Rembrandt

To my Readers

I receive comments I do not always have time to answer, but I read all of them and wish to thank you for your encouraging words.  It touches me that you should appreciate blogs about people who lived a long time ago.  They were a little different, but not altogether.  Human nature is human nature and that fact overrides the years that may separate us from an “ancestor.”  At any rate, I thank you.

If that’s fine with you, I will continue to write about French-Canadian /Quebecois history and literature.  But sometimes an event happens that forces me to write about another subject or not to write.

Moreover, there are times when I need to speak about an artist or a musician or a great work of literature.  This week, courtly behaviour came up.  How reassuring to know that it was not altogether superficial, or a mask.

Some of my readers have asked for longer blogs, such as sprezzatura.  Such blogs are useful to students of all ages.  Sprezzatura has to do with the behaviour of the courtier.  It is described as nonchalance, but it is in fact a certain reserve, or retenue, on the part of Castiglione’s perfect courtier.

I believe people prefer short blogs.  A mixture might be my best option.

Have a good weekend.