After all your moves, I'm glad you found Brevard. It seems a good fit for you. That aside, I know you to embrace wherever you live.
Well Audrey you know I really like small towns and will retire to one soon (I hope) but which one, that is the question. I like Mountain Lake mainly because it is small, my roots are there and it has all the things I relish. A sense of community, church activities, it's close to larger metro areas when I need them etc. I have also found towns in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and upper Michigan much to my liking too, Iron River Michigan comes to mind. You asked "How often have you sidetracked off a main highway or interstate, or even a county road, to drive through a small town, maybe even stop" answer, all the time! I do not take the interstate unless pressed for time preferring the rural roads and sights!
Well, it seems you have found many options. None of them with stoplights, right?
I would most certainly expect you to avoid interstates if time allows for slower travel along rural roads.
For the most part, no stoplights but I have found some towns that I like with just 1 or 2 lights! Faribault and the surrounding areas are also potentials. I recently found out that a good friend of mine has a son now living in Faribault, small world……..
And what brought your friend's son to Faribault? Maybe I know him.
Sometimes the error of that thinking is realized after the fact. Maybe not in your town's case. During the 1970s and even into the 80s, the attitude was one of tearing down all those old buildings. Big mistake, in my opinion.
Our town has a very frustrating narrow vision: "when they come, we will build it" rather than "if we build it, they will come"! Ugh!!!!!
I remember you telling me this in the past. I'm sorry and hope that attitude will change.
There are times lately that I think about moving to a small town…. I don't know if I'd go crazy with the quiet, the peace, etc..
If you've always lived in a big city, you might find it difficult. You might miss the convenience of being near everything. It depends on your background, too, and what you define as a small town.
I know I couldn't live in a place like NYC. I visited once some 40 years ago and that was enough. I need my space. After a road trip to Boston two years ago for my son's college graduation, I was so thankful to return to the openness of the Midwest.
Does your son live in Boston or has he returned to his roots?
He stayed and found a job in greater Boston. He shared this week that's he's changing his residency to Massachusetts, which means, nope, he's not returning to his roots. Boston is a great fit for him given its strong tech base (his field). And he likes also that he can get around via mass transit. He's happy there and that's what's most important, even beyond my wishing he would return to the Midwest.
I am partial to Red Wing. Hastings, MN has a wonderful downtown area; they have done a lot of work there. Estes Park, CO is another favorite as is Fredericksburg, TX. Maiden Rock, Stockholm, Pepin, Nelson, Alma and Trempealeau WI are wonderful little towns to visit too. I love small towns and their unique character. I love their bakeries, meat markets, cheese factories, pubs and restaurants.
With the exception of the Colorado and Texas towns, I've been to all those you list and would include them among favorites. I'm with you also on all the reasons for loving small towns. And, bonus, they offer wonderful photo opportunities.
Never-ending winter is right. More snow on the way for Sunday into Monday, apparently.
Here too 2 – 5 inches last I heard.


interested in billing Medicaid for services.
Twenty-two years ago Baptist Community Ministries was founded to make social investments in local nonprofits to improve the health of our community. However, current national financial trends around social investments are moving away from a historical grant revenue model to a reimbursement focused model. With the expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, service providers are now afforded the opportunity to bill for services for a greater number of individuals. By leveraging Medicaid reimbursement for existing services, organizations have new opportunities to reach financial sustainability and to expand capacity for maximum reach and impact. To advance BCM and LPHI's vision for a healthy community, BCM and LPHI recognize the need to support the development of sustainable behavioral health and social services by enhancing community based organizations' ability to access reimbursable funding streams.To optimize these sustainability efforts, operational adjustments (such as, electronic health record implementation, seeking and obtaining accreditation, etc.) might be considered.
The programmatic structure supports working with industry experts to help identify individual organizational needs, levels of support, and to assist your organization to reach financial sustainability. The fellowship will consist of workshops, one-on-one technical coaching, presentations by subject matter experts, and will highlight local successes and challenges to introduce, educate, and support non-profits to access sustainable funding through third party reimbursements. Third party reimbursements include reimbursement for services through insurance (Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance). We hope to work with you to foster practical, actionable, best-practice approaches among non-profit community-based organizations. Opportunities for peer exchange will support a fellowship of practice focused on performance excellence and sustainability. Targeted improvement projects will focus on sustainability through reimbursement by optimizing key organizational elements: strategy, leadership, workforce, clients, measurement, results, and operations -including credentialing and contracting.
If you would like to learn more about this program or similar services, please contact Meagan Relle mrelle@lphi.org.


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text:
Retcon Punch
Comics: Scrutinized
Guest-Writer Initiative
← Birds of Prey 13
Green Lantern: New Guardians 13 →
Red Hood and the Outlaws 13
Today, Drew and Shelby are discussing Red Hood and the Outlaws 13, originally released October 17th, 2012.
