Apologies and Happy Bastile Day!

First, I want to apologize to my dear readers.  The last couple of days I have posted a couple of "tests" that I then went on to delete.  I am still in the process of streamlining the blog, and I am trying to figure out some of the "technical" details.  So, again, my sincere regrets for bothering you with nonsense.

Most importantly for today is the celebration of Bastille Day! As a woman who admires beauty in all its forms, the French quintessentially embody that which is beautiful.  The care and delicate attention to detail in everything they do demonstrates their obsession for the aesthetic. Whether it is the way food is presented, a package is wrapped, the importance of literature and art in their culture, beauty is reflected all around.  But to go beyond the superficial, I was fortunate that my new edition of The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir arrived yesterday.  How apropos, n'est-ce pas? I will be using the newly translated introduction for my Women's Studies Course this fall. Just in case you want to learn more about her, the Stanford Philosophical Library has a really great page on Simone de Beauvoir.  Moreover, it isn't just Beauvoir that makes the French great, let's not forget Derrida, Foucault, Kristeva, Bataille, Baudrillard, etc, etc.  So enjoy your day of "Liberté, égalité, fraternité"!

Marcel Proust's Birthday

Today is Marcel Proust's Birthday! I am very fortunate to have discovered his literature. By no means is he unknown, but I had neglected to read him. I discovered his exquisite writing this past year. The sensuality and precision in his descriptions are truly like paintings; he evokes all of the senses. I too could experience the taste of the madeleine, or the acutely ecstatic and painful love that Swann feels for Odette. Here is a short bio:

"Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (July 10, 1871 – November 18, 1922) was a French novelist, critic and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time; earlier translated as Remembrance of Things Past). It was published in seven parts between 1913 and 1927.

“People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive. It is as though they were traveling abroad.”" Information about Proust was obtained from Parabola, a journal dedicated to myth and folklore.
— Marcel Proust