Bakhtin and Aristotle

These two authors do not seem to have anything in common at first : ancient Greece vs. 20th century USSR, philosophy vs. literary criticism. One thing stands out, however : laughter, or comedy. It is Umberto Eco's tour de force and greatest achievement to have made the works of these two influential authors meet in his 1980 medieval whodunit The Name of the Rose. At the centre of the plot is a labyrinthine library, worthy of Borges's Fictions, which houses books worth dying for - and killing for. The meanders of the story lead the two protagonists (a master, William of Baskerville and his disciple, Adso of Melk, both monks) to the source of all deaths.This is made possible by William's high rationality and logic (inherited from Conan Doyle, and Eco's own field: semiology), and one of Adso's dreams (the book is Adso's Bildungsroman in some way). His dream is the comic and subversive re-enactment of the Coeana Cypriani (The Supper of Cypriani), probably written by Saint Cyprianus just before the 6th century. The supper is the scene of a reversal of all biblical values, of blasphemy, of debauchery, where the King becomes a buffoon, where Adam and other famous charcters are satirised, as if they were all part of a book by Rabelais. This disorder, the inversion of the values is the gist of what Bakhtin calls the "carnivalesque", of what used to happen during carnival days int he Middle-Ages. Laughter and supper lead etymologically to "comedy": "komoidia" is the song of a band of revellers after a banquet. This is the nodal point of the novel: Aristotle wrote his Poetics on tragedy and comedy: only the former subsists, the last copy of the latter having perished in the great fire of Alexandria's library in the Middle Ages. His analysis of laughter was the ultimate aim for any scholar, and in this case, any monk. Laughter in the Bible is a debated notion among monks in the abbey: it is welcomed but also rejected. The Gospels are considered as being devoid of any laughter. Hence the desire of one monk to make Aristotle's rational study unreachable and inaccessible to vulgar people. William of Baskerville will discover that the reason behind it is the fact that people would then be justified in using humour, which would make the foundations on which the Church was built collapse, that is, God's wrath and fear.

A voyage back in time

This is a picture of Saranda, a town on the southwestern coast of Albania. A visit in this former Communist country, which cut itself off from the rest of the world for a decade, between 1980 and 1990, was an eye-opener. Democracy is now back, with a Parliament, and a new Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, a former member of the Communist Party (an unsurprising fact in a country where there used to be only one party), who has faced difficulties in his fight against corruption and above all in tackling economic problems (such as the scandal of the pyramid investment schemes). Since 1990, many Albanians have emigrated around the world, creating an 800 000-strong diaspora, and sending back a lot of money, a huge source of wealth for a very poor population. Albania is looking towards the future, hoping to become a touristic destination, on a par with Greece (Saranda is situated just across the Ionian Sea, 2 nautical miles away from the island of Corfu). It took Greece thirty years to set itself up as modern economy. Albania, despite all its goodwill, its vitality and energy, will have to remain patient.

A new France?

My blog was never meant to be a diary. However, flying to London Heathrow from Paris Roissy made me want to write about this. My latest Roissy experience was in stark contrast with the former one at the same airport, which had been exceedingly slow - and that was before the Glasgow airport events and the botched bomb attacks in London: the customs were severely understaffed, people (and I) queued endlessly and there was just enough time left for boarding. This time, things were much different. Staff were everywhere, checking-in was faster than ever and when we started queuing at the customs, we were told to go to another queue, a sort of fast-track queue, and, suddenly, we found ourselves in the new state-of-the-art Terminal 2F, recently opened by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. A high-ceilinged elegant glass structure welcomed the visitors over two vast floors, enabling them to watch the planes soar into the sky. This dynamic side, which is a much vaunted British quality - and justifyingly so - may now have landed on the French side of the Channel again.
PS: Alan Johnston is now free.