Drew: I hate recommending art. From movies to books to music, I think there's something really presumptuous about the statement "you'd like this." Moreover, I hate what recommending that art says about me, especially if the person I recommended it to didn't like the art in question. This may all stem from a particularly traumatic recommending experience where, while staying overnight at my cousins, I insisted that we all watch the TGIF programming bloc — a mainstay of my Friday nights at home. For whatever reason, this particular Friday aligned with all four shows delivering episodes uncharacteristically romantic in nature. I'm sure it was as tame as a kitten fight, but it struck my young mind as profoundly inappropriate — at least in part because I was acutely aware that my aunt had already banned The Simpsons in her household, which seemed unfathomable to me. As if to intentionally make me feel more devious in my tastes, at the conclusion of the night, she remarked, "well, that's really not the kind of thing we like to watch around here." The absurdity of being made to feel TGIF was inappropriate aside, I still get incredibly nervous when someone consumes art on my recommendation. That feeling is only exacerbated in cases of serialized narratives, where the sampled episode/issue may not be indicative of what you actually like about it. That's more or less the feeling I have introducing Shelby to Red Hood and the Outlaws with issue 13.
That's not to say it's a bad issue, but it still fails to meet the quality of the first arc that set Patrick and I raving about the title in the first place. It is, however, a marked improvement over issue 12, which had me questioning whether I should even stick with this title at all. This issue has won me back over as a booster of the title, but that support comes with a qualified optimism that wasn't there before. My point is, my relationship with this title is complicated.
The issue begins with Kori and Kom descending to Tamaran to fight the Blight, which have enslaved the entire planet. They attack the Blight High Lord on the planet while Kori's first mate, DePalo, runs a kamikaze mission into the Blight mother ship. Kom is impaled, prompting Kori to pretty much destroy everything before killing the Blight High Lord with kindness. A week later, we see that Kom wasn't killed, after all, and she shares a teary goodbye with Kori, who has decided to return to Earth. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the Joker has found the Outlaw's paradise hideout, and has set to doing something to Jason's helmet.
My complaints with issue 12 mostly revolved around Timothy Green II's art, which has improved greatly here. There are still a few places where he is obviously avoiding drawing faces or choosing full-frontal shots that feel stiffly posed, but they are MUCH less prevalent than in the previous issue. I also found his faces to be much more expressive in this issue. Take this scene after the battle, where Kori is helping her still-recovering sister.
That concern not only feels real, but is way more natural than any of what we saw in issue 12. It comes much closer to holding up to Scott Lobdell's writing, but it's still clear Green is no Rockafort — especially when it comes to layouts. I'm not sure why Green was given the leeway to make every spread a two-pager, but it feels totally gratuitous. His panels rarely do anything to justify their oversized proportions, and are otherwise laid out as traditionally as any comic on the stands. Being traditional isn't inherently bad, but it's frustrating that other titles have sequences spoiled by poorly-placed ads, while this issue — which could probably hold up to interruption just fine — enjoys relative freedom from any such distractions.
I talk about the art in terms of "holding up" to Lobdell's writing because that's still the sticking point of this series. Lobdell writes some very sarcastic characters, which places a great deal of burden on the artist to make them sympathetic. He also has a very peculiar sense of humor, which leads him to strange exchanges like this one.
The strangest thing about this issue is the question of the narrator. The issue features a great deal of voiceover from Roy, but since he doesn't seem to have control over what we're seeing — and in fact, Roy isn't even present for most of the scenes in this issue — he can't really be called the narrator. What's especially strange is that we're often privy to other character's thoughts via thought balloons. That device feels by turns unnecessary and cheap for delivering exposition in a way that violates the basic tenant of "show, don't tell." Maybe it's important for us to know that Kom might sacrifice Kori to protect the universe from the thirteen, but since Lobdell hasn't even gotten to explaining what that means to us, I think he could have found a more elegant way to show it.
I know it seems like I only have horrible things to say about this issue (and I haven't even mentioned the fake-out death, which was delivered with exactly no conviction or drama), but I actually liked it quite a bit. Seeing Kori actually choose to stay with the outlaws ties her to the team in a way her flighty personality hadn't. It's interesting to me how her version of being an outcast is shaded differently from Jason's, giving a legitimate, believable reason for her to return to Earth.
So what's the verdict, Shelby? Am I terrible at recommending things? Were you able to enjoy any of those elements I just mentioned, or were the problems too distracting? What'd you think of Kom's battle gear? There's a lot I can't defend about this issue, but I think there's enough to like. I'm curious to hear what you think.
Shelby: I thought this issue was…okay. I think Green's artwork definitely leaves something to be desired, because we are all in love with Rockafort. One glaring issue I had with the art was Kom's NIP SLIP when they land on Tamaran.
I don't feel any need to talk about their huge racks or anything like that, mostly because Isabel already made a comment about it. Hell, I think the tongue-in-cheek attitude for the way Kori is depicted is a smart way around what is characteristically known as one of the worst (or best, I suppose) ladycostumes in the DCU. But come on, that is a nipple! It looks like he might have made Kom's boobs way bigger, but forgot to adjust the costume/uniform/battle pasty to compensate. I think that's a mistake so bad, it's laughable.
