My computer crashed, so I had to put it together again from scratch. It was a matter of passwords. Microsoft’s employees would not help me retrieve my password.
We are returning to Molière, but not immediately. First, we will read one more post on Confederation. It is ready to publish, but it is not available. read it. We will read two short plays by Molière, his La Critique de l’École des femmes (1st June 1663), and L’Impromptu de Versailles (the Fall of 1663). These are often considered Molière’s “theoretical” plays, but they are performed and constitute essential reading. After reading these two plays, we will have read all plays written by Molière, but some are not presented with an English translation.
Our discussion of these two one-act plays will be followed by a reading of Madame de La Fayette‘s Princesse de Clèves (1678). You may remember that Molière depicts the harms of jealousy. Our best example is Dom Garcie de Navarre, but Amphitryon is the model most remember. In La Princesse de Clèves, jealousy precludes reciprocated love. The French wars of religion are its backdrop, but the King of France is Henri II who is married to Catherine de’ Medici, loves his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. One of Catherine and Henri II’s sons was Henri III. He died in 1589, which is when Henri III de Navarre became Henri IV of France (La Henriade). As King of Navarre, he had been a Huguenot. He converted to Catholicism and proclaimed the Edict of Nantes (1598).
For the last few months, I have been updating my page listing Fables by La Fontaine. France has a new “site officiel” dedicated to La Fontaine, which means that links no longer take a reader to the fable under discussion.
I cannot use the Block editor. I’m old and have health issues. There is nothing I can do. However, I need my posts back, because many have content I require. Not all are in Word and I have changed computers twice.
No, I will not post again. It is driving me to tears. At 76, one can be a little fragile. My posts were my main activity. I need them to finish a book on Animals in Literature. It’s a short textbook I wrote for my students. There was no textbook. I also wish to keep a record of all I have written. These posts remain my intellectual property and have provided information to the internet.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (I caught the H1N1 virus in early 1976) has damaged my brain (short-term memory, concentration, fatigue and minor strokes [paralysis, vertigo, double-vision, headaches]). I may forget or repeat words.
My best advice to WordPress is to give people a choice of editor and never kidnap posts. Please return all of my material to me. They are my intellectual property. Content and form are inextricably linked. I will get a new printer and print all relevant posts (the voyageurs, fables, Canadiana, etc).
I was fooled into relinquishing my tenure at StFX University, so my pension does not allow unessential purchases. I am experiencing difficulty settling into this apartment. It requires repairs and books must be removed. It has one bedroom only. Given the above, encephalomyelitis and advanced emphysema, I have genuine limitations.
Please return my posts. They would cost a lot of money to purchase, but I can’t continue. I can’t operate my Smartphone. It seems I need a man.
We are all the same, but we differ in little yet important ways.
I thank you for the good years. I live alone, away from my community. So, my blog was important. It was my job. My computer is failing me. A technician came over who said it was fine. I cannot use my mouse.
Respectfully,
Micheline Walker
P.S. If writing an article drives me to tears, it’s over.
Publishing “The Negro-Spiritual” was difficult. First, my computer is on the blink. A technician came and told me that all was right. But it isn’t. At any rate, yesterday’s post was sent to trash twice and I had to rebuild it. I had a copy of the text and my images, but finding images is now more difficult. No human being would do this to me. The Classic editor was more useful to me. I felt I was being punished and after a day’s labour, I was crying like a child. At that cost, my career is definitely over. My brain was damaged because I caught the H1N1 virus, in February 1976. I developed Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. In 1991, it was found that the rate of perfusion of blood to my brain was too slow and that the damage was significant. It has affected my memory, but not my intelligence. I am lucid.
As you know, I made a mistake. I left Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where I owned a lovely blue house across the street from the Campus. I was overworked and fell ill. I had no strength left. The insurance company agent was asked by her doctor, the one she hired, to please tell me not to sell my house or make important decisions until I had recovered. I would recover. She didn’t say a word.
I had presented a doctor’s note, but it was not taken seriously. No one replaced me. After a short rest, I returned to work. In the eyes of the Insurance Company’s employee, by returning to finish the year’s assignment, I proved that I was an imaginary invalid. I was then fooled into relinquishing my tenure. The Company stopped paying benefits. I therefore decided to return to work asking for a normal load. I was fooled into relinquishing my tenure.
I never recovered from losing my career and access to a research library. No one would buy my apartment because the purchaser could not take a mortgage. Life is very humble.
In the meantime, I write posts and try to make my apartment beautiful. It’s a bit expensive and help is difficult to find during a pandemic. Workers do not all wear their mask. It cannot be seen, but the virus kills.
But let us return to Blacks. If the Blacks, who were often captured by Blacks and ended up in the bottom of a slave ship to be sold to plantation owners who could be very cruel, they needed a promised land. Death becomes a promise. One enters eternal life. This is something I can understand as I have often wished to commit suicide to end the pain.
