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INKYTEXT 343
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Issue No 343 Sunday March 19th 2000
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AGENDA
Minutes and Matters Arising
1. News: Jon Moulton and Alchemy, Buildings projects, APC, AUT, Tony Cann,
Deans wanted.
2. Guest Contribution: Paris Diary by Joan Riley
3. Tips for would-be Proustians (VI).
4. Readers' Letters: David Martin, Mozamique, Proust, Fire walk.
5. Small Ads: Hiking Club reunion, House for sale, Cannabis Action Day.
MINUTES AND MATTERS ARISING
---------------------------
This is National Science Week and the Peter Scott Gallery has
Professor Potts speaking ohn his whale, and several opportunities to
hear storyteller Linda Cotterill spin yarns around exhibits in the
science exhibition.
Wednesday sees Prof Segal's inaugural lecture on 'Myth as make-believe'[SIC]
and also an intriguing seminar in women's studies:
Women and Men Manager-Academics in UK Universities:
Doing Things Differently
Wednesday 22/03/2000
01:00 PM
B45 Cartmel
Institute for Women's Studies seminar will be delivered by
Rosemary Deem,Lancaster University. All welcome.
Thursday is Ruskinday: this week's seminar will be on concepts of
C/creation in The Stones of Venice, led by Rachel Dickinson.
This week is also the worldwide Semaine de la langue francaise, when
all 55 Francophone countries promote 10 words. This year's words are:
Hasard, Dune, Jeu, Trouble, Metis, Aube, Personne, Subtil,
Tintinnabuler, Azur.
1. NEWS
-------
BEST WISHES TO PROFESSOR SOMERFIELD who moves to the chair of modern
history in Manchester.
CONGRATULATIONS TO JON MOULTON (Furness, 1973, Chemistry), in the news
since his venture capitalist firm ALCHEMY acquired Rover from BMW for
1.85 billion. He has already made mildly generous donations to the
Alumni Bailrigg Fund and seems likely to be approached for more.
Formerly with the venture wing of merchant bank Schroders, he branched
out with his partner Eric Brown and claims to have made 110
millionaires, including himself. Most recently he made 43 million from
the Fads and Homestyle loss-making chains of home decorators which he
acquired for 3 million. Curiously enough he does not figure personally
in the Times' Richest 1000 list.
A NOTE TO LAUT MEMBERS announces a meeting on "Implications of RAE for
members and their contracts" (date to be arranged). The note says "LAUT
Exec are receiving reports that members of the academic staff are being
identified for transfer from the academic to the other-related scale so
that they can be excluded from the RAE. It is as yet unclear what
procedures have been agreed and by whom, or how individuals are being
identified, but such suggestions could have serious implications for
members' rights, and recently resulted in a furore at Queens, Belfast,
for instance.
We are therefore both inviting members to let a member of the EC know
if they think that they might be affected and also asking UMAG to send
a speaker to explain the situation to a general meeting which will be
open to non members.
In the interim LAUT suggests that members should not enter into new
contracts of this kind without advice from LAUT."
E-UNIVERSITY: HEFCE is launching a project designed to give us a
chance to 'compete globally' (their words) with the major virtual and
corporate universities being developed. It's intended to expand the
UK'’s share of the overseas higher education market, and increase the
range of continuing professional development and vocational courses in
the UK. (This is perhaps not the best or major reason justifying such
an enterprise.)
Do we try to be part of the consortium? Others are no doubt further
advanced than ourselves, but in Tom Rodden we have a recognised remote
and virtual guru. What is wanted is imagination; we already have the
technology. A representative group chaired by the Deputy VC and
mustered by Terry Wareham meets next week. All suggestions welcome.
THE APC MEETS ON THE 24th (next Friday): It will discuss Capital
Projects including the future of the Language Centre There will be
reports on Recurrent Grant 2001/02 QR analysis/Student recruitment, the
Corporate Plan, JIF proposals for April 00 in Social Sciences;
Psychology. And the appointments sub-group will report on the
encouraging number of new posts it agreed two weeks ago in response
to convincing business plans. (e.g. Psychology is getting 2 people
for its new MA with computing).