But don't worry, Drew, I recognize what you see in this title, as well as the fact that this issue isn't a great example of it. The tone of the series is really light-hearted; even as the team is descending to an alien planet to fight monsters they can't begin to comprehend, Roy and Jason are total smart-asses. The only character I don't really have a good feel for is Kori; she's supposed to be this creature of love, but I've only really seen her in this arc as the most badass starship commander around, so I'm having a little trouble reconciling these two images. Nevertheless, I get what this team can be; it's cheeky, irreverent, and goofy as hell, and I'm on board.
What I'm really looking forward to is seeing how Death of the Family will touch this title, how that goofy irreverence will blend with the Joker's horrifying madness. The two characters that I'm most interested in seeing interact with the Joker are Barbara Gordon and Jason Todd. Jason, especially: he lost the most from the Joker, and considering that the Joker made him into Robin in the first place, their relationship is even more snarled than ever. I'm really looking forward to the inevitable confrontation; honestly, I don't know if Roy's quips are going to be able to get the team out of this one. For a complete list of what we're reading, head on over to our Pull List page. Whenever possible, buy your comics from your local mom and pop comic bookstore. If you want to rock digital copies, head on over to DC's website and download issues there. There's no need to pirate, right?
By Drew • Posted in Alternating Current, Drew Baumgartner, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Shelby Peterson	• Tagged Arsenal, Blackfire, DePalo, Isabel, Jason Todd, Kenneth Rocafort, Kom, Kori, Red Hood, Roy Harper, Scott Lobdell, Starfire, The Blight, Timothy Green II
15 comments on "Red Hood and the Outlaws 13"
I thought Isabel's comment about "never fill[ing] out a space suit" as well as Kori was particularly goofy, given that the two characters are drawn with essentially the same body type. As long as this arc was an excuse to put Starfire in something a little less revealing (hopefully permanently), I'm glad it happened. Too bad they couldn't do the same for Kom.
Pivitor
Ignoring the way female characters are drawn/depicted seems to be the primary way comics ask us to suspend out disbelief
Starfire's always been a bit of a contradiction of a character, Shelby, being both a being of great love and compassion and someone who would kill an enemy on a moment's notice. Before the New 52, I took her as someone who wore her feelings on her sleeve and was almost a slave to her emotions and impulses; whatever Starfire was feeling she felt it STRONGLY and it affected everything she did.
With this new version of the character I think they're trying to go for a similar contradiction but Kori is a little too cold and flaky of a character to really pull it off. I LOVED the "killing him with kindness" way she took down the enemy, and I think they've been doing better with the character as the series progresses, but there's still something slightly off and I miss the Pre-Reboot version; she was one of my favorite characters.
Other general thoughts: The scene with the Dominator sacrificing himself was not only one of the highlights of the issue, but perhaps one of the highlights of the entire series. I actually felt something, and as much as I enjoy this series' amusing snark and quirky characters, this is one of the very few times it has really made me feel something (the other primary time being in Issue 3 where we saw Jason's most treasured memory of taking a sick day with Bruce)
I also agree with you guys about the art: while it's still no Rocafort (and never will be), it's a huge step up from previous issues, and this is the first time since Rocafort left that the art hasn't distracted me from the story.
um, the above comment is from me, Pivitor. Apparently my computer logged me out? lame
shelbykpeterson
Yeah, the scene with the Dominator was nice, but I was a little distracted by the thought bubbles. I agree with Drew, I don't think those are the best way to depict an inner monologue.
So was I the only one skeeved out by the way Roy talked about Kori? Normally I find the affection Roy has for her adorable or even a little endearing, but in this issue it came across as patronizing at best and sexist at worst. We get it Roy, she doesn't look like the powerhouse she is at first glance, this book has hammered us over the head with that point, you can stop now. While I feel this issue was a huge step up from recent issues in a lot of ways, this aspect felt like I was back in issue one getting hit in the face with backlash.
Why did we need Roy's narration at all, come to think of it? It would've been nice to get KORI'S POV on some of this, it being her world and story after all.
patrickjehlers
For whatever reason, it seems like Lobdell wanted to take the focus off of Jason for a little bit. Giving the story over to Kori and letting Roy narrate is a pretty effective way to sideline Red Hood, but you gotta wonder why we didn't just get Starfire VO. Especially — as Drew points out — considering that Lobdell wants the reader to be privy to Kori's thoughts. I guess it's just not as easy to write smart-ass quips in the voice of a being of pure love and violence.
Kori's POV would have been a really natural — and possibly better — choice for this issue. We've already spent a good deal of time in Roy and Jason's heads, but we haven't gotten really anything from Kori, who has remained incredibly aloof. Lobdell was writing her as forgetful and flighty, which I actually thought was an interesting choice (aside from the nymphomania, which struck me as over the top fan service), but he seems to have backed away from that take. Unfortunately, no new character traits have really replaced that, so we don't really know anything about her. This was a missed opportunity to get inside her head.