As for the Blacks being black, it tells nothing about their personality and their qualities. In fact, I am reminded of a legend in Quebec, and perhaps elsewhere, about the beggar at your door. According to the legend, he may be Jesus in disguise. So, one must feed him and give him a bed. The legend is Notre Seigneur en pauvre (Our Lord as a poor man). I discussed it elsewhere. Sir Ernest MacMillan set it to music. For my part, I wrote a song. The music resembles the negro–spiritual, but the words are about the beggar, or Our Lord as a poor man. And it is a love song.
The song has three parts. The first and the third are sung, but the middle is for wind instruments preferably. It is entitled “The Beggar.” The melody is intricate and it is for an excellent singer.
Part One
There came a beggar to my door. A man I’d never seen before. I let him in, He’s been here since. The Beggar is King. No…I’ll never let him go, I’ll never let him go.
Part Two
(INSTRUMENTAL) mostly improvised
Part Three
I told my mother my father ’bout the beggar; I told my brother, my sisters ’bout the beggar. They said: The’re law…yers, The’re doc…tors, Drop…the beggar. (Drop is a very long and high note) But, I will never let him go… But, I will ne…ver let him go… But, I will…ne…ver…let…et him go (syncopated)
(INSTRUMENTAL I – IV – I)
In short, yesterday, I wanted to change the video I had chosen. I preferred the video I had discover.
The singer is Maescha Brueggergoshan, and the pictures turn the post into something more coherent and almost poetical.
I wish Maescha would learn my Beggar. I had a lung illness just before Covid-19. I could not speak for three months and lost two thirds of my lungs. My voice has returned, but I can’t sing.
Please don’t laugh. I have been asked to customize my page, which I cannot do. Nor can I customize my social media icons. For that matter, I cannot use a Smartphone.
If the above numbers are accurate, I live in the province of Canada that is home to half the confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country.
The WHO (World Health Organisation) warned of a potential pandemic at the very end of 2019.
Dr Li Wenliang died on 7 February 2020.
Dr Li Wenliang
As soon as Dr Li Wenliang died, we knew. At that point, North-Americans needed to find the persons who had been in the immediate proximity of the first victims and test them. In other words, medical experts should have been mobilized. It didn’t happen. I need not remind anyone that President Trump reassured Americans. Yet, the time had come to test Americans and forbid the young from spending the March break on beaches and partying. Dr Jerome Adams, the surgeon general of the United States, has stated that Covid-19 was spread mainly by the young. Many Quebecers travel to Florida during the March break.
If an extremely dangerous and unknown virus surfaces, doctors must guide leaders. I read in theWashington Post, that Americans were organizing to map out a strategy the President cannot put forward. There are times when democracy fails us. The plan is to test the population and have the healthy occupy positions formerly held by persons who have fallen ill many of whom have yet to recover or have died, and other positions. There is a healthy population and there are experts: doctors, chemists, and economists. They and elected officials must work together.
No, we cannot count on Mr Trump. He is not qualified to deal with this matter, but the United States has other leaders and it has experts.
In other words, Quebec and other North-Americans have to find people who can keep the population safe and the economy afloat. We have to test people. Many of us are healthy and can work.
I have heard libertarians scream: this is a “free country.” Well, there is freedom and then there is freedom. No one is free to infect other persons. As I have written in several posts and taught my students, one’s freedom ends where the freedom of others begin and expertise overrides uneducated popularity.
I’m not suggesting mutiny and revenge. Violence is out of the question. I am simply sharing what I read in theWashington Post. But I would like to see fine and qualified human beings make sure that
the sick are sequestered and treated,
that a force is making sure doctors and other health professionals are fully protected,
For those of you who feel helpless, here are ways of protecting yourself:
washing your hands
self-isolating
self-distancing (two meters: six to seven feet)
keeping the kitchen counters disinfected
keeping the toilet lid down
no travelling
I hope the military, or related force, will be deployed to keep people at a distance when they shop for the necessities. They must wear protective gear. There have been nasty incidents that have led to stiff fines and may lead to imprisonment. If you do not have money, you should not be expected to pay, but be honest. Governments can deal with this problem. You will probably get money soon. It starts today in Canada.
The military or related force could make sure these measures are enforced immediately. The nice thing about the military or related force is that they can also be your go-to persons.
Saint Matthew and the Angel by Guido Reni (Google)
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew, 7.3)
I went into quarantine on 10 March. One person came to my apartment when the kitchen faucet exploded. It was a danger to my neighbours. I kept at a distance from the plumber and I chose a faucet that looks industrial. The kitchen no longer looks the same. I also disinfected the kitchen counters. Kitchen counters are the preferred home of germs and nasty relatives. Our colleague, Colltales, wrote about the many virtues of plain rubbing alcohol. It disinfects.
