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INKYTEXT 345
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Issue No 345 Monday 27th March 2000
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Editorial correspondence should be sent to InkyText@lancaster.ac.uk
Subscription requests to Inkytext-distribution-request@lists.lancs.ac.uk
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AGENDA
Minutes and Matters Arising
1. News: Prof Smith, Services Dining Club, NW Universities Association,
Building plans, Development Campaign, Organic Garden, Deanships, APC,
Vacation Opening.
2. Tips for would-be Proustians (IX): Reviews
3. Readers' Letters: Social history, Scan editors, Proust, Town twinning,
Angela Turton, Buildings.
4. Small Ads: Peugeot 106, House to let, Concert ticket, House wanted,
Large house to let over summer.
MINUTES AND MATTERS ARISING
---------------------------
Professor Summerfield spells her name thus. See Readers' Letters.
Apologies.
Expect major announcements on funding for Lancaster projects in the
computing area this week.
Jon Moulton (Alchemy) was given a viva for a 1st in Chemistry but
ended up with a IIi.
The ambitious Estates Strategy unveiled last week appears to be more
of a blue-sky projection than some people imagined. If it's the right
sort of strategy at least money could then be sought... at least for
buildings which could produce a convincing business plan to fund their
construction and maintenance. How likely buildings inside the perimeter
road are to appeal to private developers remains to be seen. Plans can
be seen on the landing of B-floor University House. The next urgent and
plausible constructions are Communication's block behind Engineering,
and a fill-in top-floor suite for the Human Development in Fylde.
Provided funds are forthcoming....
1. NEWS
-------
BELATED CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES TO Angela Mangis (History) and
Francis Turton (French and German) on their marriage last year. See
Readers' Letters.
WELCOME BACK TO DAVID SMITH (Applied Social Science) and his wife
Linda, who have spent the last few months in Perth, Western Australia.
Prof Smith's son, Laurie, gravely injured his spine in a swimming
accident and has had three operations, complicated by a long
undiagnosed oesophagal infection. He has now been transferred to the
Merseyside Regional Spinal Injuries centre in Southport. Prof Smith is
highly critical of some medical services in Western Australia, and
indeed of the International Rescue service which supervised the
transfer.
DEVELOPMENT CAMPAIGN: John McGovern and others have been investigating
how other universities conduct their revenue-generating development
campaigns. The short answer is with difficulty and lots of staffing
resources. We are yet again to commission consultants....
Last time round consultants advised us that we wouldn't get charitable
or industrial money unless we campaigned for specific large scale
proects. This we did, complete with glossy brochures for a half a dozen
new large scale projects. The result, apart from modest monies in ES,
and the Pilkington Prize, is the Ruskin Library. Can it be different
this time round? Perhaps, but Pro-VC Davies is finding getting the
mega-bucks gruelling, despite tireless networking and negotiation.
LANCASTER UNIVERSITY SERVICES DINING CLUB: The Adjutant General,
General Sir Alex Harley KBE CB ADC Gen, was guest speaker at a dinner
of the USDC on Thursday 23 March. The Vice Chancellor presided. Other
guests included: Lord Shuttleworth, Sir Christopher Audland, the Mayor
of Lancaster, Prof Richard Davies. If anyone is interested in joining,
please contact Janet Clements.
NORTHWEST UNIVERSITIES ASSOCIATION: this consortium, financed partly
with HEFECE funding and partly by subscription, is to be launched on
Monday 27th at a glitzy evening recption in Manchester Airport attended
by VCs and industrial luminaries from around the area. It is meant to
be a response to the government's general regionalisation policy, and
the organisation's HQ is directly adjacent to the RDA offices in
Warrington. A brochure has been prepared which describes a Lancaster
few of us would recognize. Fears that this body will not be even-handed
in its promotion of industrial links and will favour institutions in
the Manchester-Liverpool conurbation.
THE ESTATES COMMITTEE met last Thursday.
THE ACADEMIC PLANNING COMMITTEE met on Friday
THE ORGANIC GARDEN BESIDE GRADUATE COLLEGE is making plans for a
fruitful year ahead, using the new polytunnel. Meanwhile, the first
crop from the external plots are about to be harvested - daffodils!
Students are hoping to sell bunches of daffodils to different
departments over the next few weeks, all money for upkeep of the
Organic Garden.
DEAN OF SOCIAL SCIENCE: When nominations closed last week Prof
McKinlay discovered that he had been returned unopposed. By the time
his period of office has ended he will have had 10 years of non-stop
administering and be a prominent candidate for Pro-VC. Nominations for
Dean of Humanities close this week.
VACATION OPENING: The Venue will be open at normal hours during the
vacation. (NB 12-6 at weekends and over the Easter Bank Holiday).