I feel your pain, Drew. As someone who reccomended "Achewood" to a friend and watched him read a dozen strips without cracking a smile, I feel your pain. As someone who sat through "Scott Pilgrim" with a girl who just didn't get it and was very vocal about that fact, I feel your pain. As someone who's been trying to sell his best friend on his favorite band for years, I feel your pain.
I love things way too much to stop myself from reccomending them, but I've learned to be a lot more selective about it. Your experience was like reliving my childhood Drew.
Oh man, I saw Scott Pilgrim with my girlfriend, who absolutely adored it.
But the same girlfriend also has a little bit of a vendetta against Firefly. She came to the show years after the rest of our friends had discovered (and loved it). Ever the contrarian, she went into the pilot looking for the cracks. And when you're looking to make Firefly seems silly, it's pretty easy to spot all the TV-isms, and even easier to write off Whedonesque dialogue as too clever by half. The point is, I've never gotten her to finish the series (with only Objects In Space left) and it remains a point of contention between us. This trivial shit ends up being important and fuck if I understand why.
It's so easy to make someone feel dumb about what they recommended if you want to. I feel like everybody receiving a recommendation has a responsibility to go in with an open mind. That said, I'm notoriously suspicious of things that are delivered via explicit recommendations. For whatever reason, "you'd love this" or "you should watch this" make me instantly skeptical, while hearing that someone loves something is totally alluring. I don't know why.
Shelby, I'm not totally sure that's a nip slip. I think there's material (which is slightly darker than Kom's skin) below those metallic blue strips on her breasts. It certainly doesn't make the costume much better, but I think her nips are at least covered.
Sorta looks like shadow to me.
Hey, how about that GL name drop? Is there any malevolent force in the outer-space corner of the DCU that isn't constantly swearing revenge against the Guardians and their Green Lantern Corps?
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Little Angels Middle School students are permitted to skip the interview process.
*1 New Student Entrance Fee: 302,400 yen (241,920 yen for students who have attended at least three (3) consecutive years in the Little Angels Elementary School).
Material Fee does not include the cost of text books & note books.
Kindly submit your application forms by the deadline for the session.
See MS admissions notification for deadlines.
The yearly tuition fee may be paid in a single installment at 1% discount, an amount of 917,500 yen.
Installment #1 in July : 417,100 yen, Installment #2 in November : 326,900 yen and the last Installment #3 in March: 188,900 yen.
Single payment of 387,000 yen is due in February, to be followed by the standard academic year payments as above (++A).
*3 Retention fee:100,000 yen (Non taxable) is required along with the first installment in August (for those joining in September) or February (for those joining in April). For those students joining the school mid term, this will be collected along with the first payment. This is a one-time payment during the stay at the Middle School. Note that this amount will be repaid, after adjustment of all dues to school, when the student graduates or, when the student is withdrawn from the school or, when the student is expelled for disciplinary reasons.


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Federation Walks 2021
*********************************************************************************************************************************
Due to current regulations and uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, the organising committee of the 2020 Federation Walks Weekend has made the decision to postpone the event to November 2021.
The decision was made after consultation with key stakeholders and made in the interest of the health and safety of participating bushwalkers, their families and the wider community.
The decision provides certainty for clubs and their members for forward planning.
The committee looks forward to delivering an inspiring Federation Walks Weekend in 2021.
WHERE - FedWalks2021 will be held in the Gippsland Foothills and Southern Alps and based at the Licola Wilderness Village. Licola is a small village on the banks of the Macalister River, approximately 250km east of Melbourne.
WHEN - The event will be rescheduled to Friday 12th to Monday 15th November 2021
VENUE & ACCOMMODATION - Accommodation and meals will be provided at the base, the Licola Wilderness Village. Accommodation is in cabins containing 3 or 4 bedrooms with bunk-style accommodation. An all-inclusive package (including meals and accommodation will be available as part of the registration process).
WHATS ON OFFER - FedWalks2021 will showcase the diversity of walks, scenery, landscapes, flora and fauna of the Gippsland Foothills and Southern Alps. Come and be inspired by Gippsland and FedWalks2021.
Walks will take you to mountain tops, waterfalls, through fields of wild flowers and spectacular bush, down sparkling rivers, to mountain huts and a jewel of a lake. The walks on offer will be from an easy stroll to challenging and include some offering supported overnight camps.
WHO - An organising committee has been established with representatives from the Ben Crauchan Walking Club, Strzelecki Bushwalking Club, West Gippsland Bushwalking Club and the South Gippsland Walking and Adventure Club.
Representatives from our land managers Parks Victoria and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning are also involved. The Macalister 4WD Club has kindly offered logistical support for a few of the walks to be offered.
REGISTRATION – TBA.


