The True Novel

The true novel thinks!

BIBLIOTHEQUE MEDICIS,L'Esprit libre
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The Duty of Scandalizing

In hommage to Pier Paolo Pasolini, his last televised interview, from October 31, 1975

People are NOT mere Numbers!

"Il faut des gens vivants, individuells! "

"L'inculture et la censure règne en ce pays!"

Never Forget !

השואה

The liberation of those remaining in Auschwitz on this day 66 years ago was for all of humanity!

Watch it, read it carefully, and think about it!

Obama's second State of the Union Address from January 25, 2011

Another link to the text here.

[And I suggest leaving the poor quality tea in the cracked pot instead of letting some half-informed lady who thinks her NAME is "Congresswoman" pour you a cup of nonsense.]

Pour la légèreté !

Ne soyons plus jaloux de cette certaine légèreté ; de la lourdeur, il y en a trop !

Politically Correct?

Should Céline be condemned for his anti-semitism? Certainly, but where does literature remain in that political correctness? The pamphlets of Céline are certainly disgusting, but his literary works provide more insight into the great technically minded disaster of the Twentieth Century (enduring to the present day, besides) than any historical political account I know of. Voyage au bout de la nuit, Nord, Rigodon, D'un château l'autre are reason enough to celebrate the author Céline, and reading them reveal that the author himself often enough condemns the person Céline and recognizes the anathema he deserves/suffers.
A great author died 50 years ago, and with him a despicable anti-semite; his pamphlets have not stood the test of time, his amazing novels have and will endure and continue to influence a less technocratic more humanly focused style of writing.

Le Monde, 21.01.11:
Le fantôme de Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894-1961) a encore frappé. Au nom des Fils et Filles des déportés juifs de France, qu'il préside, l'avocat Serge Klarsfeld s'indigne, dans une lettre rendue publique mercredi 19 janvier, que l'écrivain français, connu pour son antisémitisme, fasse partie - à l'occasion du 50e anniversaire de sa mort - des personnalités incluses dans le recueil 2011 des célébrations nationales, publié par le ministère de la culture.

Le Monde, 21.01.11:
"Après mûre réflexion, et non sous le coup de l'émotion, j'ai décidé de ne pas faire figurer Céline dans les célébrations nationales", a indiqué M. Mitterrand vendredi soir. "Ce n'est en aucun cas un désaveu à l'égard du Haut Comité [chargé d'établir la liste des personnalités] mais (…) une inflexion que j'assume pleinement", a-t-il ajouté. Auteur du Voyage au bout de la nuit ou encore de Mort à crédit, Louis-Ferdinand Céline a également rédigé plusieurs pamphlets violemment antisémites.
Peu après cette annonce, M. Klarsfeld a exprimé son "très grand soulagement". "Oui, c'est un très grand soulagement", a-t-il commenté au micro de RTL. "Je félicite Frédéric Mitterrand d'avoir eu le courage de désavouer ceux qui, dans son ministère, ont accepté que Céline figure dans ce recueil", a-t-il déclaré.
"Je considère Céline comme un grand écrivain, mais c'est un être abject également. (…) De ce point de vue-là, Céline n'avait pas sa place, ce n'était pas à la République de célébrer entre guillemets le plus antisémite de tous les Français de l'époque."

Try reading the novels rather than merely parotting the obvious! And you might also consider what Philippe Sollers has to say about the whole affair of removing Céline from the list of cultural figures to be celebrated in 2011 by the French Ministry of Culture. The 50th anniversary of his death is the occasion.

Philippe Sollers: «Cette affaire Céline est absurde»

Fallait-il inscrire le cinquantenaire de la mort de Louis-Ferdinand Céline dans le calendrier officiel des «Célébrations nationales» 2011? Serge Klarsfeld, président des FFDJ (Fils et filles des déportés juifs de France), en appelle à Frédéric Mitterrand et Nicolas Sarkozy pour s'y opposer. Pour Philippe Sollers, auteur de nombreux textes sur l'écrivain, c'est «insensé».

