{"id":27904,"date":"2017-10-17T05:58:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T03:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=27904"},"modified":"2017-11-06T16:14:34","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T15:14:34","slug":"french-writer-anatole-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-writer-anatole-france\/","title":{"rendered":"French Writer – Anatole France"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I’m in Paris, I love to fl\u00e2ner sur les quais de la Seine et faire les bouquinistes <\/a><\/strong>(stroll along the quais of the Seine and visit the antique book sellers\/stands).<\/em> During my last trip<\/a> I found a little book by an author about whom I had often heard but who I had never read, Anatole France.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Anatole France at work. (Image credit: By Unknown (Bain News Service, publisher) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)<\/p><\/div>Anatole France (1844-1924) was a writer and journalist who chronicled life and politics in turn-of-the-century (the 19th to the 20th!) Paris. He was a member of the Acad\u00e9mie fran\u00e7aise <\/a>and even won the Nobel Prize in Literature.<\/p>\n

The book I found, Monsieur Bergeret \u00e0 Paris<\/strong> (Mr. Bergeret in Paris), <\/em>published in 1901 and part of a larger series, L’histoire contemporaine<\/strong> (Contemporary history)<\/em>, features as a central theme the conflicts between the supporters of Alfred Dreyfus<\/a> and those against him. It is a complicated but fascinating work about one of the major events that shaped France (the country). And judging from his writing, France (the writer) was a man ahead of his time. From politics to existential questions, he spoke in a voice that would not be widely embraced until years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Tous les progr\u00e8s sont incertains et lents, et suivis le plus souvent de mouvements r\u00e9trogrades.<\/strong><\/td>\nAll progress is slow and uncertain*, and followed most often by reactionary movements.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Et enfin, puisqu\u2019il y a eu des crimes, le mal n\u2019est point qu\u2019ils soient connus, le mal est qu\u2019ils aient \u00e9t\u00e9 commis.**<\/strong><\/td>\nAnd finally, since crimes have been committed, the evil is not that they be known, the evil is (in) that they have been committed.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
D\u2019abord il n\u2019y a pas de gouvernements populaires. Gouverner, c\u2019est m\u00e9contenter.<\/strong><\/td>\nFirst of all, no government is popular [lit. there are no popular governments]. To govern, is to upset\/disappoint. <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nous-m\u00eame, nous embrassons d\u2019un seul regard, en levant les yeux au ciel, des aspects qui ne sont point contemporains. Les lueurs des \u00e9toiles, qui se confondent dans nos yeux, y m\u00e9langent en moins d\u2019une seconde des si\u00e8cles et de milliers de si\u00e8cles.<\/strong><\/td>\nEven us, with one look, our eyes raised to the sky, we take in events that are not contemporaneous. The glimmer of the stars, which get mixed up in our eyes, blend in less than one second centuries and thousands of centuries.
\n<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Le temps n\u2019existe point en r\u00e9alit\u00e9 et la succession des fait n\u2019est qu\u2019une apparence, tous les faits sont r\u00e9alis\u00e9s ensemble et notre avenir ne s\u2019accomplit pas. Il est accompli. Nous le d\u00e9couvrons seulement.<\/strong><\/td>\nTime doesn\u2019t exist in reality. The succession of events is only an appearance. Everything is really happening at the same time and our future is not something that we accomplish. It is already accomplished. We simply discover it.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

* In English it is more natural to say “slow and uncertain” than “uncertain and slow” as in the French.
\n** This is an example of the dreaded subjunctive case . . . which really isn’t all that bad if you know a few simple rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

When I’m in Paris, I love to fl\u00e2ner sur les quais de la Seine et faire les bouquinistes (stroll along the quais of the Seine and visit the antique book sellers\/stands). During my last trip I found a little book by an author about whom I had often heard but who I had never read…<\/p>\n

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