text:
Belgium(13)
Austria-Hungary(12)
Russian Empire(10)
South East Europe(10)
Serbia(8)
Albania(4)
Montenegro(4)
Lithuania(3)
Latvia(2)
East and Central Africa(1)
West Africa(1)
Yugoslavia(1)
Media(15)
Survey Article (Regional)(3)
crimes, atrocities, othercrimes, atrocitieswarfare and the military
Atrocities Kramer, Alan Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ottoman Empire, Serbia, Ukraine Violence
Belgium De Schaepdrijver, Sophie Belgium Home Front, Post-war, Power, Violence
Bereavement and Mourning Hettling, Manfred and Schölz, Tino Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, New Zealand, Ottoman Empire, Poland, Portugal, Russian Empire, USA, Union of South Africa Home Front
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War (Belgium) Spijkerman, Rose Belgium Violence
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War (Germany) Bruendel, Steffen Germany Violence
Censorship Demm, Eberhard Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russian Empire Media
Centenary (Historiography) Dülffer, Jost Africa, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Ottoman Empire, Poland, USA Post-war
Colonial Policy, Colonial Conflicts and War before 1914 Kreienbaum, Jonas East and Central Africa, Union of South Africa, West Africa Pre-war, Violence
France Beaupré, Nicolas France Home Front, Power, Pre-war, Violence
Historiography 1918-Today (Belgium) Wouters, Nico Belgium Post-war
Making Sense of the War Fox, Jo Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain Media
Making Sense of the War (France) Courmont, Juliette France Media
Making Sense of the War (Great Britain and Ireland) Pennell, Catriona Great Britain, Ireland Media
Making Sense of the War (Ottoman Empire/Middle East) Minasidis, Charalampos Ottoman Empire Media
Media Discourse after the War Keil, André Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland Media
Minorities (Ottoman Empire/Middle East) Kieser, Hans-Lukas Ottoman Empire Home Front, Pre-war, Violence
Occupation during and after the War (Austria-Hungary) Dornik, Wolfram Albania, Austria, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine Post-war, Power
Occupation during and after the War (South East Europe) Ristović, Milan Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia Post-war, Power
Occupation during the War Corni, Gustavo Albania, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia Power
Occupation during the War (Belgium and France) Wegner, Larissa Belgium, France Power
Othering/Atrocity Propaganda Bruendel, Steffen Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russian Empire, USA Media
Post-war Turmoil and Violence (Yugoslavia) Bozanich, Stevan Yugoslavia Post-war
Press/Journalism (India) Jarboe, Andrew Tait India Media
Press/Journalism (USA) Miller, Alisa USA Media
Prisoners of War Jones, Heather Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire, Serbia Violence
Propaganda at Home (Australia) Robertson, Emily Australia Media
Propaganda at Home (Belgium) Rochet, Bénédicte Belgium Media
Propaganda at Home (Great Britain and Ireland) Monger, David Great Britain, Ireland Media
Propaganda at Home (Russian Empire) Medyakov, Alexander Russian Empire Media
Propaganda in the Colonies (Africa) Orosz, Kenneth J. Africa Media
Refugees Gatrell, Peter Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Ottoman Empire, Poland, Russian Empire, Serbia, The Netherlands Violence
Science and Technology (Belgium) Bertrams, Kenneth Belgium Home Front
Serbia Bjelajac, Mile Serbia Home Front, Post-war, Power, Pre-war, Violence
Staging War. Theatre 1914-1918 Krivanec, Eva Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain Home Front, Media
The Internment of Russophiles in Austria-Hungary Choliy, Serhiy Austria-Hungary Violence
Warfare 1914-1918 (South East Europe) Tasić, Dmitar Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia Violence
War Losses (Russian Empire) Sumpf, Alexandre Russian Empire Violence
Wartime Emotions: Honour, Shame, and the Ecstasy of Sacrifice Frevert, Ute Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russian Empire Home Front
Xenophobia Brodie, Thomas Austria-Hungary, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Ottoman Empire, Poland, USA Power
Egypt(1)
Organizations(1)
Baku, Battle of Murgul, Yalçın Azerbaijan Violence
Bissing, Moritz Ferdinand Freiherr von Roolf, Christoph and Gertzen, Thomas L. Belgium, Germany Power, Violence
Charleroi, Battle of Le Gall, Erwan Belgium Violence
Chetniks Tasić, Dmitar Serbia Home Front, Violence
Killigil, Nuri Yenen, Alp Ottoman Empire Violence
Noske, Gustav Aulke, Julian Germany Post-war, Power, Violence
Raemaekers, Louis Ranitz, Ariane de The Netherlands Media
Stereotypes Ther, Vanessa France, Germany, Great Britain, Russian Empire, USA Power, Violence
Wilsonian Moment Manela, Erez China, Egypt, India, Korea Post-war


This week, Chris Cursio, manager of point-of-care testing (POCT) was 'infected' by the LMP Q&A BUG and the nomination came from fellow dog lover, (***hint: more 'dog' drawings to come) Jaimelyn Rara. Check out Jamielyn's photo Q&A, HERE.
As manager of point-of-care testing, Chris oversees the process where lab testing is taken to the bedside and delivered by non-lab staff across UHN. Chris and her Team oversee initial operator training where UHN staff learn how to perform a test, as well as QC testing, ongoing operator training and proficiency training for each POCT program. Chris also works on overseeing quality assurance for point-of-care testing for many of our partner sites. Testing at the bedside has huge advantages for the speed of which results can be delivered for patient care and there are about 360,000 point-of-care tests administered annually throughout UHN. In addition to these responsibilities, Chris is also the site lab lead at Toronto Western Hospital, and the clinical coordinator of the MLT/MLA student training program.
