Tag Archives: victor hugo
The “French Connection” Linking Victor Hugo, Verdi, Batman, and the Film “Se7en” Posted by Hichem on Aug 9, 2011
Today, Opera composer Giuseppe Verdi is widely celebrated as one of the major figures of what Italians proudly call “il Risorgimento“, the movement which, exactly 150 years ago, gave birth to l’unification de l’Italie (the Italian unification.) Many people, however, still ignore, even in today’s Italy, that their beloved maestro italiano was in fact born a Frenchman! The reason being that, when Verdi was born…
Victor Hugo’s Joker: “L’Homme qui rit” Posted by Hichem on Aug 4, 2011
Only a select few of people, even amongst the most passionate die-hard superhero comics fans and “connaisseurs“, seem to be aware that Batman‘s tragicomic arch-nemesis, the Joker, finds his original inspiration in a literary work—a work by the same author of les Misérables, Victor Hugo, of all people! Dans un roman (in a novel) published in 1869…
All For One, And One For Al…exandre Dumas! Posted by Hichem on Jul 1, 2011
If you take the Paris metro these days, you’ll notice a mini-story of Alexandre Dumas, who lent his name to a station de métro ! Born in 1802, a year before the outburst of the Napoleonic Wars, the same year as Victor Hugo was born, he was the son, just like Hugo, of a Général d’Empire…
French Books to Read in the Summer Posted by Hichem on Jun 24, 2011
C’est l’été, enfin! (It’s the Summer, finally!) Many friends of mine have been telling me as of late how they’re excited to seize the opportunity of the sudden extra free time in their hands to catch up with la lecture de loisir (leisure reading)—As opposed to the force-fed textbook “reading assignments” of the school year- and they especially asked…
French Homophones: “Ça”, “çà”, and “sa” Posted by Hichem on May 30, 2011
Whether or not you’ve been fully or partially diagnosed with a desperately incurable case of “coulrophobie” (that -please don’t laugh- is the serious term that applies to the “phobia of clowns”), using “ça” in French grammar should not be as terrifying of an experience as, say, watching all alone in the grim darkness of…
A French Poem: Les vers dorés (The Golden Lines) Posted by Hichem on May 13, 2011
If André Breton and his happy bunch of Surrealists “à la Salvador Dali” stroke you légèrement (slightly) as the “eccentric” type, then wait until you meet another French monsieur who preceded them by a few decades. His name is Gérard de Nerval… Considered by some as le père spirituel (the spiritual father) of Victor Hugo, he is known…
Victor Hugo: Au bord de la mer (At the Seaside) Posted by Hichem on Mar 18, 2011
“Au bord de la mer” – Victor Hugo Vois, ce spectacle est beau. – Ce paysage immense Look, this spectacle is beautiful. This landscape is huge Qui toujours devant nous finit et recommence ; Which always in front of us ends and starts again Ces blés, ces eaux, ces prés, ce bois charmant aux yeux…