Brain asleep, but nevertheless capable of appreciating Jean-Francois Rêvel
I hate it when you're incredibly tired and need a nap, then you have one and wake up feeling like your brain has taken the opportunity to go hibernating. I'm now seeing how many cups of tea it takes to wake it up, as there's stuff I was kinda planning to use it for before going to sleep again.
One of these days when you don't want to do much anything. I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I should consider trying to do that assignment for the Bitch's class. Actually, it's hard enough to convince myself that I should even do some laundry tonight. Perhaps it'll work if I let myself go for a walk while the machine is running...
I'll try to come up with interview questions for those who've asked as soon as I can, but right now my brain isn't functioning.
I actually managed to finally get a monthly ticket for the Strasbourg communal transport. It's not really that I've been too lazy to do it before this, but that I've tried to avoid getting it so I won't take the bus at every possible turn. But now I figured I'd better take it anyway for the sake of saving money, what with going to the swimming pool every now and then, and all.
Before I fell asleep, I started reading a book by Jean-Francois Rêvel called L'obsession anti-américaine - as you might guess, it analyses the European and especially French anti-Americanism. It seems fascinating so far - the writer has described how in the Sixties, all he knew about America was through the European media, and the view he got "could be nothing but negative". He started to doubt the image offered by the media little by little, noticing its obsession-like quality, and then he travelled to America and discovered a society very different from how the European media and intellectuals described it.
Anyway, I've only read the first chapter and my brain isn't yet awake enough to discuss it intelligently, but I'll no doubt talk more about it when I've read more. It appears to be very smart and clear-sighted, in any case, and it's also written in a style easy to understand, which I appreciate - a lot of stuff written by French intellectuals (and this guy is in the Académie Francaise) gives me a headache when I try to figure out what they say. The structure of French (with its subjonctives, literary modes and the requirement of prepositions everywhere) is just such that when the intellectual types get their hands on it and start to write it in a "sophisticated" and complicated way, it can get very complicated indeed. He knows, at least, that the purpose of language is to communicate, not to obscure the content from everyone who doesn't have a university degree.
One of these days when you don't want to do much anything. I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I should consider trying to do that assignment for the Bitch's class. Actually, it's hard enough to convince myself that I should even do some laundry tonight. Perhaps it'll work if I let myself go for a walk while the machine is running...
I'll try to come up with interview questions for those who've asked as soon as I can, but right now my brain isn't functioning.
I actually managed to finally get a monthly ticket for the Strasbourg communal transport. It's not really that I've been too lazy to do it before this, but that I've tried to avoid getting it so I won't take the bus at every possible turn. But now I figured I'd better take it anyway for the sake of saving money, what with going to the swimming pool every now and then, and all.
Before I fell asleep, I started reading a book by Jean-Francois Rêvel called L'obsession anti-américaine - as you might guess, it analyses the European and especially French anti-Americanism. It seems fascinating so far - the writer has described how in the Sixties, all he knew about America was through the European media, and the view he got "could be nothing but negative". He started to doubt the image offered by the media little by little, noticing its obsession-like quality, and then he travelled to America and discovered a society very different from how the European media and intellectuals described it.
Anyway, I've only read the first chapter and my brain isn't yet awake enough to discuss it intelligently, but I'll no doubt talk more about it when I've read more. It appears to be very smart and clear-sighted, in any case, and it's also written in a style easy to understand, which I appreciate - a lot of stuff written by French intellectuals (and this guy is in the Académie Francaise) gives me a headache when I try to figure out what they say. The structure of French (with its subjonctives, literary modes and the requirement of prepositions everywhere) is just such that when the intellectual types get their hands on it and start to write it in a "sophisticated" and complicated way, it can get very complicated indeed. He knows, at least, that the purpose of language is to communicate, not to obscure the content from everyone who doesn't have a university degree.