THE CHAIR OF OUR FINANCE COMMITTEE Tony Cann again figures in the
Sunday Times list of Britain's richest people, but has dropped from
600th to 745th position. His estimated wealth has also been revised
downwards to an estimated 40 million though the paper confesses that he
is a very private person and it has not been able to verify some of his
holdings.
DEANS OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE are sought for this summer. Dr
Henig will be much missed but she has a sabbatical entitlement that she
is understandable anxious to take up. Politically active and alert
professors are not thick on the ground in Arts departments and most of
those historians who would once have relished the job are all in
semi-retirement. Professors Evans, Dutton and Whitton are being thought
of.
In Social Science many, perhaps most, would like to see Prof McKinlay
stand again. He is a little reluctant to, given his feeling that things
being proposed by UMAG are unreasonable and that he cannot deliver what
is wanted for next year. Rumours that a lawyer might be interested.
2. GUEST CONTRIBUTION: PARIS DIARY - BY JOAN RILEY
--------------------------------------------------
THURSDAY: Two unexpected incidents happened before we reached our
hotel in the Marais. Our BA plane was grounded at Manchester due to
technical faults, so an hour or so later we were transferred to a
standby plane. About 10.30pm, during a few minutes drive from the Gard
du Nord to the Boulevard Beaumarchais, the taxi collided with a car. We
were speedily taken to our hotel pursued by the angry car driver and
rapidly dispatched with no words of apology. We were in a French farce!
Fortunately the hotel staff were welcoming and the recently refurbished
hotel was attractive. A late meal in a nearby brasserie was a good
experience.
FRIDAY: With 3 day Paris Visite Cards and Paris Museum Passes, bought
at a metro station, we went straight to the Musee d'Orsay to try to
beat the crowds. The sculpture impressed us both, probably enhanced by
the spacious surroundings. Later after a short lunch, we explored the
Latin Quarter along the Bd. St. Germain, past famous cafes including
Les Deux Magots, looked inside St. Germain des Pres, then on along the
Rue Bonaparte to the Quais beside the Institut. Crossing the Pont des
Arts where giggling young people with drinks' cans were being filmed
inside a temporary hut of branches, we admired the river, bridges and
historic buildings in the warm spring sunshine. Along with many other
tourists, we took photos of the pyramids outside the Louvre and gazed
at La Roue in the distance. (The large new wheel in the Place de la
Concorde.):
Then over the river again to explore part of the Quartier St. Severin,
up the Rue St. Jacques to absorb the atmosphere and enjoy coffee and
beer at a 'university cafe' in the Place de la Sorbonne. We found our
way back to our hotel through the Marais taking in a tour of the Place
des Vosges and delighting in the small French - speaking children in
the play area.
Later we went for A BIG EVENING OUT - CHEZ JENNY at the corner of the
Place de la Republique, great food with a free bottle of Alsace wine,
just as recommended by the Editor. It was great to see three blind men
with white sticks and linked arms confidently step into the restaurant,
beaming with pleasure. On the way back to the hotel we passed a small
boy who asked his father (in French), if we were Americans from
Disneyland?
SATURDAY: Sunshine all day. First treat, the amazing Picasso Museum.
Such a huge wide ranging output of works of art and a great sense of
experimental play and fun. Some ideas to adapt for infant art, so with
our new grandchild in mind, we decided to go to the Galleries
Lafayettes to look for a petit cadeau. Unable to find the bus stop for
the essential 29 bus to the Opera, we took the no. 20 there and walked
round the outside of the Opera to the department store. It resembles an
enormous John Lewis (French style); could have spent lots of time and
francs there. Enjoyed a salad in the cafe near the top with thousands
of other folk, most seemed to have been dropped at the doors by coach,
Perhaps there's a trip from Lancaster?
