Comments on: Blessed Cecilia http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/blog/franceprofonde/blessed-cecilia/ Tim King on French politics Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:51:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.5 by: ange scalpel http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/blog/franceprofonde/blessed-cecilia/#comment-27507 Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:57:47 +0000 http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/blog/franceprofonde/blessed-cecilia/#comment-27507 I am suggesting that Mr Sarkozy, in circumstances not so unlike those in which Mr de Clèves finds himself (but I would certainly not compare Cecilia to the Princess!), would be better inspired to imitate this gentleman, and most of all, that he should revise his judgement about the unworthiness of reading such novels for education. But it's true that his language is closer to that of San Antonio or of his friend Jean Marie Bigard. sorry ofr a telling mispring in the previous post : "thinks" instead of "things" I am suggesting that Mr Sarkozy, in circumstances not so unlike those in which Mr de Clèves finds himself (but I would certainly not compare Cecilia to the Princess!), would be better inspired to imitate this gentleman, and most of all, that he should revise his judgement about the unworthiness of reading such novels for education. But it’s true that his language is closer to that of San Antonio or of his friend Jean Marie Bigard.

sorry ofr a telling mispring in the previous post : “thinks” instead of “things”

]]> by: Tim http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/blog/franceprofonde/blessed-cecilia/#comment-27483 Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:25:19 +0000 http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/blog/franceprofonde/blessed-cecilia/#comment-27483 We all reach for our battered Livre de Poche copies............are you suggesting that Nicolas de Clèves is going to die of what used to be called a broken heart? For those unfamiliar with this wonderful book there is a Gutenberg edition in English (I have no idea what the translation is like) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/467. We all reach for our battered Livre de Poche copies…………are you suggesting that Nicolas de Clèves is going to die of what used to be called a broken heart? For those unfamiliar with this wonderful book there is a Gutenberg edition in English (I have no idea what the translation is like) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/467.

]]> by: ange scalpel http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/blog/franceprofonde/blessed-cecilia/#comment-27332 Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:12:37 +0000 http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/blog/franceprofonde/blessed-cecilia/#comment-27332 A not so popular episode of the last presidential campaign, last February, had Mr Sarkozy, then a candidate, disclosed his reprobation of there being a text by La Princesse de Clèves given to the candidates of a competive examination for a post in the French Administration. Commenting on one of the masterpieces of French lieterature, here is what he said, according to the newspapers: "La princesse de Clèves ! Voilà ce que donne l'Education nationale pour épreuve d'examen ! Etonnez-vous que ça aille si mal. Si c'est ce qu'on enseigne à nos enfants.» Now Mr Sarkozy would be well inspired to read this book, for it has many thinks in common with his own story, which is so well disclosed by the media, but in a less elegant style as Madame de Lafayette's. A not so popular episode of the last presidential campaign, last February, had Mr Sarkozy, then a candidate, disclosed his reprobation of there being a text by La Princesse de Clèves given to the candidates of a competive examination for a post in the French Administration. Commenting on one of the masterpieces of French lieterature, here is what he said, according to the newspapers:

“La princesse de Clèves ! Voilà ce que donne l’Education nationale pour épreuve d’examen ! Etonnez-vous que ça aille si mal. Si c’est ce qu’on enseigne à nos enfants.»

Now Mr Sarkozy would be well inspired to read this book, for it has many thinks in common with his own story, which is so well disclosed by the media, but in a less elegant style as Madame de Lafayette’s.

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