tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post716287390383213274..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Erich Auerbach on Rabelais, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Molière, etc. - the lyrico-everyday polyphonyAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-71961571747794137652019-05-23T11:03:22.141-05:002019-05-23T11:03:22.141-05:00That Racine passage is not exactly Fernand Braudel...That Racine passage is not exactly Fernand Braudel.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-66246059658081120442019-05-21T19:31:26.934-05:002019-05-21T19:31:26.934-05:00There's a recent article by Zeynep Tufekci exp...There's a recent article by Zeynep Tufekci explaining The Real Reason Fans Hate the Last Season of Game of Thrones: "it's because the storytelling style changed from sociological to" a more limited "psychological" one. So it's interesting to see that Racine could be accused of being limited in a similar way. Racine. Limited.<br /><br />C'était pendant l'horreur d'une profonde nuit.<br />Ma mère Jézabel devant moi s'est montrée,<br />Comme au jour de sa mort pompeusement parée.<br />Ses malheurs n'avaient point abattu sa fierté ;<br />Même elle avait encore cet éclat emprunté<br />Dont elle eut soin de peindre et d'orner son visage,<br />Pour réparer des ans l'irréparable outrage.<br />Tremble, m'a-t-elle dit, fille digne de moi ;<br />Le cruel Dieu des Juifs l'emporte aussi sur toi.<br />Je te plains de tomber dans ses mains redoutables,<br />«Ma fille». En achevant ces mots épouvantables,<br />Son ombre vers mon lit a paru se baisser ;<br />Et moi je lui tendais les mains pour l'embrasser,<br />Mais je n'ai plus trouvé qu'un horrible mélange<br />D'os et de chairs meurtris et traînés dans la fange,<br />Des lambeaux pleins de sang et des membres affreux<br />Que des chiens dévorants se disputaient entre eux.<br /><br />Cleanthesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363416290397892659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-61789530382740648542019-05-20T10:56:57.681-05:002019-05-20T10:56:57.681-05:00Now that I am really working on my French and read...Now that I am really working on my French and reading in French, it has completely scrambled or let's say "postponed" my study of French literature. So I know what you mean.<br /><br />My understanding is that there has been a long-term shift in the French curriculum, with more Molière and less Racine. But there is still plenty of Racine. Molière writes for the quotation of lines, Racine for the recitation of passages.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-60548582556592378772019-05-20T08:13:19.038-05:002019-05-20T08:13:19.038-05:00I should really get around to Don Quixote; I read ...I should really get around to <i>Don Quixote</i>; I read part of it in high school, but I was only a high school student, and I should read the whole thing... but I have a copy in Spanish, and I theoretically read Spanish, and I quail at the time and effort involved. I had the same problem with Proust, but I solved it by reading the whole thing to my (non-Francophone) wife in translation.<br /><br /><i>Molière, Corneille, Racine</i><br /><br />I had the inestimable benefit of studying French with the ferocious Mme Ruegg ("pas un mot d'anglais!!"), who gave us a thorough classical French education, complete with dictées and plenty of Molière/Corneille/Racine. (For our senior play we wanted to do <i>Cyrano</i>, which outraged her -- Rostand was far too modern for her.) As a result I am in that small respect a true Frenchman: I can recite chunks of Racine with appropriate devotion and spiritual uplift, with no rebellious thoughts about his limitations.Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.com