Good King Wenceslas

Well, it is Saint Stephen's Day and that means... I listen to Good King Wenceslas and share it with my readers on the blog.

The Golem

As Halloween is getting closer and closer, I have already started my officious countdown to the holiday and my literary season of the witch. This year, The Golem by Gustav Meyrink was the first horror novel I read. Well, not quite actually: I had also read The Exorcist earlier this year, but it was not for my pre-Halloween reads. I had wanted to read The Golem for a long while, wanting to know more about the creature from the Jewish folklore which inspired the story. Ideally I had wanted to read it in Prague where the story is set and where the legend comes from, but as our trip there has not been happening yet, I decided not to wait.

You may ask me how the novel was and if I liked it. I am not certain about it yet. I found it more troubling than truly horrific or even scary, yet it was a fascinating read. I did not expect it, but the golem of the title is more a fleeting, borderline ghostly presence than a monster or an antagonist. He may or may not be there, he may or may not have existed, a manifestation of a soulless, mindless creation. It is psychological horror (I will blog more about this in the upcoming weeks). In many ways, it reminded me of Traumnovelle, the story that inspired Eyes Wide Shut. It was not an easy read, but it is one of the most haunting novels I have read in a long while, of any genre. For those who read it, please feel welcomed to tell me your impressions in the comments.

Good King Wenceslas looked out...

Because we are the Feast of Stephen and that I strongly dislike the Boxing Day everybody is mad about today, I am uploading again Good King Wenceslas. It is also a Christmas tradition on Vraie Fiction and you know how much I love to keep my blogging traditions. To accompany the song, I have uploaded a picture that my brother PJ took in Prague. It is a portrait statue of the real King Wenceslas, the historical figure that inspired the fictitious character of the carol. I have not much to add, apart that I find ironic that today is for too many people about getting a good deal and consuming, while the legend of King Wenceslas is about generosity and compassion.

Le bélier de Prague

Petit billet de l'Avent à propos de la crèche familiale, dont nous sommes très fiers. Elle a été enrichie au fil des années par divers personnages et membres du troupeau de moutons que les bergers amènent avec eux. Dont ce bélier, que mon frère PJ a acheté à Prague. Il fait un petit peu dessin animé dans une crèche autrement réaliste, mais je l'aime bien quand même, avec ses cornes courbées.

On the scary read program

Maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but it is now and has been since about mid-August or so my officious countdown to Halloween. Which means that I have started reading horror stories and as time goes by I will read more and more. As much as my status as a new daddy allows me, of course. This year, I have added to the reading program the stories of F. Marion Crawford. I recently bought this book with some (all?) of the supernatural stories he wrote. And no, I did not choose this book because of its cover (albeit what a great scary picture!). I discovered Crawford reading The Upper Berth in The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories, which was one of my favourite of the anthology. I then read in another anthology For the Blood is The Life, a vampire story which confirmed my interest in Crawford's work. In both stories, the horror is not merely psychological: it has plenty of borderline gory elements that convey not only unease, but good old horror, if not terror. The evils in his stories can be as physically violent as they are malevolent. So I will read eagerly.

Un hôtel à l'air familier

Mon petit frère PJ est en vacances à Prague en ce moment et il a publié plusieurs photos sur Facebook. J'ai hésité à en télécharger une parmi celles-ci, car il veut peut-être les utiliser sur son propre blogue. Mais quand j'ai vu cette photo, je n'ai pu résister à la tentation. An Archibald unique hotel. Ca a l'air bête, mais c'est que voyez-vous, le nom de famille du côté de ma mère c'est justement Archibald. Alors... Alors rien. C'est un détail amusant. Et parlant de vacances, il n'y a encore de réponse ma question existentielle 269. Je songe bloguer à propos des réponses. Pour en revenir à cet hôtel, il va me falloir vérifier les prix, mais j'aimerais bien y résider lorsque j'irai à Prague. Car je compte bien visiter la ville un jour.

Time for Don Giovanni

As those of you who read my posts in French know, my brother PJ is in Prague these days and tonight he is watching/listening to Don Giovanni by Mozart on the stage that first produced the opera. The performance might actually be over as I am typing this. To say that I envy him is an understatement. I am bleeding jealous. Don Giovanni is my favourite opera and I also consider it the greatest ever written, bare none. So these last few days, I have been dreaming about future time in Prague to do exactly that and been listening to the music a lot. I also read through the libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte (yes, I have it, see the image on the left). But I mainly listen to the arias on YouTube. I wanted to upload one here, I was not sure which one to upload as I have already uploaded many. So I decided to upload the duet La ci darem la mano, which I already did years ago, but followed by Ah! Fuggi il traditor!. So it's a double bill. Anecdote: I did sing the duet when I was learning opera, it was the one and only duet I ever sang actually. Sadly, I never did in front of an audience. On the plus side, I was never chastised by a Donna Elvira looking like Cecilia Bartoli.

Un calembour atroce tchèque (mettons)

Mon frère PJ est en vacances à Prague. Sur Facebook, il a commis ce calembour atroce: "Tchèque ben ousque j'suis!" Quand je dis que c'est atroce, c'est atroce pas rien qu'un peu. je pense que depuis celui du clavier Azerty, je n'en avais pas lu d'aussi mauvais. Je ne crois pas que j'en aie produit d'aussi atroce moi-même depuis celui de la nausée qui abonde. Alors je me devais de l'homologuer ici. Désolé si ça vous fait grincer des dents.

Don Giovanni à Prague

Petite nouvelle familiale et culturelle: mon petit frère PJ s'en va bientôt en voyage à Prague, afin notamment et surtout de voir le Don Giovanni de Mozart sur la scène qui l'a vu naître. Don Giovanni, pas mon frère. Suis-je envieux? Vert de jalousie, oui. C'est mon opéra préféré. Je l'ai vu l'année dernière, mais c'était sur une toute petite scène et avec un piano comme tout orchestre. Tout de même, même avec des moyens modestes, le génie de l'oeuvre suffit à la porter. Enfin bref, afin de célébrer son voyage, j'accompagne ce billet d'une illustration du livre-disque Mozart raconté aux enfants du Petit Ménestrel ainsi que de l'aria du catalogue. Bon voyage PJ, maudit chanceux...