Learn more on the personal side of Chris Cursio by checking out her photo Q&A below. Make sure to read to the end to find out who's next to be 'infected' by the LMP Q&A BUG. It could be you!
What was your first job/ worst job?
Favourite movie you've seen this year?
If you could bring one thing to a deserted island, what would it be?
We may have a new 'best' for worst dog drawing… But check out toms dog, HERE, and decide for yourself.
Have a common interest with Chris? – Share it in the comments section!
That you saw River at TIFF too and loved it!


Today sees the launch of what is reported to be the world'sfirst stalking treatment centre in London - and it's longoverdue.
Stalking is one of those crimes that seem to be viewed with adegree of levity. People make jokes about it; not malicious perse, just off-the-cuff comments, such as bumping into the sameperson in the office kitchen several times and saying "are you mystalker?", that sort of thing.
But to victims, it is all too serious. Stalking is recognised asa component in more than three quarters of cases involving peoplemurdered by ex-partners, according to a 1999 study by McFarlaneet al. Overall, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men will be thevictims of stalking at some point in their lifetime, according tothe British Crime Survey.
Stalking doesn't always seem to have been treated with theseriousness it deserves in mental health services either. Whilethere is provision for the victims, who can suffer terribly, it canbe patchy.
But treatment for stalkers themselves is scarcer; like otherkinds of offenders, can repeat their offences and without treatmentmany return to stalking either the same, or a different, victim.
Treatment and rehabilitation can be effective, according tovarious expert reports, so the launch of the National StalkingClinic (NSC), to be run by Barnet Enfield and Haringey MentalHealth NHS Trust, which has extensive experience of working withstalkers, is a great step forward on several counts.
Firstly, it means that recognised stalkers can get access tospecialist assessment and treatment.
This could help cut down on future incidents of stalking, whichis good news for everyone.
And, if crimes are averted, it cuts down on the psychologicalharm done to victims, who can suffer depression, anxiety orpost-traumatic stress disorder. This would also cut down on costsfor mental health teams - something that always has to beconsidered in these austere times.
If this clinic is a success, then hopefully the model will bereplicated in other trusts around the country, and some of thethousands of stalking incidents that occur each year can beprevented.


There are so many Hospitality Job jobs available on the planet that you simply might not really know where exactly to start out your seek for the appropriate profession path. Every of them calls for a certain type of personality that can concentrate on glorious customer service and a hard work ethic. In most cases you will be required to place the hard work in from entry level over many years earlier than gaining that prime level job. It may be extraordinarily rewarding. What are the perfect personal traits you require and is training essential?
When mentioning hospitality jobs the majority of individuals will immediately think of a career within the food trade, either as a waiter/waitress or behind the scenes within the kitchen as a porter, assistant and finally a head chef. In fact you can also work within hotels, on reception, as a concierge, as a part of the day to day running of a hotel operation with regards to cleaning, kitchens, booking and reservation arrangements and overall planning of an operation. This can expand to working across the world as airline hosts or working on cruise ships. This more unique end of the spectrum is the place many individuals aspire to be.
Whatever hospitality jobs you've gotten been looking into as a profession option all of it comes right down to your personality type and the will to assist individuals in any given situation. When you can provide steerage, quick and precise and all the time with a smile in your face then a profession in this business is for you, irrespective of which aspect you need to use for your job, front of house or behind the scenes. You have to have the stamina for lengthy working hours and the endurance to cope with any request, whether or not you agree with it or not. It has long been stamped into our collective minds that the client is at all times proper and when you're working within this business be prepared to test that concept to the limit.
Have endurance and respond to any request or criticism with a smile and an settle forable answer or resolution and you'll have gone an extended strategy to cementing this career. Relying on what line of work you are interested in you can tailor your training plans and goals. There are many hospitality jobs that require little schooling for you to start work immediately. These may give loads of people the chance to get in with an organization at an entry stage and work their way up within an organization. If you're heading more towards a administration role, you possibly can balance work expertise on the ground level of an trade whilst learning business and management courses to provide your self the right foundations for a career within the industry.


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Poroshenko sworn in, but can he steer Ukraine away from abyss?
AP Video Still © AP
Billionaire Petro Poroshenko has been sworn in as Ukraine's new president at a ceremony in Kiev. He won the emergency election in the first round on a promise of change as the country faces a massive political and economic crisis.
Follow RT's Live Updates on Kiev's military operation in E. Ukraine
Poroshenko gave his presidential oath on Saturday at an event attended by delegations from 56 countries. The US, the key supporter of the opposition forces, which ousted Poroshenko's predecessor Viktor Yanukovich in the February armed coup and made way for his presidency, was represented by Vice President Joe Biden.
A wealthy businessman with assets in the chocolate industry, media and shipbuilding, Poroshenko is no stranger to government. He served in the Cabinets of presidents Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovich, chairing Ukraine's central bank and serving as its foreign minister and trade minister at different times.
