What do you mean ?
He keeps looking for compromises, which contrasts with Sarkozy who was more of an autocrat. Not weak as Monti or Rajoy could be nowadays.
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France-GAF |OT| Existentialism, cheese, wine and je ne sais quoi
- Thread starter ComputerMKII
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He keeps looking for compromises, which contrasts with Sarkozy who was more of an autocrat. Not weak as Monti or Rajoy could be nowadays.
He also keeps a lower profile, being less present in the Media. Also, the intervention in Mali gave him quite the popularity boost.
That salt.
Notice how post elections everybody was claiming that there was bound to be a clash between him and Merkel, post-electoral politics one might say. But still, it's nice how they were able to come together last year to avoid imminent implosion of the euro. Hell they look more in bed than merkozy sometimes! That said the whole euro strength valuation is perhaps going to cause some tension now.
SquiddyCracker
Banned
Vive L'egalitie!
SquiddyCracker
Banned
What's the "family" thing about?
Artificial procreation and carrying moms. It was supposed to be in the bill voted today but was contested even in the majority.
Something about family not being exclusively "one female mother, one male father, children" anymore.
Includes long-awaited parenthood through adoption or other means for people that weren't considered as part of this holy trinity.
Nah I'm pretty sure the semantic thing ("parents" replacing "father and mother") is in today's bill right?
Must have missed this, great news !
So indeed this could be about assisted conception.
We can only go forward anyway.
ComputerMKII
Banned
So what?
The Fifth Republic was made by Charles de Gaulle for Charles de Gaulle. It's a presidential regime, and Hollande has all the more power since the Socialists have the majority in the two houses of Parliament, most Regional councils and most municipal councils. Basically, the Socialists can do everything on their own except changing articles of the Constitution.
More old fashioned?I guess it's a bit stereotypical.
Meanwhile : Le journalisme total par Rue89...
So I can say "Congrats, gay France-GAF ! Yes, both of you !"
ComputerMKII
Banned
It's not like homosexuality is a new trend that old people are getting confronted against, like rock'n'roll or video games. There were already homosexuals when those people were young. I don't see how getting old suddenly makes you change your views about homosexuality.
That Naruto character guy (Itachi) totally want to get it on with his ninja costume on
I'm not saying old people fifty years from now will be against gay marriage (at least I hope they won't) I'm just saying the current old generation is unfortunately less open about it.
ComputerMKII
Banned
Why do you even read Rue89?
I don't, I just saw that on Twitter. Though I know someone who is "forced" to write for them. (ScPo Journalism school)
ComputerMKII
Banned
I'm a super fan of Michel Houellebecq but he's a very love-it-or-hate-it kind of author. Read his books (especially The Elementary Particles) if you like depressive/nihilistic stuff and rants about the evolution of sexuality.
Stay the fuck away from Bernard Werber, Marc Lévy or Amélie Nothomb.
Why the hell is left bank Bordeaux so much more expensive than right bank? I guess it's the merlot that makes right bank cheap. Cabernet sauvignon is not a difficult grape to grow yet any bottle of bordeaux with more than 60% cabernet has to be over $30. I understand wy Burgundy is expensive but Margoux, why!?
Also, I really don't understand the chateau's. If I buy a bottle of La fleur de Morange Mathilde, it's classified as Saint Emillion, that means all the grapes are from Saint Emillion but are the vineyards owned by the chateau or is it like napa where you buy grapes from growers?
I want answers, french gaf!
Also, I really don't understand the chateau's. If I buy a bottle of La fleur de Morange Mathilde, it's classified as Saint Emillion, that means all the grapes are from Saint Emillion but are the vineyards owned by the chateau or is it like napa where you buy grapes from growers?
I want answers, french gaf!
Can't go wrong with Houellebecq : "Les Particules Elémentaires", "la Possibilité d'une Ile" are nice.
Also read Frédéric Beigbeder's "99 Francs" then "Au Secours Pardon".
Laurent Gaudé has wrote some good stuff. The Scortas' Sun was a great novel. 99 Francs by Beigbeder is quite good too.
Probablement quelque chose comme 70% de classiques, 30% de contemporain.
Alx
Member
Mostly classics, especially in High School/ "lycée" : Balzac, Flaubert, Corneille and Racine... I can't remember many books from "collège", apart from Molière of course. Maybe Giono too.
Proust is usually kept for university (I had to read it in "classes prépa").
From what I had to, no. Only had to read Molière (a shitton of this), Voltaire, maybe some Hugo/Zola but that's it. other were very obscure titles/authors.
But it changes every year so can't really be objective.
Protip : don't forget to read Fluide Glacial every month (won't mention Charlie Hebdo because of their tendency to attract antipathy).
That is incredibly enriching if you actually take french lit seriously and give it proper time. But poor highschoolers qui en on rien a cirer, that must be tough. In quebec, at least in my high school we read pretty weak stuff that wasn't challenging at all compared to what you guys are reading.
TheFeedingHand
Member
another question for French-GAF, that is sort of a myth around here... is it true that French people don't take showers everyday?
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Spent a day and a night in Paris.
I remember being in an apartment and having the chance to go out at night (I went with my two uncles who were in their own separate rooms) but I chose to stay in. Huge regret....I guess I was just scared of not being able to converse with others, but I could've at least taken a walk or something. I was 18.
