Abraham Poincheval hardly slept in the 23 days he spent nesting inside a glass vitrine in a Paris art museum which he finally left Thursday after all but two of the eggs hatched [ . . . ]
More at source: ‘Animals have no place in art’: French ‘human hen’ artist condemned after eggs hatch | world-news | Hindustan Times
Marcel Proust is famous for transforming an evocative sensory experience into literary brilliance: I am writing, of course, of the nibble of a madeleine that catalyzed his immortal stroll down memory lane in “Swann’s Way.”
The author also, apparently, could turn an unwanted sensory intrusion into fairly amusing epistolary material. Among an astonishing collection of French literary miscellanea that will shortly go up for auction in Paris — the archive, which currently belongs to prolific collector Jean Bonna, includes first editions of works by Samuel Beckett and Honoré de Balzac, as well as correspondence from Victor Hugo and Gustave Flaubert — is a letter from Proust to his landlord’s son in which he objects to a certain unwanted auditory phenomenon in his apartment [ . . . ]
More at Source: Proust Letter About Neighbor’s Sex Lives Up For Auction – The Forward
With the motives of the Champs-Elysées gunman considered terror-related, the timing just three days before the first round of the French presidential elections and during a prime time TV “debate” between all 11 official candidates clearly suggests that extremists are seeking to influence the tone of the debate – and perhaps its outcome [ . . . ]
More at source: How Champs Elysees attack could swing the French presidential election
Think what you will about America’s contentious identity politics; compared with France, the United States remains Mayberry, TV’s symbol of small-town innocence. We may have Black Lives Matter, massive resistance to a president seeking to enforce the country’s existing immigration laws, and urban riots. But in France the riots are bigger and last far longer. It has hundreds of thousands of people possessing French citizenship but evincing no discernible national loyalty. And there are few geographic barriers between itself and the sources of inundating immigration. No one can forecast with confidence the American future—whether it be a more or less successful assimilation of large streams of new immigrants or a transformed country where ethnic division is a norm underpinning every political transaction. But whatever the fate of Western civilization—whether [ . . . ]
The concept of “French-girl beauty” is one much discussed in the hair and make-up industry, but how to create a product range which perfectly encapsulates that elusive brand of insouciant Parisian chic? The answer: ask a French girl, which is exactly what make-up brand Nars has done via its upcoming collaboration with Charlotte Gainsbourg – actress, singer and daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg [ . . . ]
More: Charlotte Gainsbourg For Nars Makeup Collection | British Vogue
On Point | NPR
France readies for a high-stakes election that could lead to the end of the European Union itself. We’ll look at the populist wave and France.
Pas De Merde 