Following the inauguration the new Ukrainian president proceeded to deliver his inaugural address in front of members of the Ukrainian parliament. He faces several tough challenges, including a slide towards civil war, economic slowdown, debt crisis and a potential continuation of public rioting in Kiev.
The president's immediate plan is to hold early parliamentary election in the country as well as in the regions currently engulfed by violence. He offered amnesty to Ukrainians not guilty of committing serious crimes and a free way out of Ukraine to Russia for armed militias, whom Poroshenko described as "Russian militants."
Turning point. RT @radiosvoboda: choir singing national anthem at Poroshenko inauguration in Kyiv pic.twitter.com/AmHltxubZo#Ukraine
— Chrystyna Lapychak (@chryslap) June 7, 2014
Poroshenko also said he wants a new international treaty that would ensure that Ukraine is defended militarily by foreign nations if its territorial integrity is threatened, although he didn't say which countries were willing to offer such protection. He also said Ukraine must pursue visa-free travel with the European Union, although it is not yet clear whether Brussels is willing to grant it. Poroshenko also promised to fulfil pledges he made during his election campaign.
Poroshenko campaigned on a platform of change, promising to free the country from corruption and domination of the oligarchs. Yet some of Ukraine's rich are now governing its provinces and even have personal armies. With all the public support he managed to rally, he may find it difficult to rein in officials and business elites, especially with his presidential authority diminished by a constitutional reform and the parliament dominated by the party of his bitter rival, Yulia Tymoshenko.
The gap between the new Ukrainian president's wishes and the reality on the ground was underscored hours after the inauguration. Sergey Taruta, the Kiev-appointed governor of the Donetsk region and one of the country's oligarchs now holding public office, said that Poroshenko's plans to visit the region as soon as possible, reiterated in his speech, would have to wait.
"I don't know when Poroshenko would visit Donbass. Certainly not next week or the week after next. For Poroshenko to come, his security must be guaranteed. So far doing it is difficult," he told Ukrainian news agency OstroV.
Poroshenko switches to Russian in the inauguration speech, addressing Donbass residents. Promises to protect rights of Russian-speakers.
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) June 7, 2014
There is also doubt over whether the president intends to deliver on his election campaign promises. He pledged to sell his business assets to assure personal integrity, but he refused to sell his TV channel, which was one of the most vocal critics of the Yanukovich government, and has bought a new factory since making his promise.
The first test of his presidential independence and determination is likely to be dealing with the country's unruly eastern provinces, which boycotted the election and are defending themselves against Kiev's military crackdown. So far Poroshenko has demonstrated little intention to replace air strikes and artillery barrages in Donetsk and Lugansk regions with peace envoys and negotiators.
Stopping the bloodshed is the main demand from Russia, which may choose to stop delivering gas to Ukraine without pre-payment, as Kiev has been behind in paying its bills for months. Moscow agreed to postpone the shutdown until Monday after Ukraine covered a portion of its debt, but it leaves Poroshenko with a deadline looming just days ahead.
Poroshenko pledged to sign the economic part of the EU Association Agreement. Yanukovich's refusal to do so was the trigger of the public protest that ousted him. But the painful reforms and losses from severing economic ties with Russia, which were the reason for Yanukovich's move, are still there, and Poroshenko's chances of softening the blow are even slimmer now, with recession kicking in and credit lines from the IMF, the US and the EU far from assured.
Trends:Ukraine turmoil
Parents in Ukraine's Donetsk rally, demand security for their kids (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
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Putin hails Poroshenko's 'positive thinking' on settling crisis after D-Day meeting


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Tag Archives: inheritance
Wives and Daughters: Elizabeth Gaskell (1864)
Elizabeth Gaskell's unfinished novel, Wives and Daughters, examines the roles of women in society, the complex nature of parenting and exactly why highly moral people should avoid superficial spouses (relations and friends). Yet why does it seem that superficial shallow people always seem to latch on, limpet-like, to those who have scrupulous morality?
Young Molly Gibson is the only daughter of the widower Dr. Gibson. She's on a visit to Cumnor Towers, the home of Lord and Lady Cumnor for the once-a-year festival for the peasants to oohh and ahhh while the nobility condescend to share space. Molly is stranded and taken to rest in a bedroom. She's left to the care of Mrs. Clare Kirkpatrick, a former governess who married and left the family's employment. But things didn't go well for Mrs. Kirkpatrick. Her husband died, and left with a small child, Mrs. Kirkpatrick now runs a school and lives for chance invitations to the grand house of her former employer. Her child, Cynthia, is somewhat in the way, and so she's shipped off to school in France. While Lord and Lady Cumnor give Mrs. Kirkpatrick the occasional charity invitation, she also has her uses, and so she's put in charge of Molly. This early scene gives us a glimpse of Mrs. Kirkpatrick when she gobbles up the supper sent for Molly and then promptly forgets that the ill little girl is left in her charge. Little did Molly know that Mrs. Kirkpatrick was shortly to become her stepmother. …
This wonderful novel follows the life of Molly Gibson. She's the only child of the hard-working Dr. Gibson who decides to remarry in order to provide Molly with a mother. Of course there's a secondary issue of Dr. Gibson's servants being completely out-of-control, and so a new wife will come in handy when it comes to running the household. Clare is a 'type' and if Dr. Gibson had taken more time to consider the matter, he would have run for the hills, but Clare knows how to charm men:
Her voice was so soft, her accent so pleasant, that it struck him as particularly agreeable after the broad country accents he was perpetually hearing. Then the harmonious colours of her dress, and her slow and graceful movements, had something of the same soothing effect on his nerves that a cat's purring has upon some people's.