Lebanon (bis repetita placent): peace and Sister Keyrouz

Sister Marie Keyrouz, a Lebanese-born Maronite Christian, is one of these all-round people who continually amaze: she holds a Ph.D. in Religious Anthropology as well as in Musicology from the Sorbonne University and she sings. Her repertoire is one at a crossroads between East and West, between Maronite, Byzantine or Aramean songs and Ambrosian or Gregorian ones; it also includes classical pieces of sacred music by composers such as Mozart, Bach or Gounod. Her musical strategy is to recycle rhythms and melodies, tempos and techniques that date back to the beginning of our era.
She founded the "Ensemble de la Paix" in 1984 during the civil war in Lebanon, a multicultural, multiconfessional orchestra that defies political, racial and political categories. She then went on to create "Enfance pour la Paix", a charity which aims at fighting ignorance and poverty, mothers of all evils in her opinion. All profits made from her concerts and CD's go towards it.
It was for a such fund-raising evening that she organised a Christmas concert at the UNESCO in Paris last December. A very emotional occasion indeed after the assassinations of high-profiles Lebanese political figures (in the Gemayel and Hariri dynasties) and the occupation and attack of South Lebanon by the Israeli Army.
Let us hope that an end can be put to this constant spiral of violence and attacks in the country: they must be stopped in order to avoid a complete collapse of Lebanon.
"Singing is praying twice", Sister Marie Keyrouz said...

Confessions

Amy Winehouse's latest album entitled "Back to black" is a very short one: 11 songs in about half an hour. This half-hour is extremely dense, on many levels: first in terms of music, since this young Jewish singer from North London captured the sound of Motown Records and worked in a short space of time with the likes of Marc Ronson (currently enjoying a clear public success with "Stop Me") to create a very soul yet contemporary feel and atmosphere. Trumpets and bass-guitar, as in "He Can Only Hold Her", convey a rich instrumental accompaniment and congratulate Amy's deep voice. Hers is particularly unique: effortless, adaptable, high- and low-pitched, it narrates and sings autobiographical confessions, about love (and its labour lost), addiction (the last song of the album) and alcohol. Alcohol which is still an issue in "Rehab" and today, since she has cancelled concerts at the Sheperd's Bush Empire, London and one at the Trabendo, Paris. One is drawn into very intimate lyrics: the mastership is such that this (only) second album smacks of a great professional experience. On another level, it is a tour de force, since it was recorded in a few weeks. Voice, music, instruments and engrossing lyrics concur to make a very personal album a shared public success.

Azul and Spanishness

Daniel Sanchez Arevalo's latest film Azul poses the issue of the definition of Spanishness. This director is hailed as the new Almodovar, who is known for his tormented heroes and heroines, shocking plots, transgender sexuality, pathos, virtuosity and sheer brilliance. These characteristics partially apply to Azul: a film in which the hero, Jorge, has to look after his invalid widower of a father after he had a heart attack the day when Jorge attempted to set fire to a bin outside the building where they live, refusing thereby to become what is father is and wants him to become: a porter. This fire sets the tone and starts the film: its ashes cover the rest of the story with their dark hue. It will be a leitmotiv for the turning points of the film, at two other moments. All in all, it is a film in three acts, like a short tragedy, or more exactly a tragicomedy, where pathos and bathos mingle, where tears jostle with laughter, where sudden revelations and decisions alter the life of a character for ever. This leads to the theme of Spanishness: this film is very Spanish. The characters are larger than life, outrageous, temperamental, unpredictable and their sexual drives are bared for all to see, watch and even photograph and hold againts one another... And out of this apparent cacophony of subplots, out of the disorder of the events, there remains a lasting anf final impression of unity, of beauty and tranquillity. Order restored, as clear as a blue sky, whose colour is that of the title.

Tate's Britain

Catherine Tate is a revolution on BBC 2 after "Little Britain", in terms of caustic comedy. Through the impersonation of a wide range of larger-than-life characters, all interpreted by herself (and all inspired from people around her), a new portrait of Britain has now been drawn. This chameleon-lady can in turn play (and transform into) a nightmarish secretary, a jack-of-all-trades (and master of none) assistant or a stereotypical middle-class mother. Above all, two creations will remain: the cantankerous Nan Taylor, whose banter and rudeness make her a shocking yet hilarious version of any British grandmother and, last but not least, the astonishingly annoying schoolgirl Lauren, paragon of the so-called "chav culture", whose phrase "Am I bovved" is now a cultural institution...