After lunch we felt primed for window shopping along the Rue de la
Paix and the Place Vendome. So many fantastically expensive jewellers,
rather boring really. Numerous staff were energetically brushing the
red carpet outside the Ritz, six more were guarding the revolving door
inside and out, with a small crowd gathering by a waiting limo. Was a
celebrity about to exit?
We gave them an added spectacle! I went casually up the red carpet and
swept through the revolving door only to swing rapidly back out again
when I saw that Stuart had been detained outside - 'coffee is not being
served for the next 20 minutes, sir!' Oh really? Instead it was coffee
and cakes in the Rue du Faubourg St. Honore followed by the Inkytext
route to the Madeleine. At the Flower Market we paused and admired the
beautiful pink rose Stuart presented to his wife, which was clutched as
we were launched at great speed on the unmanned Meteor to the new
Bibliotheque, a stunning architectural landscape. It was very grand and
impressive apart from the badly designed ladies' lavatories.
We rocketed back on the Meteor to Chatelet - Les Halles, an incredibly
confusing labyrinth, and Saturday haunt of the youth of Paris. Next to
the Pompidou centre, 'reopened on Jan. 1st after a 27 million, 27
month makeover' according to The Times. One floor of current art and
lots of 'performance art' was all we could manage, so we caught the
essential 29 bus back to the Rue Beaumarchais and collapsed, while the
rose revived in a glass of water.:
SUNDAY: Breakfasted late. Spring sunshine again and church bells led
us on a leisurely stroll through the Marais to the Seine. Many local
inhabitants, young families and elderly couples were enjoying the
morning. After crossing over to the Ile St. Louis and on to the Ile de
la Cite we walked behind the Cathedral to see the river, the gardens,
and the Memorial de la Deportation. The Mass in Notre Dame was a very
moving experience with the choir, organ and a dramatic sermon. At a
small boulangerie/salon de the, we had a lunch of spinach quiche,
sandwiches and delicious lemon tart.
Now we were ready for a return to the Pompidou for more modern art.
Masses of people; we lost one another for over an hour when I swear I
came face to face with Bob Geldoff. Relieved to have found Stuart
again, I performed art on the escalator, while looking backwards to
point out La Defence on the skyline, flying into the air I landed face
down unhurt, to be rescued by several concerned people.
SECOND BIG EVENING OUT - BRASSERIE BOFINGER: In the grand tradition,
large, busy, noisy, great ambience and great food with Kir aperitifs
and free half bottles of Bordeaux. We left feeling very happy and took
a stroll round the Place de la Bastille deciding to go to the Opera
Bastille next time.
MONDAY: This last day raced by until we caught the RER train to
Charles de Gaulle Airport at 4.30pm. It rained hard all day and as we
walked to the Musee Carnavalet (only to find it closed). We had booked
the recommended lunch chez Nichol Flamel in the Rue Montmorency for
1pm. Until then we went shopping and got lost in the pouring rain. When
we were 10 minutes late for lunch a taxi was the answer. The driver
couldn't find the Rue Montmorency either, but we gave him a little help
and found the obscure narrow ancient street and derelict looking
restaurant, which was small, delightful and very old inside. A
delicious lunch, although they tried to persuade us to have the a la
carte menu but we insisted on the menu du jour. In general we were
struck by the politeness and good manners of Parisians as well as by
their chic. It was a really enjoyable holiday. Vive Paris toujours!
With special thanks to the editor for his charming, accurate guide.
[NOTE: Sorry, I should have mentioned the different museums' closure
days. Don't forget Thursdays: all tickets in the first four categories
of seats in the nationalized theatres (including operas) are a flat 50
francs and on sale only from 11.30 on the day. (Ed.)]
3. TIPS FOR WOULD BE PROUSTIANS (VI)
------------------------------------
Repeat: the events summarized here are not the substance of Proust's
novel, merely the coathanger of life on which he hangs the garment of
his mature reflexions. (Hmm - that's original but I'm not sure I like
it. A bit of a candidate for "Pseuds Corner".)
