Laurel Zuckerman's Paris Weblog

The story behind Modigliani's magnificent portrait of a chocolate maker from Lognes

Investigative journalists at The Fifth Estate have done a fascinating documentary on a disputed Modigliani which the Panama Papers revealed was in the possession of one of the most powerful art dealing families in the world.  Anyone interested in art history and provenance could learn a lot, and lovers of Modigliani will certainly enjoy the unwrapping of this mystery.  

 

There is, in addition, an interesting local history connection. The sitter for this beautiful portrait by Modigliani was Georges Menier, who lived in Lognes, a pretty town in the eastern banlieue of Paris of which he was the mayor. He belonged to the great Menier chocolate-making family.

 

  

Upcoming deadlines to submit to Paris writing workshops

Writers in Paris will have the opportunity to register for workshops with outstanding authors this winter. 

Highly recommended are the workshops with Nicola Keegan, author of the acclaimed Swimming, at Berkeley Books, and the workshop on longform magazine writing with American Library Fellow James Verini, at the American Library in Paris.  For both workshops writers must submit texts. The deadline for submitting your work to the Verini workshop is December 15.  

more information to follow...

Writing in Paris: Exciting New Classes from WICE

Make Your « Re-entry » a Creative One in Paris!

What's on in Paris this fall? The WICE Creative Writing Program is offering a full roster of classes this fall with many new courses and several old favorites!

For those wishing to mine their personal experience for personal expression and publication, Lise Funderberg, creative writing instructor at the University of Pennsylvania and the Rugers MFA program, is presenting an intensive creative nonfiction workshop in October.

Paris Culture Round-up: What's on at the BNF this September

 

France's National Library BNF

Paris literary and cultural events tend to pause in August, gearing up for the rentrée in September.

At the BNF, however, classes on how to use the catalog and on (the very great) Gallica continue, every Thursday at 14h30 and 16h30. Classes are in French, free, and well worth the effort, as the BNF has quietly assembled world class resources for the benefit or scholars and students everywhere.

A Few Books About The Holocaust in France

French Education News: Protesting English

If Brian is in the kitchen, where is Manhattan?

Once again, French high school students have launched a petition to protest the content of the English test on the French BAC high school leaving exam. This time (2016) the problem is the use of the word Manhattan. The testers assumed that all students would know that it belongs in New York, but many did not, and felt that it was unfair to base their English language results on trivia known to some but not to others. The petition immediately gathered more than 12,000 signatures. 

All this reminds me of last year's debate, when the petition (which gathered even more signatures) concerned questions that were also criticized as unclear, even to native English speakers (not that that matters, mind you).

I wrote about it at the time, but then didn't publish thinking "well, this will never happen again!"

Wrong.

So, only a year late, here's an essay on last year's petition against the English exam.

Pivot Tables - Halaluya!

moved

Books I Can't Wait To Read in 2016

 

(Thank you  to Stephen Curry, professor of structural biology at Imperial College, for providing the core of this ToREAD booklist - and to The Guardian for publishing it!)

1. All Art Is Propoganda, Critical Essays, George Orwell

Ok - this is a cheat. I've already read Orwell's essays and am now rereading them. But in a dangerous time when hypocrisy and humbug are the height of literary fashion, Orwell's fearless and direct analysis is a refreshing reminder of what writing in general and journalism in particular can be (when not engaged in apologizing for totalitarianism or tiptoeing around taboos). For a bracing French essay in this great tradition, I highly recommend Caroline Fourest's new book, In Praise of Blasphemy: Why Charlie Hebdo Is Not Islamophic, so far available in English translation only as an ebook.

2. The Sense of Style, Steven Pinker

A diehard Pinker fan, I will eagerly follow him wherever he goes, so if he moves from the brain to grammar, so will I. Pinker is one of those rare scientists who write with exceptional clarity about things I know nothing about. Always a pleasure.

3. The Only Woman in the Room, Eileen Pollack

Having witnessed an appalling case of sexism in the classroom this year, I'm curious to read Pollack's account of her own struggles. And maybe get some guidance on what to do today. After watching a science teacher blatantly discriminate against girls in his class, I'm ready to slap anyone who asks "Why aren't there more women in science?" as if it were a mystery.