I could have lost money to Internet fraud. Fortunately, I pay a fee so my credit card is protected. For my loved-ones, believing I had to renew McAfee was rather reckless. But many Quebecers did not start self-isolating before 23 March, the day the government locked down the province. Was I such a fool?
On 17 March, I phoned the clinic where my doctor works. I had an appointment that day, but I said that, in my opinion, getting into a cab to go to a public clinic did not seem prudent. I then learned that doctors had been asked, on that very day, to phone patients. My doctor phoned and also announced that he would be retiring in December 2020, which is a long time from now. Would the crisis last until then? He had found a doctor who would look after me. which reassured me, but he regretted that he could not refer all of his patients to a doctor. They would see supervised interns. My doctor supervises interns. One often knocked at the door, so I had to wait, but I had a doctor. In Quebec, it takes three years to find a family doctor. That is very disconcerting.
However, being told in March that my doctor will retire in December suggests that it might be a long time before doctors can see patients, except victims of the corona virus. I will attempt to make sure my medication can be renewed for at least two years.
Mistakes were made, but this pandemic was a surprise. Although blaming others may make some people feel better, it could be very wrong. I’m now ageing, but pain is still pain. COVID-19 is a terrible affliction. People could not tell what an evil it would be, but solidarity is our finest weapon. We must have one another to turn to.
Love to everyone 💕
Saint Matthew and the Angel by Rembrandt (WikiArt)
The Declaration of Love by François de Troy (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
I have not posted for several days and must apologize.
Let me explain my silence. I am in the process of requesting from my University a salary for unremunareted assignments. This process is very stressful, but I had to take a mortgage to purchase my current apartment, which should not have happened. I am 75. Moreover, I cannot clear away from my mind the unfortunate events of 2002 and 2004.
Contrary to my request, the person purchasing my last apartement did not have an inspector visit the apartment. Nor was I told, despite hiring a notary, that a person joining the society owning the building could not sell his or her share, if the prospective buyer had to take a mortgage. I doubt that my notary had access to any information. The person acting on my behalf would not step down as proxy. Do not ask anyone to purchase an apartment or a house on your behalf and, if you are sick, do not make serious decisions.
My request for a salary may be granted, but it may not. I have heard from the Faculty Association. It’s rather late, but it was a terrible shock. The consequences of a refusal would be deleterious. Being remunerated will not return my career to me. I will never live in my blue house, and there will not be sabbatical during which I would write my book on Molière. But, if the mortgage disappeared, it would be a relief.
I don’t need a great deal of money, but paying the mortgage would allow me to make my last apartment a pleasant environment. It is smaller and therefore somewhat cluttered. I gave my collection of Canadiana (furniture), but I still have too many books. If I needed a little chest of drawers back, once books were removed, I doubt that it would be returned to me. Ageing can be very difficult.
I do not understand why I was eliminated from the faculty of my university, nor do I understand why I first contacted the administration for a remedy. I think it was shock.
L’Étourdi is the last play we are reading.
Love to everyone 💕
Philippe Jaroussky. “Ombra mai fu” ( Serse ) by G.- F. Händel.
I received a note from a reader who asked whether he could use my posts in his research. The answer was the usual answer. No one can copy or quote posts without acknowledging their source. It is the author’s intellectual property.
However, I remain a specialist of Molière, by virtue of a PhD thesis on his theatre, peer-reviewed articles on his plays, and editing articles on Molière.
Please note that my posts are informed readings of Molière rather than scholarly articles. Scholarly articles are written in the context of previous books and articles. I no longer have access to the services of a research library and can only use materials I keep at home or material sent to me by fellow scholars. At a Toronto meeting of scholars on the Age of Theatre in France, Anne Ubersfeld said that she was “admirative de votre travail.” She admired my short contribution. Would that I could have continued, but I faced obstructionism, extremely demanding workloads and, basically, and I was fooled into accepting a retirement arrangement.
Let us say, that although I do not ask anyone to pay a fee for reading my posts, they remain my intellectual property which means that copying them without proper acknowledgement is plagiarism, which is fraud and punishable. My post are my intellectual property. One simply names one’s source.
I have not finished my analysis of L’Étourdi. It is a very rich play. In a footnote to his translation of l’Étourdi, Henri van Laun wrote that Victor Hugo considered L’Étourdi a masterpiece. I felt too timid to express the same opinion. Once again, Henri van Laun came to my rescue: a footnote.
We will continue reading L’Étourdi. I’m simply breathing a little and taking care of personal issues.
Best regards to all of view. 💕
You may notice little errors: repetitions, spelling, etc. It is illness.