It is really the wit, affection and irony, his commentary on these
events and his understanding of them in the course of time that
matters. This involves detaching them from time, as it were, and
judging them with the wisdom of hindsight in 'aphorisms' which
encapsulate his atemporal conclusions. And above all those sentences
and metaphors which, if you are sensitive to the beauties of syntax and
imagery - a refined taste admittedly - sometimes stop you reading while
you savour them over and over. A bit like constantly replaying the same
track on a CD.
Volumes 3 and 4 are called The Guermantes Way Parts I and II. They
provide a marvellous introduction to a vanishing society and the days
of the Entente Cordiale. Also scathing portraits of social vices,
vanities and self-deception. They deal with high society and of course
the practising artists who mix with the wealthy, who want to be
distinguished by the former's originality. The narrator is still
learning and social climbing. He snobbishly aspires to be accepted by
this society, and, height of ambition, get his name in Le Gaulois or Le
Figaro.
By now he and his parents have moved with their servant Francoise into
a flat in the _hotel particulier_ of the Guermantes. These vast
residences with their courtyards even contained shops. Although they
don't yet mix with their landlords, they can observe them from time to
time.
Francoise strikes up a friendship with Jupien, a shirtmaker
downstairs, who is a bit of an enigma, sometimes cynical and cold but
also kind. generous and surprisingly well-read. Most people are he
discovers in time. The servant is of course terribly interested in
'royalty' and the book opens with lengthy reflections on the
ubiquitousness of snobbery as a social drive.
The young narrator's own snobbery is naive and amusing. He is in awe
of the great names because of their historical associations. He has
heard people say that titles like 'Prince' are meaningless in
republican society and is appalled by this. He himself, when he went to
the theatre and saw that the Duchesse was there wishes that he could
have her opinion on the play since it must be worth so much more than
his own.
His friendship with Saint-Loup also deepens and intensifies (though
there's nothing remotely homo-erotic about it). Robert is by now a
cavalry officer and the narrator goes to visit him in his barracks at
Doncieres. They have long discussions on military strategy, where
Saint-Loup prophecies that, with the power of artillery, wars of the
future will be very short. (A bit ironic alas for Saint-Loup later is
killed in the first days of WW1.)
In the army, he starts to notice some social mixing between members of
the nobility and upper middle-class republicans who had clean hands and
went to Mass. Alas Saint-Loup doesn't rise to his hints and get him a
meeting with his aunt, the Duchesse, whom, back in Paris, the narrator
assiduously tries to greet on her morning walks but is routinely
snubbed.
Saint-Loup is also on a see-saw with his mistress and being torn apart
and ripped off. (Very like Swann was.) When the narrator eventually
meets her he is astonished to discover that she, supposedly a paragon,
is actually the high-class tart Rachel whom he once turned down in a
brothel because he didn't fancy her.
The third and greater part of 'Guermantes Part I' is a party at Mme de
Villeparisis, not quite the Guermantes but related. Much of the
conversation centres on the ongoing Dreyfus affair, a national debate.
We learn of Baron Charlus' views on Jews, extravagant and acerbic like
everything else about him.
The theme of homosexuality begins to appear... Saint-Loup is
propositioned and beats the guy up. Charlus, ever discreet, hints at
things the narrator does't understand and invites Marcel to his place,
which profoundly disturbs Mme Villeparisis who tries to tell the
narrator to disappear. Charlus chases after him and promises to teach
him the secrets of 'diplomacy'. The narrator still doesn't
comprehend....
Part II opens with the drawn-out agony and death of the narrator's
grandmother. At the end of the volume we learn of Swann's fatal illness
and impending death. In between there are endless pictures of social
frivolity and the extraordinary snobbery that pervades the whole of the
Faubourg Saint Germain.
