", I believe it was originally written in sections for a magazine. It's written in the passé compose not passé simple.
Although my level is moderate B1, I'm finding it relatively easy going so might be a good choice for us lower levels wanting to read "proper books".
One of the reasons it is considered perhaps an unfair trial is that Dominic struggled with standard French and spoke "a rural dialect". Giono gives a fair bit of space to the places in the transcript he obviously/apparently didn't understand what was being put to him on the stand, even to point of not recognising the verb "aller":
So anyway, an interesting read if you're into that kind of thing ...
Currently I am a quarter of the way through Notes sur l'Affaire Dominici by Jean Giono. The Libé polar newsletter mentioned this as a kind of French In Cold Blood and while stipulating to all the problematic aspects of Truman Capote's book, it's still one of my faves and in general I read a lot of true crime so I bought the Giono. It was published in 1955 and is Giono's account of the trial of Gaston Dominici for the murder of two English tourists and their daughter. The conviction has never been overturned but there is doubt about it.
Giono was a novelist (and going back to Vichy had his share of troubles re that, see his wikipedia entry) but its pretty straightforward not overly "literary", I believe it was originally written in sections for a magazine. It's written in the passé compose not passé simple.
Although my level is moderate B1, I'm finding it relatively easy going so might be a good choice for us lower levels wanting to read "proper books".
One of the reasons it is considered perhaps an unfair trial is that Dominic struggled with standard French and spoke "a rural dialect". Giono gives a fair bit of space to the places in the transcript he obviously/apparently didn't understand what was being put to him on the stand, even to point of not recognising the verb "aller":
LE PRESIDENT, s'addressant à L'Accusé. - Etes-vous allé au pont? (Il s'agit du pont du chemin de fer)
L'ACCUSÉ - Allée? Il n'y a pas d'allée, je le sais, j'y suis été.
Pour lui qui n'emploie jamais le verbe aller, pour dire: aller au pont, aller à la vigne, aller à la ville, il croit qu'il s'agit de substantifs: une allée d'arbres, une allée de vignes; et il répond : Il n'y a pas d'allée, je le sais, j'y suis été.
So anyway, an interesting read if you're into that kind of thing ...
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- kanewai
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource
I've got two recommendations for everyone, both of which have been discussed before:
François-René de Chateaubriand, Mémoires d'outre-tombe: Anthologie. The anthology only covers 500 pages out of the full 6000-page mémoires. Chateaubriand was born into the old aristocratic world, and witnessed revolutions, Napoleon, various restorations, voyaged with the indigenous people of North America, was on the losing side of a war, spent time in jail, lived in poverty in England but also lived the high life as an ambassador in Rome London and ... I think Berlin. It's hard to keep track of. It was quite a life.
There were sections here that were amazing and thrilling to read. But also, especially towards the end, there were many chapters that I just skimmed through, especially the ones that dealt with minor characters at court. And I often had to stop and look up historical details - as an American I have absolutely no idea what the differences were between the House of Bourbon or the House of Orléans, much less which king belonged to which.
---
Gaël Faye, Petit pays. This was one of the selections for the book club awhile back, but I never got around to reading it. Gaël Faye is a French rapper and songwriter whose first novel is based upon his youth in Africa. It's told from the perspective of an eleven-year old child who has an idyllic and somewhat sheltered middle class life in Burundi. The first half of the novel is sweet. The second half is brutal, as his world is destroyed by the ethnic violence and genocide that swept Burundi and Rwanda.
It's definitely worth reading.
François-René de Chateaubriand, Mémoires d'outre-tombe: Anthologie. The anthology only covers 500 pages out of the full 6000-page mémoires. Chateaubriand was born into the old aristocratic world, and witnessed revolutions, Napoleon, various restorations, voyaged with the indigenous people of North America, was on the losing side of a war, spent time in jail, lived in poverty in England but also lived the high life as an ambassador in Rome London and ... I think Berlin. It's hard to keep track of. It was quite a life.
There were sections here that were amazing and thrilling to read. But also, especially towards the end, there were many chapters that I just skimmed through, especially the ones that dealt with minor characters at court. And I often had to stop and look up historical details - as an American I have absolutely no idea what the differences were between the House of Bourbon or the House of Orléans, much less which king belonged to which.
---
Gaël Faye, Petit pays. This was one of the selections for the book club awhile back, but I never got around to reading it. Gaël Faye is a French rapper and songwriter whose first novel is based upon his youth in Africa. It's told from the perspective of an eleven-year old child who has an idyllic and somewhat sheltered middle class life in Burundi. The first half of the novel is sweet. The second half is brutal, as his world is destroyed by the ethnic violence and genocide that swept Burundi and Rwanda.
It's definitely worth reading.
7 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
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- Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource
My local Alliance française has just sent a link for newly suggested books:
https://www.culturetheque.com/US/litterature-essais.aspx
https://www.culturetheque.com/US/litterature-essais.aspx
1 x
- kanewai
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource
I gave La Princesse de Clèves a shot, but after a week of reading every night I was only on page 11. I just couldn't bring myself to care about romantic politics in the court of Henri II, and my big take-away was this sounds like hell no wonder they had a revolution and chopped off all their heads. I've read that the novel gets better after the midpoint, but I couldn't even make it that far.
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Super Challenge - 50 books
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- Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource
kanewai, many thanks for the feed back. I have heard lots of references to the book and was thinking about reading it.kanewai »
I gave La Princesse de Clèves a shot, but after a week of reading every night I was only on page 11. I just couldn't bring myself to care about romantic politics in the court of Henri II, and my big take-away was this sounds like hell no wonder they had a revolution and chopped off all their heads. I've read that the novel gets better after the midpoint, but I couldn't even make it that far.
Have you decided to stop reading it? I value your opinion.
Thanks.
0 x
- kanewai
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource
@Carmody - I quit. I think there’s a lot of people who it would appeal to though. Think of it as a proto-Jane Austen, but with royalty. Those who like Austen might like this.
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- zenmonkey
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource
kanewai wrote:@Carmody - I quit. I think there’s a lot of people who it would appeal to though. Think of it as a proto-Jane Austen, but with royalty. Those who like Austen might like this.
Well, and major historical figures that actually existed.
It's a hard text, and the meat really only appears later. There is a great movie about teens trying to read it and their impressions and the life of adolescents in the French school system. Worth seeing.
But the language of the text is tough. It was part of the BAC program so I read it with one of my daughters. I think to really appreciate it one needs to have a sense of the life of Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette and the Precieuese movement. Half novel, half historical document, half feminist manifesto of the period.
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