Cartmel Bar and Fylde Bar will be open, and Graduate Bar in the
evening. Limelights and Fylde sandwich bar are also open.
2. PROUST REVIEWS
-----------------
Last night's audience at the Duke's was fairly silent as it emerged.
No one walked out during the film but some eyes prolly glazed over at
times. A similar story at last week's showing in Kendal. Ruiz's film is
a huge condensation, and inevitably takes esoteric short-cuts that some
find baffling, turning words and highly abstract ideas into images. I
still think it's a triumph, but it's a text to studied and explored
more than an instantly accessible hit.
It is important to remember that one is dealing with the orchestral
climax to a narrative which has made one intimately familiar with the
host of characters showered on unsuspecting viewers. Perhaps as a
stand-alone film it does leave something to be desired, but that was
not the director's stated intention.
On second viewing I was struck by the circularity of it all. It starts
with the running fresh waters of the Vivonne, and ends with the
eternity of sea and sky. I was also struck by how uniformly 'flawed'
every single character is shown to be... except the narrator of course.
Forgot to mention Gilberte dressing up in a red dress just like
Rachel's star role costume to make a point to Saint-Loup and to show
how upset she is. (I noticed to my surprise that Mlle Beart has a
beauty spot on the base of her neck on the left hand side.) And do
enjoy the contradictory bitching gossip of all the old women at the
matinee. It's crucial to keep telling apart:
the agelessly beautiful Odette (Catherine Deneuve);
Oriane, Duchesse de Guermantes with her distinctive and affected laugh;
the ghastly black-haired Mme de Verdurin, later Princesse de Guermantes.
Further thoughts. Gilberte's own unfaithfulness with both sexes is
almost not hinted at except at the end by her mother-in-law and Mme de
Villeparisis. The anti-semitic theme is understated and the affected
virility of closet homosexuals emphasized. And the audience is still
much too reverential and doesn't laugh as much as it ought to at the
humour and understated ironies.
Something of the nature of human time is brought out in the closing
scenes by the conversation between the old narrator and his childish
avatar. He reminds us of the myriad different selves we have been, each
dying off successively yet somehow preserved in involuntary memory. As
death approaches we worry less since we have died so many times
already, most noticeably whenever we fall out of love. These ideas are
conveyed symbolically by haunting imagined scenes in a dream landscape,
top hats and sepulchres, which the narrator sees himself as a boy
wandering through.
Some might even be going to see it again this evening.
Some reviews from the French sites on the Internet and the French
press.
"This month's sleeping pill.If you don't already know the work. the
charm and the talent of Proust you can enjoy a good 3 hour siesta. But
the stageing is splendid and the acting superb."
"Boring and confused. The film drags and the central message of
Proust's book is carefully avoided. This film takes itself too
seriously. Where is the lightness and fluidity of Proust's style. And
John Malkovich is either a grave mistake in casting or we should
see the film dubbed in English."
"Not of the slightest interest. Pretentious and snobbish shooting with
inept effects. The acting is superficial. I left before the end."
"Eminently Proustian! Sublime...! Should at least have won the prize
for best scenario at the Cannes Festival. Raoul Ruiz has managed to
retranscribe in pictures both time lost and time regained. At the end
of the film we've come full circle and the two link up. A genius of
interpretation."
"A rather long fim and I couldn't find the spirit of Proust's work in
it. Well done as far as decor and costume are concerned, good acting, a
decent rhythm up to the middle, then some longueurs... Further proof
that adapting Proust for the cinema isn't easy. "
"An excellent film. Difficult to grasp for anyone who has not read Proust
and as a result it remains hermetic to a lot of people. However the
director has managed to get the essence of this work across with brio."
"You get a bit lost in this Time... It seems hard to appreciate this
film if Proust's world is totally unknown to you. But it makes you want
to know more about the writer and his work. The decadent atmosphere
of high society at the start of the century is wonderfully drawn.
But despite some marvellous acting (John Malkovich and Chiara
Mastroianni are perfect), boredom often awaits the spectactor in this
maze of ceaseless flash-backs."
"A Time Regained that convinces thanks to its controlled mastery."
(Le Figaro Magazine Daniel Toscan du Plantier - 21/05/99)
"This Temps regained is a lesson in cinema, a film whose real script
writer (...) is indeed Marcel Proust himself, whose novel was, in fact,
a premonition of the cinemaN (L'Evenement Guy Konopicki - 20/05/99)
"(...) virtuosity is here anything but an exercise in style. It is
there to allow the spectator to enter into Proustian thinking."
(Chronic'Art n.c. - 16/05/99)
"Ruiz manages to succeed in this recreation, plasticly superb though
at times obscure, of Proust's world." (Cine Live Olivier Rajchman -
01/06/99)
"You guardians of the Proustian temple and Vestales of little Marcel,
just keep on going: anyone who clings to a too precise memory of the
text will lose everything, the film and the happiness that emanates
from it (...). It's a film that makes you happy". (Le Monde Jean-Michel
Frodon - 18/05/99)
(...) this film finds its grace in fluidity and its distinction in
highly effective casting efficace. (...)let yourself be carried away
and you won't regfret the trip. Le Parisien Pierre Vavasseur - 19/05/99
"It's subtle, also tiring; loyal Proust fans won't be too lost and
beginners will be seduced. Ruiz has almost won his impossible bet."
(Les Echos Annie Coppermann - 19/05/99)
3. READERS' LETTERS
-------------------
Some of your readers may be interested in my website if they are studying
social history of the last 150 years
http://www.pureland.demon.co.uk/illustrated.htm
John Weedy
Lancaster
Tel 60131
-------------------------------------------
Your commendable interest in supermarkets and their wines (or your
commitment to Proust) appear to be affecting your attention to the
conventional spelling of the names of Lancaster staff.
The Prof Somerfield of History who is moving to Manchester is usually referred
to as Summerfield; the Prof Somerviqlle (!) of Computing customarily favours
two m's and no q.
Yours persnicketily (but the first is my partner)
Oliver Fulton
------------------------------
Re - new building on campus. How much more of the countryside is going
to be encroached upon in all this?. Loss of wildlife habitat, trees,
etc? Is there a real need for a huge new sports hall? Why?
Rosemary Anderson
------------------------
May I crave the indulgence of your columns for my yearly announcement?
For those readers who live in the Lancaster area, there is something
personal and positive you can do to further good relations with Europe.
Lancaster has seven twin towns in Europe (see below*) and there are
two points of contact in Lancaster City for these twin towns - the City
Council, and the Lancaster International Twinning Society (LITS). LITS
is a voluntary association which anyone can join for five pounds a
year. Open meetings are held at 7.30 on the first Wednesday of every
month in the Reform Club, Great John Street, Lancaster.
The regular business of the meeting includes (among other things)
reports from our twin towns, the planning of visits at twin towns'
request and the distribution of the City Council's grant of approx.
£4,000 each year to youth, cultural and sports groups travelling back
and forth. We answer queries from all quarters in the spirit of
bringing our communities together and also maintain links with
Lancaster's many friends abroad.
The rewards for participating in this work are many, and multiply the
longer you are able to remain a member. LITS members meet twin town
visitors and offer hospitality of many kinds, be it home visits, tours
of local beauty spots or introductions to useful contacts. Members are
invited to attend City events. In return members may enjoy home
hospitality in our twin towns or visit as part of a Lancaster
delegation. Such visits are open to all members at group rates. LITS is
also involved in some special events, the main one being the Youth
Games between Lancaster, Aalborg, Rendsburg and Almere which is held
every three years. LITS keeps its members informed with an attractive
monthly Newsletter.
LITS is not very large, and we would appreciate having a greater
spread of members from the Lancaster community. There are now about 60
members, including four officers and a number of committee members.
Many of the members are from the older generation, and are not being
replaced by younger members as one might wish. Being a member of the
association does not involve you in any obligatory duties. Members
contribute as much as they feel able at any time. (You don't need to be
a linguist, although it can be useful.)
Come along and see what is involved, without obligation. Further
information is available from Andrew Jameson (Vice-Chairman), 1 Brook
Street, Lancaster LA1 1SL, and you can telephone on Lancaster 32371.
Lancaster's twin towns, roughly in the order in which we acquired
them, are: Rendsburg (Germany) classic middle-sized North German town on the
Kiel canal; Perpignan (France) ancient town close to Southern Pyrenees,
Catalonia; Viana do Castelo (Portugal) small coastal market town near
Oporto; Aalborg (Denmark) wealthy ecological middle size university
town N. Jutland; Almere (Netherlands) new town on reclaimed Zuider Zee,
not far from Amsterdam; Lublin (Poland) twice a big as Lancaster,
historic town, two universities; Växjö (Sweden) in forests and lakes of
Smaland, very new go-ahead university.
Andrew Jameson
---------------------------
Rory wants advice? Right, here goes. Keep independent by being equally
suspicious of everyone.
Er, that's it.
As you were,
Louis Barfe
The Picture Palace — cinema architecture fun for all ages
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~lfbarfe/
--------------------------
Angela Mangis here. In Feb '99 I moved to Cambridge to marry Francis
Turton. I subsequently spent 1999 doing admin in the Maths Faculty at
Cambridge, where I saw Stephen Hawking diurnally. Doubtless some of the
other staff I was constantly cajoling for paperwork are quite famous
also, but as I am mathematically illiterate, their names meant nothing
to me.
In Jan I started a new post here at the U of Essex. I'm doing admin
for the School of Humanities and the School of Law, and it's quite
tolerable. Francis and I are renting a thatched, late-14th century
cottage in a small village near Stowmarket and are enjoying the rural
idyll.
I am also currently enjoying Proust. I'd been assuring myself for
years that I would read him, and I am pleased to say that your
excellent precis (sorry, no accent marks on this software) caused me to
rush to the library and remedy my shameful neglect of this sagacious
author. I only wish I could read him in the original.
Francis is still working at Chadwyck-Healy and finding it rather dull.
He's looking for other jobs in a half-hearted sort of way.
Do you ever visit this part of the world? If so, I/we would be
delighted to see you and ply you with wine.
Angela Turton
----------------------
Perhaps the time has come to STOP encouraging people from boasting on
their CVs about how many millions of pounds they have handled !!
Max Lazarus
--------------------
Yet again, the amazing value of Inkytext was revealed when, within 24
hours of my plea for a hardback copy of Proust, I had concluded a
second-hand deal with another reader. Of course, it proves that the
power of an institution is, as ever, dependent on the people who
constitute it.
I think the piece towards the end of the film may be the Cesar Franck
Violin Sonata, which I seem to remember was one model for Vinteuil's
work. And the snatch of the "Vinteuil Septet" earlier may be the Franck
Piano Quintet (I couldn't hear enough instuments for a Septet). But I
confess to my shame that I don't know either work well enough to be
sure.
The book about Proust's (limited) musical thinking is "Proust as
Musician" by Jean-Jacques Nattiez, trans. Puffett (CUP 1989).
Enjoy the film!
Robert Samuels
The Open University
--------------------------
Re - new building on campus. How much more of the countryside is going
to be encroached upon in all this?. Loss of wildlife habitat, trees,
etc? Is there a real need for a huge new sports hall? Why?
Rosemary Anderson
-----------------------
Given the current attention being given to recent and future SCAN
Editors, this may be an unusual request. SCAN is hoping to contact
every previous SCAN Editor as soon as possible to conduct interviews
along the lines of "where are they now?".
I am aware that some will be more forthcoming than others! If you have
any information or contact details, please contact SCAN at
scan@lancaster.ac.uk or on 01524 592613.
Many thanks
Sarah Smith
SCAN Editor
---------------------------
4. SMALL ADS
------------
FOR SALE. M (1995) PEUGEOT 106 1.1. Mardi Gras. Excellent Condition.
Sun roof, stereo & 12 months MOT. 6 months Tax. FSH. Low mileage: 49,
000 miles. 2 female owners. Unusual registration M992 00N. ?3400. Tel:
07971 915958. Email: l.bostock@lancaster.ac.uk
------------
TICKET FOR SALE FOR THE SOLD-OUT 'ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES' FESTIVAL
including chalet accomodation Friday 7th - Sunday 9th April. Line up
includes: Mogwai, Super Furry Animals, Stereolab, Gorky's Zygotic
Mynci, Godspeed You Black Emporer, Hood, The Delgadoes, Arab Strap....
and numerous others you probably won't have heard of unless you like
lo-fi!!
Two friendly Lancaster p/g students sharing chalet. Cost price of £100
plus chalet deposit. Contact Claire: c.l.moore@lancaster.ac.uk Tel:
X94287/ 0961 856297
----------------
TO LET: Well looked after 2 Bedroomed Terrace House, South Lancaster,
ten minutes walk from town centre, close to Boy's Grammar School and
Williamson Park. Fully furnished, with all amentities including gas
central heating, 350.00 per month. Tel:01524 594694; e-mail:
g.caldwell@lancaster.ac.uk
--------------------
WANTED: A HOUSE. I'm moving in from the Netherlands to join the
Department of Accounting and Finance in September, and I'm looking for
a House (buy, or rent before buying), suitable for a family with two
young kids. Preferences: 4 bedrooms, well maintained, south of the
river Lune, or with easy access to the M6, preferably not outside town.
If temporary: as of June / July / August. Contact: Martien Lubberink
+31 43 388 3721 (work) +31 43 361 7095 (home) or martien@csi.com
--------------
TO LET: Pleasant house in town centre of Lancaster for rent over the
Summer (June-July-August 2000): 4/5 bedrooms, fully furnished with all
amenities, 450 pounds per month. Tel: 01524 62769; e-mail:
bladesst@aol.com
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EXPECT A SLOWING PERIODICITY OF APPEARANCE