Very interesting. I enjoyed Ethan Frome. I hadn't realised that Wharton had written essays too. I think her observation that people who don't have knowledge try to give the impression they do is true of some of the English too. At least, I've met loads of such people in my time! I think Wharton's view of them is very generous- --- I find such people rather obnoxious!
Delicious selection of words and ideas, Kate. Thank you for sharing some Frost (always something I enjoy) and Wharton, whom I haven't ever read before. I will have to seek out Ethan Frome.
I really like the fluidity of your words on the slopes (and the Pearl Jam selection 👌). "I love you infinity" is a great line!!
I need to put Ethan Frome on my list, you mentioned it in the Black Ice thread, I remember! Regarding France, there is the unpopular opinion that all the great French artists and thinkers are well, they are no more... Is French culture in Crisis? "From Left Bank to left behind: where have the great French thinkers gone?" (old article)
Is the sketch yours? The writing is crystal clear, clean, translucent, it almost vibrates. I love it. France was the cultural capital of the world for a long time. I grew up learning how francophile Romania was over the course of two and half centuries, how it earned to achieve that refinement (as opposed to the, in those times, most despised Balkan and Greek influences). All the national writers were educated in Paris and Vienna. It was such an ideal to get an education in one of these two places.
I'm currently reading Termination Shock and working on a cli-fi short story and a non-fiction article about how we won't be able to save the planet in the next 200 years. Let's see how this goes.
Kate - I really enjoyed this. The sketch was really interesting to me in the manner which you incorporated multiple forms of media. On the second half, I have heard of Wharton for years but never read any of her works. I will need to rectify that soonest.
What a feast of ideas you've assembled here, Kate. Love the feeling of propulsion you convey im the opening sketch, and what a beautiful final line. I hope your son always carries such an infinite amiunt of love with him!
Also gobsmacked by the Wharton excerpts. If only there were an operation for taste-blindness! I fell in love with Ethan Frome in high school, a tale of loud emotions conveyed through whispers. 💙
Such a powerful piece. Deeply moving. I have never been skiing but your words conveyed the physical, spiritual and emotional elements of it so thank you for that vicarious experience!
As regards Wharton's theory, although I believe in individual autonomy regardless of a person's race, there are doubtless cultural forces that can create attitudes that may have the appearance of national characteristics. In the UK for example I have on occasion encountered a sort of sneering attitude to cultural matters, the idea that it is inappropriate to be interested in such things, a "know your place" kind of attitude. Early on I decided that this was suffocating to the human spirit and was not to be accommodated. I would not, however, say that this is part of the "British character". That said, the great footballer Eric Cantona may be an example of what Wharton may have been alluding to. A French sportsman who wrote poetry and acted in movies. He showed sports fans that it was possible to do it all, and was not inhibited by his status as an elite sportsman. That kind of crossover is probably an efficient way to generate curiosity.
A great post, Kate. With the sketch, it's somehow the image of the snow angel that jumped out at me, a space that seemed to need filling.
I really enjoyed the Wharton quotes. Like, you, I'm not sure how to take them, with the binary opposition between Anglo-Saxon and French culture being just one frontier among a million, as I think your comment suggested. I guess, as is often the nature of these things, she was partly writing about her own culture through a mirror?
Beautiful montage of engaging with life/nature rushing down the mountain, Kate! Read "Ethan Frome" too young to appreciate, I think; loved "House of Mirth" and found it terribly sad, but also, probably, too young. :)
Love your short sketch, Kate, what a wonderful post. And I love how you have weaved in poetry, music and film into it. Inspiring. Also: Pearl Jam, Release love love love...
With the skiing, I like how you made it sound like you’re entering a flow state, it’s so hard to capture that.
As for France, well, I think I’d come across as a lot more masculine there.
Very interesting. I enjoyed Ethan Frome. I hadn't realised that Wharton had written essays too. I think her observation that people who don't have knowledge try to give the impression they do is true of some of the English too. At least, I've met loads of such people in my time! I think Wharton's view of them is very generous- --- I find such people rather obnoxious!
Delicious selection of words and ideas, Kate. Thank you for sharing some Frost (always something I enjoy) and Wharton, whom I haven't ever read before. I will have to seek out Ethan Frome.
I really like the fluidity of your words on the slopes (and the Pearl Jam selection 👌). "I love you infinity" is a great line!!
I need to put Ethan Frome on my list, you mentioned it in the Black Ice thread, I remember! Regarding France, there is the unpopular opinion that all the great French artists and thinkers are well, they are no more... Is French culture in Crisis? "From Left Bank to left behind: where have the great French thinkers gone?" (old article)
Is the sketch yours? The writing is crystal clear, clean, translucent, it almost vibrates. I love it. France was the cultural capital of the world for a long time. I grew up learning how francophile Romania was over the course of two and half centuries, how it earned to achieve that refinement (as opposed to the, in those times, most despised Balkan and Greek influences). All the national writers were educated in Paris and Vienna. It was such an ideal to get an education in one of these two places.
I'm currently reading Termination Shock and working on a cli-fi short story and a non-fiction article about how we won't be able to save the planet in the next 200 years. Let's see how this goes.
Kate - I really enjoyed this. The sketch was really interesting to me in the manner which you incorporated multiple forms of media. On the second half, I have heard of Wharton for years but never read any of her works. I will need to rectify that soonest.
What a feast of ideas you've assembled here, Kate. Love the feeling of propulsion you convey im the opening sketch, and what a beautiful final line. I hope your son always carries such an infinite amiunt of love with him!
Also gobsmacked by the Wharton excerpts. If only there were an operation for taste-blindness! I fell in love with Ethan Frome in high school, a tale of loud emotions conveyed through whispers. 💙
Such a powerful piece. Deeply moving. I have never been skiing but your words conveyed the physical, spiritual and emotional elements of it so thank you for that vicarious experience!
As regards Wharton's theory, although I believe in individual autonomy regardless of a person's race, there are doubtless cultural forces that can create attitudes that may have the appearance of national characteristics. In the UK for example I have on occasion encountered a sort of sneering attitude to cultural matters, the idea that it is inappropriate to be interested in such things, a "know your place" kind of attitude. Early on I decided that this was suffocating to the human spirit and was not to be accommodated. I would not, however, say that this is part of the "British character". That said, the great footballer Eric Cantona may be an example of what Wharton may have been alluding to. A French sportsman who wrote poetry and acted in movies. He showed sports fans that it was possible to do it all, and was not inhibited by his status as an elite sportsman. That kind of crossover is probably an efficient way to generate curiosity.
A great post, Kate. With the sketch, it's somehow the image of the snow angel that jumped out at me, a space that seemed to need filling.
I really enjoyed the Wharton quotes. Like, you, I'm not sure how to take them, with the binary opposition between Anglo-Saxon and French culture being just one frontier among a million, as I think your comment suggested. I guess, as is often the nature of these things, she was partly writing about her own culture through a mirror?
Beautiful montage of engaging with life/nature rushing down the mountain, Kate! Read "Ethan Frome" too young to appreciate, I think; loved "House of Mirth" and found it terribly sad, but also, probably, too young. :)
Love your short sketch, Kate, what a wonderful post. And I love how you have weaved in poetry, music and film into it. Inspiring. Also: Pearl Jam, Release love love love...
That story was like being in a dream. My head on a pillow of clouds.
As a Frenchie who writes about the senses, those Wharton quotes are really speaking to me! Merci beaucoup! 🙌