NancyElin > Recent Status Updates

This biography is so easy to read in French, thank you Stefan Zweig!

Balzac is starting (1829) to become "the-talk-of-the-town"! (30 yr)

The author has an 'incredible' vocabulary!!

Finally finished the...prologue!

This book is a massive puzzle.
Take notes!

Another reference to (motif) Moon: Piano piece that he learned with teacher Rothenberg « Clair de Lune ».
Not much happened on these pages. Joe discovers some boys have a secret society they call « the watchtower »
According to Joe (narrator) simple fun and games, nothing more.

Having some second thoughts about this book.
At times I read it w/ reluctance! Pacing is at a snail's pace, useless page filling with bird and baby's name. So sick of all the attention on that damn bird, « corneille »! So sick of all the attention on fine a first name for the baby! Try to finish this book ASAP!

Baldwin has been in Paris for a year. Bad news - has learned French yet!
Good news: he has met the love of his life Lucien Happersberger (Swiss). Will he remain top on Baldwin's list?

Balzac is still struggling. First attempt « Cromwell » was a dud. He has 1 more year or $$ credit from his parents and he is going for it!

Irony: Abbot Séance (director of Catholic Orphanage, « Les Confins ») described (pg 76) « un tendresse toute franciscaine » - Abbot is anything BUT KIND!!

Last thought: Madeleine's ( grandmother, la vieille) hatred for Alfred feels overdetermined: it’s too intense to be only about ecology or property rights; it smells of a personal history where Alfred has already violated someone or something that mattered deeply to her.

Verbs  I see mostly in CF.
C: colmater (stop, seal off) - se chianer (squabble), chialer (whine, blubber)
A: alpaguer (grab smth, sb)
Verbs I hate!
R: raccommoder, rafistoler  and ravauger (mend, patch up smth) - pop up and annoy me all the time!
Two new characters ALFRED and LYSIANE.  (pg 116)
Grandmother HATES Alfred...why?

This book is going nowhere fast,
Skim 48 pages...not my kind of book!
I'm afraid all the suspense and
resolutions will be in the last 10 pages!!

Arrives at "Les Confns" and we read who' who:
Grenouille, Etienne, Rachid (lay personal)
Momo, Souzix, Fouine (boys)
Soeur Angeliqe, Hélène, Albertine (the sisters)
L'Abbé Sénac, Mgr. Théas, (clergy)
Daily routine, dormitory, meals in the mess
Book is oké but I hope it gets better soon.

2 year $$ credit from parents, if you are not a celebrated writer by then you must go to school to become lawyer/notary!
Never underestimate Balzac's mother! She intentionally rents the WORST apartment she can find for him. She wants to « amener à réspiscence"   bring him to his senses! Balzac describes his "trou" (dump) in « La Peau de Chagrin » Very engaging biography, Zweig is an excellent  NF writer!  (pg 34-43)

17.07.2026: read pg 16-37
Book is excellent ....so far, page-turner!

Less interesting today but I press on. I hope the memoir gets better as soon as we delve into Carrère's mother and father's lives. I' tired of reading about the great grand parents, grand uncles and the like....

Balzac announces to his parents he wants to become a writer.
His mother is appalled, his. father seeks to find a compromise..
Agreed: try to achieve your goal...and family will give him a small
$$ compensation to get started. Mother is ....still appalled!

Read 16.07.2026 and 17.06.2026
E. Carrère has an impressive family tree!

Baldwin is one the very best writers of the 20th C. He is now in Paris 1948-1955 enjoying life and a freedom unknown to him in the USA.

Reads so "couramment" fluently....and a fascinating family memoir!

Stefan Zweig does not only tell the facts but explains which characters are based on Balzac's childhood/teenage years. Like "Louis, Lambert" Balzac was a genius who was misunderstood at school!

I've reached chapter 27 of a whopping 74 chapters! Pessoa a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, and publisher. He has been described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese literature. He is a genius I never heard of... but is such a strange, strange man.

The title, « Le Pays des autres » sums up by itself the condition of each character:... Mathilde (author's grandmother), the Alsatian, lives in the country of others in Morocco;... Amine (author's grandfather), the Moroccan, lives in the country of others under the French protectorate.
No one is ever completely at home.They fell madly in love but are complete opposites. How are they going to make this work?

Basic info:
Structure:
The frame story (Dürrenmatt/Dr. H.) and a... embedded sub-story.
Dürrenmaat meets Dr. H retired police chief 
...and he tells us about detective Matthäi’s investigation.
Narrators:
External - F. Dürrenmatt
Primary narrator: Dr. H.
Matthias: Never speaks, his silence speaks volumes.

Part 2 ch. 9-10 - very long chapters. R. (main character, "Robin Hood" type) is a nobleman but nobody knows that yet...but the reader does! (dramatic irony). He is going to rent an apt in a building to get more information about "people of interest". The concierge (M/Mme Piplet) tell him stories about the other renters. R. is listening closely. What is he going to do...help some of these poor people later?