This is the name given to the old nobility, the stratum of society
which the narrator aspires to enter. Geographically, it also refers to
the 7th arrondissement where they used to live, but most of the people
we are talking of in Proust's time live in the 8th, 16th and 17th. You
mustn't confuse these people with the Napoleonic nobility, the dukes
and princes merely created by Napoleon, people who, as Charlus
amusingly puts it, are merely named after bridges and boulevards. (Ask
if you don't get the joke.)
The narrator really gets to know Charlus, with the piercing stare, and
becomes fascinated by his complexities, his wit, his gregariousness,
his rudeness. An honour since Charlus claims he doesn't usually speak
to people whose family name doesn't go back to the year 1000. It is
Charlus who is going to take him under his wing, introducing him to the
world of the arts after the death of Swann, and almost as importantly,
teaching him the infinitely subtle rules of aristocratic society.
Charlus is also friendly with the odious bi-sexual violinist, Morel,
whom everyone knows as Charlie. This friendship is another kind of
destructive and jealous love, partly based on dominance on Morel's
part, and fear of discovery and social exclusion that would result on
the part of Charlus. and he will later betray the Baron, a man who is
famously loyal to his friends.
Albertine makes a reappearance and starts to fascinate the narrator.
They eventually make an item. Whenever she is mentioned here and later
he thinks of the sea, perhaps because the vast beach of Balbec is
where he first met her, but also because the sea symbolizes the
never-ending flux and change which mark people's characters ad
everything else. Or perhaps because he links it with birth and beauty
and Botticelli's Venus Anadyomene. At any rate the sea is one of these
conscious 'leitmotiven' that exemplify the Wagnerian character of the
novel.
[NB: It is also for these reasons that in the film (though not, I
think, the book) the closing sequences show the adolescent narrator
returning joyfully to the sand and the sea.]
The volume closes with an astonishing invitation to the Prince de
Guermantes, the summit of society, who still lives in the middle ages.
Swann, who is dying, has also been invited, to his surprise since the
Prince is notoriously anti-semitic.
Volume 5 is called Sodome et Gomorre and tackles homosexuality and
lesbianism in this society. The narrator is hostile to it and assumes
everyone else will be since it is considered a vice - but also
fascinated and obsessed. It imposes secrecy and creates a closed world.
It's practitioners pretend to have qualities they do not really possess
and in public affect to mock or despise their own kind.
It begins with biological reflections on the birds and bees, pistils
and stamens. And indeed these natural associations always crop up in
the passages where sex is being discussed: when the narrator discusses
first discovering the near-mystic pleasure of masturbatory ejaculation
in the bathroom, or in his reverentially lyrical passage on first
discovering the beauties of the vulva (not something it is entirely
certain that Proust himself ever did).
Some of the mystery of Charlus is explained when the narrator, spying
as usual, sees him getting off with Jupien in the courtyard below. He
has stumbled upon a darker side to Charlus, who is later going to
employ Jupien to run a hotel that is really a homosexual brothel
catering for every kind of kink.
He pointedly recalls the scene with Vinteuil's daughter at
Montjouvain. Then he had thought it a one-off, now he discovers that
this 'vice' is fairly widespread. He speaks rathr movingly, though not
as one, of the persecution of this 'race', which he compares to the
persecution of the Jews.
All that was a parenthesis before we return to the reception at the
palace of the Prince de Guermantes that the Duc et Duchesse, Swann and
the narrator were all on their way to in the last volume. Climbing
above the Verdurins and Mme de Villeparisis, even the Duchesse! You
don't get any higher in society than this. The Princesse thinks even
her cousin the Duchesse is a democratic modern - why she even has the
Rothschilds and the Hirschs for friends. He has made it.... only to
discover the emptiness and pointlessness of the lives of its members.
