I would like to introduce myself and my new blog. So, I guess I'm sort of used to this whole thing and I've always wanted to have a blog but I was never sure if 1) I could focus on a single topic enough to garner a blog or 2) that I could be interesting enough to attract a following. And, I have come to the conclusion that I don't need to focus explicitly on a single topic, I can be satisfied with a consideration of culture as I see it at large; and I believe that it doesn't really matter if I'm interesting enough, I can try my best and if I'm honest and thoughtful, hopefully I'll be able to keep a few of you interested. Today, I decided that I would try to address a book that I finished reading recently, The Blue Flowers, by Raymond Queneau & Translated by Barbara Wright. I suppose this may be suitable given the Oulipo Festival and the fact that spring is coming.
The story is basically a whimsical fairy tale. But, of course I enjoyed it. It is the kind of book that you can finish in an afternoon and feel better for it. I would recommend that my sister take it with her to the Jersey Shore or to Martha's Vineyard to read at the beach, if she read this kind of stuff. I however, preferred to have it in my bag while I went to The Last Drop Cafe and read it with a Soy Latte and some Pain au Chocolate. The story is of Cidrolin/ Duke d'Auge and the continual balancing act of the French lifestyle. Obviously I don't even know how to actually interpret this, Cidrolin lives on a barge along the Seine in Paris during the 1960's while Le Duke d'Auge rampages through history from a summer morning in 1260 until he arrives in the present accompanied by his entourage. 
Cidrolin spends his time living with his daughter drinking essence of fennel and water. Occasionally he dozes off and takes a nap only to awaken and realize that a vandal has painted obscenities on his picket fence. He washes his fence, he eats at the local cafe and he is relatively content with his life. When he falls asleep and drifts into one of his regular naps the story switches focus to Duke d'Auge. The Duke d'Auge is a feudal lord who lives with his wife on an estate full of friers and talking horses and drinks of essence of fennel and water. When the Duke d'Auge drifts off into a regular slumber the story moves back to Cidrolin. The novel follows the lives of these two men, and the events that tend to occur to resting fathers and tenacious nobels. Cidrolin's last remaining unwed daughter marries and moves out of the "house". The Duke d'Auge on the other hand has constant tensions with the King and his agents of authority. As he advances through time you see France through a number of epochs from a privileged almost everyday point of view. This is really a nice story, I'd like to think that there is more to this than Queneau's awareness of how he enjoys his masculinity. There must be more to this story than the observation that the heirs of French nobility tend to be lazy alcoholics living impermanently in an almost lonely self serving way. Despite my description the story really isn't as depressing as it sounds; I'm quite certain there is some moral of historic significance, only I'm not French and I really don't know much about French history outside of the French Revolution. I think Queneau is speaking more to the soul of Cidrolin, living on his barge, waiting for a Huckelberry Finnesque adventure but, he's been too caught up raising and caring for his family to really accomplish anything other than refining a taste for the essence of fennel. Rather than get any deeper into interpreting the overtly self aware, post-modern chauvinism I think I'll let you decide for yourself. Post a comment or email me, and let me know what you think.
Here is some video of Raymond Queneau.
Cidrolin spends his time living with his daughter drinking essence of fennel and water. Occasionally he dozes off and takes a nap only to awaken and realize that a vandal has painted obscenities on his picket fence. He washes his fence, he eats at the local cafe and he is relatively content with his life. When he falls asleep and drifts into one of his regular naps the story switches focus to Duke d'Auge. The Duke d'Auge is a feudal lord who lives with his wife on an estate full of friers and talking horses and drinks of essence of fennel and water. When the Duke d'Auge drifts off into a regular slumber the story moves back to Cidrolin. The novel follows the lives of these two men, and the events that tend to occur to resting fathers and tenacious nobels. Cidrolin's last remaining unwed daughter marries and moves out of the "house". The Duke d'Auge on the other hand has constant tensions with the King and his agents of authority. As he advances through time you see France through a number of epochs from a privileged almost everyday point of view. This is really a nice story, I'd like to think that there is more to this than Queneau's awareness of how he enjoys his masculinity. There must be more to this story than the observation that the heirs of French nobility tend to be lazy alcoholics living impermanently in an almost lonely self serving way. Despite my description the story really isn't as depressing as it sounds; I'm quite certain there is some moral of historic significance, only I'm not French and I really don't know much about French history outside of the French Revolution. I think Queneau is speaking more to the soul of Cidrolin, living on his barge, waiting for a Huckelberry Finnesque adventure but, he's been too caught up raising and caring for his family to really accomplish anything other than refining a taste for the essence of fennel. Rather than get any deeper into interpreting the overtly self aware, post-modern chauvinism I think I'll let you decide for yourself. Post a comment or email me, and let me know what you think.Here is some video of Raymond Queneau.
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