The French Saga: A Man Named Victor Hugo

I never knew Victor Hugo was the coolest person ever. Writer, activist, poet…In 83 years he lived France’s most tumultuous century and, declining to simply weather it out, chose to prod the beast.

Pourquoi essayer quand on vive sous l’ombre de M. Hugo, conquistador du monde civilisé ? Car on n’a pas de choix. Pour être, au mieux, comparée à cet homme qui n’est plus homme, qui est devenu dieu.

I keep finding allegories for Paris. Perhaps it’s because I’ve so long been enamored of the city, and perhaps I do have a rosewater vision of this place that reality has not yet darkened.

It seems to me that Paris is the poet activist. City of love, city of strikes.

The Sorbonne is on strike. I don’t know why, but they are. I think it has something to do with research. I went there today. It was cold. The name Richelieu was mentioned and all I could think of was the three musketeers.

It’s funny the history of a place you think you know, and then you realize you know nothing. Who knew that the Sorbonne was the symbol of the elitist Catholic régime in the tender, formative years of French protestantism ?

I didn’t.

But I’m going to give a presentation about it on Tuesday.

La Sorbonne, la bigotte,
La Sorbonne se taira !

In other news, my toilet enjoys flooding the WC with stagnant water and smiling at me with that sly smirk some toilets have when not working properly. It also enjoys long walks on the beach. Unfortunately it has no legs.

I also remain rommateless in Paris. This is alright, but I would like someone to fill up the empty half of the room. Hopefully she’ll be hère soon !

Tomorrow I go to Pavillon de l’Arsenal, whatever that is. The French have so many monuments, they don’t even know what to do with them anymore. I’ll offer to take some home with me.

I continue to realize that no one is wholly good or wholly bad.

Saturday is Rugby, so that should be interesting. Hopefully it’ll be fairly warm, it’s been getting a little bit Chicago-y lately.

Anyway, I’m running out of steam.

Bonne soirée !