Their behaviour of course offers plenty of amusement and food for
thought to the ethnographic observer. Now that he is aware of the truth
about Charlus he discovers that illicit affairs of all sorts are legion
in this worls. He also discovers the extraordinary snobbery and
rudeness of the great and the mighty. And the anomalies. The Duchesse
has been avoiding her old friend Swann since she doesn't really want to
be seen with a Jew in this exalted company, but Swann is privately
summoned by his old school friend, the Prince, who tells him that he
now agrees with him about the Dreyfus affair.
What else? As the evening breaks up the Duc, eager to be off on an
assignation, is told of the death his cousin and tells the meesenger
not to exaggerate... then goes off to his party. Oh, and Swann's uncle
dies and leaves Gilberte 24 million francs. I make that about 50
million quid at present day values, which makes her quite attractive,
even to the Guermantes.
Then we turn to the Verdurin salon, where their old pianist is being
replaced by the brilliant violinist, Morel, whose father was once
a servant to the narrator's uncle Adolphe and who is having an affair
with Charlus.
Charlus and the Verdurins just don't mix. M Verdurin has no idea about
precedence and family relationships amongst the aristocracy. He thinks
Charlus is merely a baron, and is scathingly told by him that he is
also Duc de Brabant, Damoiseau de Montargis, Prince d'Oleron, etc.
Charlus' affair is similar to that of Saint-Loup with Rachel. The sex
of the unworthy partner seems to make no difference to the jealousy,
the rows, the falling out. More is really loathsome and selfish and
Charlus really knows it but he too is in love....
So too with the narrator and Albertine. For a while it is an on-off
sort of thing and then just at the moment he is going to give her the
boot his curiosity is aroused by learning that she is a bosom buddy of
Mlle Vinteuil and her friend whom he had spied on at Montjouvain. His
curiosity about her is rekindled... and with it his love.
Volume 6 is called "La Prisonniere" and tells at enormous length the
tale of his affair with Albertine. It is the most intense volume and by
far the most exhausting to read, for much of it is wholly pessimistic
psychological analysis of him or her, laced with Proust's conviction
that love is always and necessarily futile. The infinite changeability
of the woman - of people in general - he finds bewildering and
inconsistent. Frailty, thy name is Albertine. La donna e mobile.
The brightest bit of the book, no irony intended, is the uplifting
description of the death of Bergotte, which bears striking comparisons
to Proust's own illness and later death. Bergotte believes that art is
the only ultimate justification of life, which must be sacrificed to
it. He collapses at an exhibition in front of Vermeer's View of Delft,
whose 'petit pan de mur jaune' seems to him a perfection of detail of
the kind he had always sought. But he died before his work was
finished...
In this volume Charlus, who is now being blackmailed and threatened
with 'outing' (which will ruin his social standing) introduces his
lover, Morel, into the Verdurin's salon. The Verdurins have long been
ulcerated by his unconcealed contempt for them and conspire to engineer
a break-up between them. There is a grand party at their place where
the real aristocrats ignore them and treat the place as if the host is
Charlus.
The new work by Vinteuil is to be played - a septet, much deeper and
more complex than the famous sonata. It has been deciphered by his
daughter's lesbian friend, an example of the connection between
homosexuality and artistic sensibility of which Proust was convinced.
This volume has numerous little essays on the nature and importance of
art, whose plasures seem to have something - but what? -in common with
his childhood joys inspired by the hawthorns beauty, the dancing
steeples, or the memories ressurected by his cup of tea....
After the concert the Verdurins take Morel aside and maliciously and
lyingly, tell him that his brilliant future career is threatened
because people are gossiping about him and Charlus. And, they say, the
latter has been insulting him behind his back. Morel snubs and insults
a horrified and heart-broken Charlus in public.
Amazingly for the time, Albertine is by now shacked up with the
narrator, socially implausible some critics say, but she is a jazz age
free spirit, and the narrator's mother tolerates his every whim. Living
together is clearly too much for both of them. He becomes convinced
that she is a liar and endlessly seeks proof of it. [NB none of this
actually happened with a woman in Proust's life - though his chauffeur
lived in.]