«C’est insensé. Il est insensé qu’un citoyen demande au président de la République de retirer un auteur de l’importance de Céline d’un volume officiel paru avec la validation du Ministère de la Culture. On ne pouvait pas mieux faire comme pub à Céline.

Ca me laisse vraiment stupéfait. Cette réaction me paraît tout à fait illégitime et déplacée: on ne doit pas traiter la littérature avec ce genre de censure, qui se rapproche de celle de Monsieur Hessel à l’ENS par Madame Canto-Sperber, obtenue semble-t-il avec l’accord de Madame Pécresse. Tout ceci est extrêmement négatif. C’est une façon de jouer avec le feu qui me semble extrêmement dangereuse. Hemingway disait: «Quand ça va mal, la littérature est en première ligne.» Nous en avons la preuve éclatante. Les jugements deviennent déraisonnables.

Cette affaire est absurde. J’ai rassemblé mes textes sur Céline dans un livre paru en 2009 (*), cela ne fait pas de moi un nazi notoire. Il a dit une chose définitive: «Je suis anarchiste jusqu’au poil.» Les deux grands écrivains français du XXe siècle sont Proust et Céline. Point, à la ligne.

On peut critiquer Céline tant qu’on veut, on ne manque d’ailleurs pas de le faire, et il faudra évidemment publier une édition critique parfaitement formulée de ses pamphlets. On peut même critiquer tant qu’on veut ce volume édité par le Ministère. Il n’y a qu’à lui tirer dessus à boulets rouges, mais pas demander une censure au président de la République, enfin!»

Propos recueillis par Grégoire Leménager

(*) «Céline», par Philippe Sollers, éd. Ecriture, 107 p., 14,95 euros.

Quite correct!

What can be said about Tuscon and Giffords?

«La propagande du ressentiment et de l'esprit de vengeance a fait de grands progrès. Et ce n'est qu'un début.»
[Ph.Sollers, "La Vérité révélée par le Temps" in L'Infini n°113, p.36]

"The propaganda of resentment and the spirit of vengence has made great progress. And that's just the beginning!"
[my own spontaneous translation]

Would it be too much to ask all the inhabitants of the country from which I hail to finally lay down their guns and begin to think? Perhaps they might even think about helping one another, about a society of caring and mutual concern and support, instead of gunning each other down and resenting anyone who receives help by law. Government of the people, by the people, and FOR the people! The cowboys should no longer be free to shoot their opinions into orders!

May Representative Giffords quickly recover, scrap her own firearms, and vote for meaningful gun controls. (And I hope she has proper insurance to pay for her treatment!)

Tesoro d'amore

The treasury of love, Trésor d'amour, is there!
Merci bien à Philippe Sollers pour cette nouvelle possibilité de penser et de jouir. Le bonheur est un privilège secret et plus que saint !

« La religion rend souvent fou ... »

Ce qui est sans doute vrai, comme l'écrit Philippe Sollers dans le nouveau numéro de L'Infini, 113, Hiver 2011, qui vient d'arriver chez moi. Tout L'Infini me rend toujours très joyeusement pensif!

Reactionaries Moving Backwards

Just how far back do these partied-T banana-republicans want to move the United States? More than one hundred years after the rest of the civilized world, the US finally enacted a very watered-down version of universal health care for its citizens. These absurdly majoritied elephants in the House of Representatives, however, are determined to vote to let more Americans die and suffer from uninsured illnesses in order to "protect" business. Can they explain why business in Germany and most of Europe, with universal health care, is better than the US without it? Anyhow, the protection line is a bald-faced lie; companies with healthy employees are more productive than those with workers who come to work rather than go to a doctor when they are ill because they can't afford it and then spread their infections around the entire staff. This is just one trivial economic argument, but the real argument is concern for fellow man. Everyone should have access to all the benefits of treatment western civilization can provide.
So while they are moving backwards, maybe those elephants in the House porcelain shop should also consider digging up the Interstate Highways, cracking the Hoover Dam, repealing the holiday on July 4, closing Amtrak, and eliminating the Coast Guard, for these are all "federal intrusions" on tea party victims.
And then they can raze the cities and inform all citizens that they must begin to build log cabins again or live in wigwams because all federal mortgage programs are being canceled retroactively and the houses and apartments they all live in are being foreclosed on and demolished to sell the material to some other country that knows better what to do with values!

