The French Connection
I've spent the past hour responding to several letters from my Mistress "F" (I did give her a pet name, but here I think "F" conveys something of her mystery.)
Have I said here that "F" writes brilliantly? It is what thrills me about a relationship across the oceans. She conquers distance with evocative words. It is "about sex," but it's so much more than that. For example, I was just telling her about a novel I'm enjoying this week: Walker Percy's The Moviegoer, which came out in 1960 and is a largely unknown American classic. The male hero is a loner, reminding me of MOI (as Miss Piggy says of herself). Like him, I'm naturally gregarious -- but seem to need time to myself, as I've been doing the whole month of March. The vacation from Joanne ends next week...
In trying to understand this new relationship with "F" (sex with Joanne not being in the cards -- not even reunion sex, as I've learned in the past year or two), it occurred to me the other day that it might almost be exemplary of the amorous French. The current president of France and many of his predecessors keep/kept mistresses, as have many other well-known "frogs" (I use that nickname with true affection!).
And Frenchwomen certainly have their share of extra-marital adventures. I think especially of "Catherine M" -- famous art critic Catherine Millet, who in 2001 published a book about herself. A reviewer in salon.com said "the most shocking thing about 'The Sexual Life of Catherine M.'... is that it isn’t particularly shocking at all. A good quarter of the time, it works as pornography (and I use the term in a descriptive sense, not a judgmental one); the rest of the time it’s a rumination on the nature of desire and pleasure..."
I had read it years ago, of course: if you avid readers want more salacious details (and I KNOW you all do), go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sexual_Life_of_Catherine_M.
Anyhow, please just think of me as your froggy friend Justine. (Mais oui! I'm the heroine of the eponymous novel by the Marquis de Sade!)
Have I said here that "F" writes brilliantly? It is what thrills me about a relationship across the oceans. She conquers distance with evocative words. It is "about sex," but it's so much more than that. For example, I was just telling her about a novel I'm enjoying this week: Walker Percy's The Moviegoer, which came out in 1960 and is a largely unknown American classic. The male hero is a loner, reminding me of MOI (as Miss Piggy says of herself). Like him, I'm naturally gregarious -- but seem to need time to myself, as I've been doing the whole month of March. The vacation from Joanne ends next week...
In trying to understand this new relationship with "F" (sex with Joanne not being in the cards -- not even reunion sex, as I've learned in the past year or two), it occurred to me the other day that it might almost be exemplary of the amorous French. The current president of France and many of his predecessors keep/kept mistresses, as have many other well-known "frogs" (I use that nickname with true affection!).
And Frenchwomen certainly have their share of extra-marital adventures. I think especially of "Catherine M" -- famous art critic Catherine Millet, who in 2001 published a book about herself. A reviewer in salon.com said "the most shocking thing about 'The Sexual Life of Catherine M.'... is that it isn’t particularly shocking at all. A good quarter of the time, it works as pornography (and I use the term in a descriptive sense, not a judgmental one); the rest of the time it’s a rumination on the nature of desire and pleasure..."
I had read it years ago, of course: if you avid readers want more salacious details (and I KNOW you all do), go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sexual_Life_of_Catherine_M.
Anyhow, please just think of me as your froggy friend Justine. (Mais oui! I'm the heroine of the eponymous novel by the Marquis de Sade!)