Volume 7 is called Albertine Disparue (original English title "The
Sweet Chit Gone"- Yuk! Now called "The Fugitive"). It is the story of
intolerable jealousy and the break up of his affair with Albertine. How
little we know of ourselves and each other. Half of it is taken up with
introspection and analysis of his pain, loss, loneliness and jealousy.
He realises many things, one of them being that he was only ever 100%
sure of Albertine and happy when she was asleep beside him. He begs her
to come back... then learns of her death but is still obsessed. Even
so he hires Aime (the head waiter from Balbec) to investigate whether
or not she was really lesbian.
She torture him in death as in her life. Time passes. He is ill. Then
he accidentally meets a Mlle de Forcheville, whom Saint-Loup has spoken
about and whom he doesn't recognize but who turns out to be none other
than Gilberte Swann, his schoolgirl sweetheart, now a desirable
heiress. After Swann's death Odette married this distant relative of
the Guermantes and mother and daughter are now acceptable in society.
Gilberte even reveals herself to have been ashamed of her father's
Jewish name and Jewish friends.
Next, (shades of Ruskin!) the long dreamt of trip to Venice - with his
mother, who wants to console him and lift the depression. He feels like
a character from the Arabian Nights. Here he also has his first
premonition of the deleterious effects of age on humans, when he meets
an almost unrecognizable Norpois with an equally unrecognizable old
neighbour from Combray.
Back in Paris, still further disillusionment. In one of the numerous
scenes of voyeurism or ear-wigging, he hears his best friend Robert de
Saint-Loup plotting to get rid of one of the Duchesse's (his aunt's)
servants. He's not the man he was. Worse: time has made him inherit the
vice of his uncle, Charlus, and he is now masochist homosexual lover of
the nasty and dangerous violinist, Morel.
Ironically, it is now that Saint-Loup marries Gilberte. Marriage in
this society clearly has no connection with love or even with sexual
inclinations. His mother, who has as he puts it, a Hindu notion of
class as caste, is still more flabbergasted by the marriage of Jupien's
niece to Leonor de Cambremer, the son of Legrandin's snobbish daughter.
Utter despair. What sense does anything make? What on earth does any
of it matter? All is vanity. At least being no longer in love with
Gilberte he can be her old friend, so he goes to stay with her and
Saint-Loup at Meseglise, Swann's estate in Combray. He visits all the
old places we read about in Combray. But how tawdry they now seem in
reality compared to his enchanted memories. You can't recover the past
simply by revisiting your old haunts - it just depresses you still
further.
[Sorry for taking so long. Thank you for your patience. Next time
*fanfare*: Time Regained - the book of the film!]
4. READERS' LETTERS
-------------------
Now at last the dressings are off and I have the use of my right hand
again, may I thank you for your kind remarks and good wishes. I have
been quite moved by the concern and sympathy shown by so many
colleagues. It will take some time to write to them all so may I for
the moment simply say thank you through your columns (can't think of
the electronic equivalent!)
Since the accident was rather unusual you might be interested in
hearing how it happened. I was waxing an Italian terracotta floor with
Briwax and an industrial polisher. I put some brushes and equipment in
the dishwasher thinking that was a good way to get them clean ... it
was actually!
Being the impatient soul I am I opened the door whilst it was in the
"drying" cycle. I had no idea that dishwashers get so hot. Some wax had
been trapped in the bottom (I assume because it floated) and was
obviously heated above its flash point. When the door was opened and
oxygen got to the mixture ... whoosh... I was engulfed in a sheet of
flame and enough black smoke to fill the house.
Most of the burning to my face, left leg, arm, shoulder and hand
turned out to be fairly superficial (although v painful!). However the
back of my right hand took the full force of the flames and was pretty
well cooked! The Preston burns unit put it in a plastic bag full of
fluid (unfortunately a transparent one!). There was much muttering
about plastic surgery and tut tutting by doctors but three weeks later
it is healing very well on its own and the bandages came off this week.