G.O.P. Newcomers Set Out to Undo Obama Victories
The New York Times, January 2, 2011

Representative Robert E. Andrews, Democrat of New Jersey, challenged the Republicans to bring it on. “We will respond by pointing out the impact of repeal on people’s lives,” Mr. Andrews said. “On women with cancer who could be denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition. On senior citizens who would lose the help they are receiving to pay for prescriptions.”
Democrats argue that repeal would increase the number of uninsured; put insurers back in control of health insurance, allowing them to increase premiums at will; and lead to explosive growth in the federal budget deficit.
“For months, Republicans have been shoveling out hypocrisy and lies to the American public,” said Representative Joseph Crowley, Democrat of New York. Mr. Crowley and more than 60 other House Democrats have demanded that lawmakers pushing for repeal of the new law give up their own government-subsidized health insurance.

The Democrats say Republicans will make a mistake if they focus first on repeal, rather than on finding additional ways to stimulate the economy and create jobs — a mirror image of criticism that Republicans lobbed at Democrats for the last 18 months.

And just in case you refuse to believe The New York Times, The Washington Post also reports on the reactionaries' plans:

House Republicans set Jan. 12 vote on repeal of health-care law

"Republicans want another debate about health-care reform? Well, so should Democrats. They beat us in round one with lies and scare tactics. We welcome a second shot," said Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.).
And Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the outgoing speaker, said in a post on Twitter, "While Dems are focused on job creation, GOP is fast-tracking repealing patients' rights & Rx help for seniors."

Stand up for the Twenty-first Century and maintain health care for all!

What a Difference !

Check out these two New Year's addresses, of Obama and Merkel, and hear for yourself how he speaks to intelligent citizens and she speaks to babies in a nursery school!

May 2011 begin ...

When an ex-KGB chief runs a country...

...and controls what the courts do with those who oppose him, it is little wonder that justice is not done. And so, whatever little Med may promise in the way of democratic reform and rule of law and respect for human rights, Russia remains under the iron fist of a master spy. Putin today had his way and had his judge sentence the "oil thief" K to 14 years in prison, meaning he has six more to go as he's already been in for 7+.
We had all better wake up and start screaming incessantly at all those countries and leaders trampling on justice and denying human rights to their citizens! It's a bad wave of devastating machinations that's rolling over the globe!

Russian tycoon Khodorkovsky sentenced to 14 years, signaling Putin hard line
The Washington Post, by Kathy Lally, Thursday, December 30, 2010
Although the conviction had been considered inevitable because of Putin's animosity toward Khodorkovsky, the length of the sentence was seen as an indication of whether Putin would permit the liberalization and rule of law that President Dmitry A. Medvedev has been endorsing.
The maximum sentence of 14 years seemed a resounding no to that question. It means Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, who were already serving eight years on related tax charges, will remain behind bars until 2017, with credit for time served.
[...]
"The full sentence of 14 years would indicate the end of Medvedev's modernization," Leon Aron, director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute, said as the trial was drawing to a close. "You cannot talk about liberalization when the rule of law is so shamefully betrayed."

Shame indeed! Schande! Honte!

Monday Evening New Snow

It was still falling as we took this photo; by morning, well, you can imagine.

In Defense of an Oil Baron?

