'Hello Seb.'
'Bonjour Seb.'
'How's life in the City of Light? Living the dream?'
'How can you live the dream? If you live the dream then it becomes reality...'
'Nobody likes a smart arse. Especially not me.'
'I'm living the reality.'
'Aren't we all?'
'No. Hermann Hesse said "There's no reality except the one contained within us. That's why so many people live an unreal life. They take images outside them for reality and never allow the world within them to assert itself." '
'Maybe Hesse needed to get out more...'
'Why go out when you can go in?'
'Well, you stay in, I'm going out.'
'You do that.'
'I will. Bye.'
'Bye.'
'Uh, can I lend me some money?'
SUNDAY, 14 AUGUST 2011
ReplyDelete(…)
*** I was in a supermarket. // ‘Bonjour,’ I made sure I said to the man on checkout. I like the manners of this formal society. // ‘Bonsoir,’ he said. //Damn. It had gone after six. I should have checked the time. Stupid formal society. ***
Comment: Not sure if I should really jump into this one but well you made it so tempting. The first thought that came is that you were lucky that your greetings were replied back. A becoming-rare occurrence that you will come to appreciate if you happen to stay some time around. And “Bonsoir” certainly has nothing to do nowadays with the time the clock says it is. It more expresses the feeling that the day has reached a turning-point, we’re leaving something behind, we’re going towards something different with different activities. Bonsoir somehow comes together with this off the clock time of the day that we call “entre chien et loup”. I find it hard to think that French society is formal, I keep wishing we were half as formal as the Japanese, that would help survive the underground rush hour. I don’t think we’re any more formal than the Brits, only we don’t do it the same way. When we see English people queuing for the bus we think they are formal. Actually we even secretly think they are wonderfully formal.
‘I used to think that work was the most important thing in my life,’ she said. // ‘Don’t tell me,’ I said, ‘then you fell in love, right?’ // ‘Yes.’ She smiled. // ‘It’s a bit cliché isn’t it?’ I said. // She frowned at me. // My circle of friends in Paris is not expanding as fast as I thought it would…
Comment: In the mean time what reason could be given to this that’s not cliché? What are the usual replies: Existential quest? Wanting kiddies? Getting bored? Not feeling rewarded (in any way it may be)? Went round the world for a different feel and broaden the map? What would a no-cliché answer be given the context?
I can’t quite figure out why but your post reminds me of this American business woman a couple of years ago who in a business meeting crudely declared to a French audience that France would be just so perfect if only there weren’t the French people. I can figure out quite a few of the people that attended have come to the same conclusion when given a chance by circumstances but then it’s us.
London-Paris: “same same but different” as the Kathmandu base-line goes.
Hi Seb,
ReplyDeleteRe. Formality: interesting point. I have to remember your argument next time I'm blamed for our supposed national rudeness.
"Re post 2: I'm not sure I follow the point you are trying to make. One could argue 'what isn't cliché these days?' but that's a different discussion. The observation wasn't nationalistic -and she wasn't even French- it was more about social etiquette (that word again).
I didn't assume the girl was French. Actually I assumed she was not, although I can't really see why. Maybe it's that I can't remember having ever heard any French working or ex working girl say that she quitted because of love. Excuse the generalization but the French would mostly go along lines such as: lack of recognition, poor money, lack of interest, wanting family, fulfillment issues, taxes versus costs of nannies, ...
And I wouldn't argue that everything is "clichés these days". Living in a town that so encumbered with cultural and architectural clichés doesn't bend one's mind so extensively.
'Architectural clichés'? I like that. I'm not sure what it is but I'm going to drop it into a dinner party conversation...
ReplyDeleteMy comment was referring more to interactions that have become spectacle and automatic and devoid of any real authenticity. (Although you could argue that automatic is authentic...) But then we do live in a society of reproduction so saying 'everything is cliché' is a cliché itself. And if everything is cliché then is it still cliché?
I think I have built myself into an architectural cliché...