I am amazed at how well and how quickly the body can heal itself!
Thank you too for your comments following my resignation as Deputy
Pro-chancellor. I entirely share your concern about my succession.
Although of course I will take no part in the process of selection of
any candidate, I will do my utmost to ensure that the method of
election remains that of open ballot without the intervention of a
nominating or selection committee. I will write about this at more
length shortly.
David Martin
---------------------------
I would just like to thank you on behalf of Grizedale College for
responding so quickly to our appeal for an adress to send our
sponsorship money to. Due to your prompt response we should be able to
send our money and therefore aid before we leave on vacation, to those
in urgent need in Mozambique.
G.K.Marshall
Grizedale College Charity Rep.
-------------------------------
Please note that in your Inkytext issue 341 congratulations were sent
to Phil and Lisa Cross (Independent Studies) on the birth of daughter
Emily. Lisa is actually married to Stuart Cross.
Tracey Davies
--------------------------
When you mentioned the cars and motorbikes at Combray, it reminded me
how wonderful the accounts are of the first time that Proust: travels
in a car/sees an aeroplane/uses a telephone. I wish I could write like
that about the first time I used Email/the web/saw someone sitting in
Corsica using a mobile phone in a restaurant to talk to their husband
in Chesterfield. It made me realise that I hope that some people are
writing/remembering their first feelings about those things.
To encourage people to get started: might be useful to know that in
the Kilmartin/Moncrieff translation each volume has a kind of summary
at the back (not like the Inkytext ones, just notes to remind you where
you are, page by page)....and explanations of some of the classical and
literary references...
Fiona Frank
----------------------------
Many thanks to all those including the editor who sponsored me in the
Rag Fire Walk. News of my feat [!! (Ed)] has brought in more
sponsorship and my total is now 154 pounds.
Janet Clements
Furness College
[NOTE: I hear the University Secretary also took part. (Ed)]
--------------------------
5. SMALL ADS
------------
LANCASTER UNIVERSITY HIKING CLUB MILLENNIUM REUNION AND LATE SUMMER BALL
On the weekend of 8-10th September 2000 there will be a grand reunion
of the past and present members of the university hiking club in this
its 33rd year. This is a chance for the people who have been a part of
the past thirty-three years of the club's history to meet up in the
beautiful surroundings of Langdale YHA, which has been booked for our
sole use that weekend.
THE PEOPLE: all past and present members of the University hiking club
are invited to join us for the weekend, along with their partners and
other friends of the club.
THE PROGRAMME: Arrival Friday night. Walking in and around Langdale on
Saturday. Buffet and ball on the Saturday evening and walking again on
the Sunday.
DRESS: Black tie is requested for the Saturday evening
THE COST: In the region of £40 per person, depending on numbers (there
is space for around 100). This includes accommodation on Friday and
Saturday night, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday and the Saturday night
buffet and ball. A deposit of £15 is needed as soon as possible to
confirm numbers. FURTHER DETAILS: Check out the alumni web site at
www.luhc-alumni.org.uk or phone Mike Amberry on (01706) 342979
-------------
SMALL ADS: HOUSE FOR SALE - Victorian semi-detached house located in
town centre (Regent Street). 2 reception rooms, 5 bedrooms, 2 kitchens,
2 bathrooms, cellar and very large garden. 125,000. Contact Neil
Goddard on 824437.
-------------
Worldwide Cannabis Action
Saturday May 6th, 2000
End the Prohibition of Cannabis
simultaneous cannabis action in 76+ cities worldwide
Saturday May 6th LONDON & Worldwide
To unite all who seek a 'New Deal for Cannabis', whether for
medication or recreation, for food, fuel or fibre. In London a musical,
non-confrontational, carnival style march and festival will celebrate
this useful, beneficial herb, and call for an end to the persecution of
those who wish to use it. Further details:
http://www.schmoo.co.uk/may2000.htm
------------------