Is it necessary to protest against the guilty verdict announced by a Russian court against Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Moscow today? After all, he is super wealthy, certainly took advantage of every possibility to line his pockets available, but he is an opponent of Putin and has already been in prison for seven years awaiting the outcome of this trial on charges of embezzlement. Mr. Putin, only a few days ago, called him "a thief who belongs in jail", which is quite an impartial pronouncement from a Russian premier only a few day prior to the (postponed, for that reason?) announcement of the verdict.
Now we can all wait who knows how long for the other shoe to drop: the sentence, which will be the next indication of whether justice in Russia is possible these days.
Mr. Putin had earlier, back in 2000, warned Mikhail that he could keep his holdings if he did not interfere with the Kremlin and stayed out of politics. Mikhail Khodorkovsky did not stay out of politics and has therefore been staying in prison for quite some time.
Mr. Medvedev should sieze the opportunity to demonstrate the capacity of Russia to achieve and promote justice with independent courts, or, if necessary, with a presidential pardon or commutation of the sentence, whenever it finally comes.
And when WikiLeaks releases documents on the involvment of prosecution and judges in this case with Putin and his election and governmental machine, I will be sure to read them and all analyses true journalists provide of them.
Come on, Mother Russia, join the world of justice!

Imprisoned Russian Oil Tycoon Is Convicted Again
The New York Times, by CLIFFORD J. LEVY and ANDREW E. KRAMER, Published: December 27, 2010
Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky was found guilty Monday on embezzlement charges in a case seen as a sign of the Kremlin’s control of the justice system.

Merry ... Fröhliche ... Joyeux ... Buon ...

Christmas

Weihnachten

Noël

Natale

Intentionally Unbalanced News

Hungary's draconian new law to control and punish any media reports considered by an autonomous and unchecked board composed of members of the governing nationalist party to be objectionable, immoral, or not presenting a balanced view is contrary to all important aspects of the human right to freedom of expression! They have not even attempted to define the vague terms you can be charged with violaton of, and are rightly criticized for heading in the direction of totalitarian states and dictatorships in curtailment of freedom of the press. The aptest comparison is with the mustached dictatorship in White Russia.
Unfortunately, Hungary has the rotating presidency of the EU for the coming six months, and the recourse of Hungarians and Europeans concerned with freedom and democracy is an appeal to the European Court to strike down the Hungarian law and remind them that only states committed to human rights and democracy may be members of the European Union.
As this brief account is intentionally unbalanced, since I have no intention of considering any reasons for infringement on freedom of expression here, I do indeed hope Hungary will join China in blocking acces to my blog. That would be an honor.

Hungary passes law boosting government control of media

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's parliament passed legislation on Tuesday to tighten government control over news outlets which media watchdogs say is arbitrary and ill-defined.
The new National Media and Communications Authority (NMHH), dominated by people loyal to the ruling Fidesz party, will oversee all public news production and its powers will include levying big fines on private media that violate the law.
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn criticised the move in an interview with Reuters in Germany, saying the European Commission must take swift action against it.
"The plans clearly violate the spirit and the letter of EU treaties," Asselborn said, adding: "It raises the question whether such a country is worthy of leading the EU."

The New Universal Enemy

For all of those paranoid individuals, tea-drunken simplistic partiers, not-with-me-is-against-me antagonists, and others who just can't face themselves in a mirror without a scapegoat to blame for everything they don't like, we in Berlin have discovered the new universal enemy, the source of all terroristic disruptions, the fundamentalist of all times, the factor everyone must look under their beds to find, the one thing responsible for whatever doesn't work, the reason the trains, buses, trams, planes cannot transport us anymore, the threat to our modern day civilization, way of life, apple pie, and motherhood, the demon of the evil axis, the axis of evil itself ...

THE WEATHER

Ask Me, and I'll Tell You ...

Glad that my homeland, despite paling tea parties, is creeping slowly into the Twenty-first Century. Finally, gays who serve in the military do not have to hide to defend their country.

The Washington Post:

"The U.S. military will for the first time in history allow gays to serve openly after the Senate voted Saturday to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," the policy that has required such troops to hide their sexual identity or risk being expelled from the services."

The next step is to recognize gay union/marriage throughout the country, and then, for everyone, to make sure that the military will be made ever more unnecessary by achieving true and stable world peace.