4. Herding Hemingway’s Cats, Kat Arney

I'm a little afraid of a book on DNA but Dr Curry assures us that "Arney’s chirpy tour through the mysteries of modern genetics is engrossing and fun", so I'll give it a try.  Anything to get a handle on the Build-A-Human start-ups that are bound to go public soon. Also, there's Hemingway in the title, so that's good.

5. What’s Left, Nick Cohen

I am grateful to Nick Cohen for his articulate and courageous articles in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo Pen America debacle in which feted and privileged writers took a stand AGAINST French satirists murdered in the heart of Paris for what they wrote or drew. As a person traditionally of the left, I am appalled by what passes for thought these days in progressive circles and hope to get some insights into what the hell happened. 

6. Being Mortal, Atul Gawande

This book comes with a warning from Dr Curry:  "Don’t pick up Being Mortal if you aren’t prepared to hold your gaze on the face of death." Having been unable to prevent my mother from suffering a horribly long and painful death, I am very interested in anything that might spare others this experience. Or offer some kind of understanding.  

7. The Vital Question, Nick Lane

Dr Curry calls this a "rip-roaring tale of the most fundamental problem in biology". Who can resist? Though, ahem, it's "not for fair-weather readers". But then, vital questions shouldn't be, should they?

8. Life’s Greatest Secret, Matthew Cobb
Is it the advancing years that draw me to yet another book on DNA, this time from cybernetics and molecular biology angles? Dr Curry says this is "one of the year’s greatest science books". Definitely worth a try.

9. Serving the Reich, Philip Ball
One of the great mysteries of the rise of Nazis was just how many scientists (and other intellectuals), when faced with a terrible dilemma, made the wrong moral choice. An ever topical subject.

10. You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson

As a practitioner of social media (ok - addict) I'm curious to discover the case histories of "shaming". Looking forward to some refreshing facts. And maybe some tips?

11. The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
This may look like a weird choice on a scientist's booklist but it's one I delight in. Is there anything more fun than Chandler? Philip Marlowe is "every bit as cynical, embittered and humane as Le Carré’s Leamas, but he is a sharper and more loquacious observer of human life. Wickedly joyous." :)

12. Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson
I can't believe I haven't read this yet. 2016 will be the year! Robinson spoke last year at the Key West Writers Conference on the subject of grace, and she was luminous.

 (I found Stephen Curry's booklist from which my own is a small selection on Twitter @Stephen_Curry . He is a professor of structural biology at Imperial College,) 

France: French ghettos - like Saint Denis - ten years after the riots: video

To be fifteen in France's ghettos (banlieues).

Excellent discussion of the state of the "banlieues" in France, ten years after the riots that caused France's previous State of Emergency in the winter of 2005.

Calvi's TV show, "C dans l'air" is probably the best discussion forum on French TV. Notice what is said about denial of reality (what's called "angélisme"). About recidivism (it is false that prison causes recividism: "prisons do not cause recidivism; recidivists eventually end up in prison"). About impunity (minors know that they risk nothing "je suis mineur, on ne peut rien contre moi"). About the billions wasted (according to the very official Cour de Comptes). About the drug trade. About the changing population. About increasing violence. And more...(in French). If you blog about France or teach students about France, this is a good video to watch and discuss. 

Broadcast on October 28, 2015 - two weeks before the Paris Attacks,  "Avoir 15 ans dans les banlieues" was watched on TV by 1.7 million people in France.

Austria to imprison author. Holocaust scholars appeal to President

In 2001, Stephan Templ and Tina Walzer published in German a book entitled Our Vienna, which offered, for the first time, an inventory of businesses and landmarks and other property stolen from Viennese Jews after the Anschluss with Germany in 1938. After filing a claim for his mother, Templ was sentenced to jail on charges that have been described as "Kafkaesque", prompting 75 Holocaust scholars to request that the President of Austria intervene. In attacking Templ, Austria appears to be punishing Templ for his book and attempting to intimidate claimants as well as historians. Background: