linndechir | A post? About what?

What the hell am I doing with a livejournal? Really … I don’t even know what to write here. I only created an account to read someone else’s lj, and then I noticed there were one or two communities I might join. And you know how it is - or maybe you don’t because you’re not as weak-willed as I am - once you’ve got this account, you’re telling yourself, “Well, now that you have it, you might just as well use it …” And that’s where the trouble begins.

So, I could probably rant about my crappy week, but I doubt that anyone cares about that. Oh, or I could tell you about the book I’ve just finished reading. Yepp, I think I’m going to do that.

I’ve finally read “La duchesse de Langeais” by Balzac (a French 19^th century writer, in case you were wondering). I was supposed to have read it already a few weeks ago because we’re studying it in my French literature class, but I can be very slow reading books when I don’t like them. And I didn’t like this one, despite the fact that I usually like Balzac. But the ending of this novel is worth mentioning because it is so … strange.

The whole book is nothing but a very dramatic love story between a duchess and a general, who falls madly in love with her. She toys with him, but - as soon as he leaves her - she realises, of course, that she loves him. He wants to return to her, but there are several misunderstandings and coincidences, and at some point the duchess suddenly flees from Paris to a convent somewhere in Spain. Nobody knows where exactly she is, and the general spends several years looking for her. When he finally finds her, she refuses to leave the convent to live with him, although she still loves him. The general decides to abduct her. All of this takes about 220 pages.

The last chapter is pretty short, 10 pages, of which 8 pages are nothing but a very detailed description of the preparations the general and his friends make. And then there are less than two pages (!!!) to tell us that when he finally arrives at the convent, the duchess has just died. The general and his friends take the corpse with them and decide to throw it in the sea (the convent is on an island). One of his friends says to the general something along the lines of “Well, love is stupid anyway. You’d better forget about this.” And the general just replies, “Yes, you’re right. It really doesn’t matter.” End of the novel.

I’m not exaggerating or over-interpreting anything, this is really written in the book (okay, it’s a bit more poetical and everything, but that’s all). I really wonder what Balzac was thinking when he was writing this. ;) Anyway, despite this amusing ending I really didn’t like the novel. Probably because the duchess was an absolutely unbearable, annoying character, and there was no interesting character, nor an exceptional storyline to make up for it. Of course, it was very well written and far from a bad book, but if you want to read Balzac, don’t read this novel. ;)

Mhm, what else ... I’ve recently seen 3:10 to Yuma, which is an absolutely amazing movie. Seen it twice. And - I can already hear people sigh and call me a horrible fangirl - I’ll probably go to the cinema again either this or next week. I’m even thinking about writing a Yuma-fanfic, but I’m not sure about that yet. I’d really like to, but I don’t know if I’ll manage to write anything decent. A western is just completely different from the fantasy fanfics I usually write. Though, of course, if I write anything, it will be as slashy as hell. I mean, that's the point. ;)
Whatever. I won’t say more or I’ll be ranting for pages and pages.

I can’t believe I’ve just written an entry here … Scary. Though I’m really not sure if I’m going to do this regularly or … not at all. ;)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I find that people responding to posts is the clearest motivation to keep writing in LJ, and so I will encourage you along this pathway of literary sin!

The book ending sounds very amusing. It's clear that the point of the novel is that love makes you do incredibly stupid things and it's best not to bother falling in love to begin with, lest one find oneself trapped in a such a poor, pathetic misadventure as this irascible duchess and her unfortunate general. I suppose this only work if one dislikes misadventure, but as a cautionary tale I imagine it is somewhat effective, if maddeningly abrupt.

Either that or the author just got tired of writing, because, as we know, this happens often:D

Ahh, you journal is so dark!

"I find that people responding to posts is the clearest motivation to keep writing in LJ"
OK alors c'est parti ! (eh oui cette personne parle aussi français) So, God (eh oui cette personne est aussi Dieu... ah fallait pas le dire ?) keep writing because, erm... I will say the whole word your father's true origins if you don't (eh oui, cette personne a aussi un père :D). ^^ No I won't.
So I hope I didn't make any fault but you know french languages teachers... Bon courage pour ce simili de blog ^^

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