I remember being in an apartment and having the chance to go out at night (I went with my two uncles who were in their own separate rooms) but I chose to stay in. Huge regret....I guess I was just scared of not being able to converse with others, but I could've at least taken a walk or something. I was 18.
Some people prefer taking baths...
Another silly stereotype.
/leaves walking with a baguette under his arm...
It's not too late ! Paris is still there and now you have Gaffers to show you the best places (which are not in Paris actually).
Pascal and Descartes are hard enough to read casually, i can't imagine having to read them for a class.
Alx
Member
Nah we shower everyday, like anybody. I think that myth was born during WWII, when US soldiers got a small manual explaining the way of life of French people. But of course those people were living in an occupied country, and soap may have been rare.
Ho right, I specialized in science in High School, I suppose the L have much "harder" books to read.
There's still some controversy about his antisemitic opinions, but everybody agrees that he's a great writer. I have never read him myself.
I miss a shower from time to time but that's because I have skin problems... otherwise, if you tell someone you don't shower everyday, I'm pretty sure you'll get a weird look (unless you're talking to one of those modern hippies I've seen from time to time).
And in college, I had Maupassant.
FUCKING Maupassant.
ComputerMKII
Banned
Proust is too long, boring (pages-long sentences) and difficult even for adult readers. He is one of the finest French writers of all the 20th century, though.
Many of my colleagues have had to read Flaubert's Madame Bovary (it's a standard requirement in French lycées) but I only had to read Trois Contes. Baudelaire's Fleurs du mal isn't an uncommon requirement either.
From what I can remember, I've had to read the following books:
- Candide (Voltaire)
- Zadig (Voltaire)
- Various poems by Arthur Rimbaud
- Lettres persanes (Montesquieu)
- Le médecin malgré lui (Molière)
- Le Horla (Guy de Maupassant)
- Les confessions (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
- En attendant Godot (Samuel Beckett)
- Les fleurs du mal (Baudelaire)
- Trois contes (Gustave Flaubert)
- Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) -> Yeah, weird for a 'French' course...
- Le K (original title: Il colombre, by Dino Buzzati) -> Italian book
- Eugénie Grandet (Honoré de Balzac) -> Boring as fuck, never finished it
"Voyage au bout de la nuit" was great when I read it (in school, you made me remember !)
Acclaimed for its writing, but disliked for choosing the wrong side to support (the "collaboration") during WW2.
Funny how Beigbeder is such an all-around cool guy, seems like he really knows his stuff and is pretty funny (especially he turned "le cercle" on Canal + into such an awesome program), yet everything he writes is so awful. Personal opinion of course but I was blown away by how bad "L'amour dure trois ans" is when I tried to read it recently.
As for contemporary french literature I recommend Marie N'diaye, really good stuff.
Amélie Nothomb is not that bad, "Hygiène de l'assassin" is a fun book.
ComputerMKII
Banned
He's seen as the finest novelist of the 20th century along with Proust, invented a whole new literary language/style of narration, but he's banned from official celebrations and anniversaries for being a rabid antisemite and nazi sympathizer and remains a controversial figure even to this day. Voyage au bout de la nuit is a classic and has influenced many artists in and outside of France or French-speaking circles.
Recent articles by literary critics about Céline:
http://lettres.blogs.liberation.fr/sorin/2011/02/céline-avec-ou-sans-pincettes.html
http://stalker.hautetfort.com/archive/2011/11/07/louis-ferdinand-celine-dans-la-zone.html
http://www.surlering.com/article/article.php/article/celine-rattrape-par-la-memoire
Having Pascal in the Litterature program was a huge mistake. I also had to read Descartes in Philosophy, makes more sense, but we only have one year of Philosophy. So yeah still hard.
And yup, we don't bath. We wear berets and marinieres, ride bike, carry cheese and baguettes, smoke gauloises and say "Hon Hon Hon" at the end of each sentence. We're the French, right ?
It's so very, very dumb to make high-schoolers read Proust. Few teenagers can fully understand the concepts of loss and nostalgia, for obvious reasons. La Recherche just cannot be enjoyed at that age.
Mort à crédit is good too if you haven't read yet (but not as good as the Voyage).
Cèline was never a collaborator (was never paid by the fascists), just a mad dog.
Thanks.
Can't read french but well accepted.
ComputerMKII
Banned
It's her only book worth reading. It's actually damn great, but as a whole, Nothomb is best left unread, as the rest of her non-autobiographical novels are copy-pastes of Hygiène de l'assassin.
Ouch. I feel for you.
ComputerMKII
Banned
*fucking double post*
I did a L series (literature bac) but I have a hard time remembering all the books we studied, without mixing collège and lycée.
We saw many extracts of books too, which makes it more confusing.
In literature class(L series only) we saw: The Odyssey (and the Illiad I think) by Homer, the Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos,Endgame by Samuel Beckett and Rousseau's Confessions.
Before that I remember reading Micromegas and Candide by Voltaire, Hernani by Victor Hugo, it feels so far away.
At least Rousseau's confessions have spanking
ComputerMKII
Banned
I love Le Cercle (some good analyses/reviews on recent movies) but I don't like Beigbeder. I don't think he has much talent and he's a luddite (he hates e-books).
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