Once Dr. Gibson's proposal is made, Clare, who now reverts to the name Hyacinth, begins to show her true colours. Not that she is a bad woman. No, she's vain, superficial, foolish, snobbish, selfish. Given that Clare/Hyacinth is treated so insensitively by Lady Cumnor, perhaps we could have some sympathy for the poor former governess, but Clare is always banging on about how sensitive she is–which is just an excuse for her behaviour and her perpetual demands for attention. She's about as as sensitive as a concrete wall. The nail in the coffin of Clare's character: marriage to Gibson has rescued Clare from all of her financial worries, but once she becomes Mrs. Gibson she starts acting as though she's gone down in the world.
The Gibson household, having made the shift to the new mistress (several old servants depart) then adjusts to the arrival of the beautiful Cynthia, Clare's daughter. While Molly is the heroine, and a great one at that, Cynthia is far more fascinating. And all the young men who visit the house seem to think so too. Two brothers come to visit, Osborne, the eldest and Roger Hamley, the sons of Squire Hamley. Molly has a deep rooted relationship with the family and was much loved by the Squire's late wife. Osborne is the favourite son, or he was the favourite, and now he's a disappointment to his father.
Wives and Daughters has a more gossipy feel than Trollope. The author recreates the world of Hollingford–a small town where everyone knows all the comings and goings of their neighbours and scandal provides great entertainment. While villagers gossip amongst themselves, the Miss Brownings act as a bridge between the villagers and the Doctor's house when it comes to the plot twists regarding the land agent Mr. Preston and Cynthia.
Both Dr. Gibson and Molly keep confidences, and the fallout of these confidences highlights these characters' moral integrity. Contrast this to the behaviour of the new Mrs. Gibson, who uses information gathered during eavesdropping to further Cynthia's future. With a mother like Clare, it's easy to see how and why Cynthia suffered and fell into trouble. While Molly is an open book, if one cares to pry open the pages, Cynthia is entirely different. She's matured early and without a responsible parent. Both the Doctor and Molly cannot understand Cynthia, and the Doctor, who had a relatively peaceful life before he remarried, finds out the hard way that his wife is a disappointment. Cynthia, however, is a mystery:
She is a girl who will always have some love-affair on hand, and will always be apt to slip through a man's fingers if he does not look sharp.
Molly is a gem, and yet we have probably all had experiences of seeing the quiet 'gem' overlooked by the more glittery, worthless types who have incredible plasticity when it comes to beguiling men. Like her father, Molly has never had the experience of dealing with someone as complex as Cynthia, and Molly is far more troubled by Cynthia's problems than Cynthia is. Cynthia's "real self was shrouded in mystery," and while Molly befriends Cynthia and truly loves her, the friendship can only go so far before Molly finds that she faces "a dead wall beyond which she could not pass." Cynthia acknowledges that she lacks "the gift for loving" (probably inherited) and that becomes painfully true when Molly sees the man she loves fall under Cynthia's spell.
Cynthia was one of those natural coquettes, who instinctively bring out all their prettiest airs and graces in order to stand well with any man, young or old, who may happen to be present.
This was a fantastic read. There were times Molly was too angelic, and I sometimes wondered why Dr Gibson didn't strangle his wife. No wonder he starts enjoying his time away from home. As the story unfolds, Mrs. Gibson moves from annoying to dreadful, and her petulance regarding her husband's need to treat dying patients shows her true nature and her "superficial and flimsy character."
But if this Mr Smith is dying, as you say, what's the use of your father's going off to him in such a hurry? Does he expect a legacy, or anything of that kind?'
The woman just doesn't get any notions of moral responsibility. She doesn't act badly from malice, but simply from petulance, selfishness, immaturity and a wildly overblown sense of her own moral standing. Everyone exists to make her life easier–to please her. The sharp delineations of society are very well drawn through the characters' interactions, and several incidents illustrate how the upper classes feel as though they have 'the right' to arrange the lives of the lower classes. But Gaskell also shows us what the lower classes expect from the toffs and in one scene depicts the townspeople as terribly disappointed when the nobility don't wear any jewels to the local ball. They were cheated of an expected display.
It was one of those still and lovely autumn days when the red and yellow leaves are hanging -pegs to dewy, brilliant gossamer-webs; when the hedges are full of trailing brambles, loaded with ripe blackberries; when the air is full of the farewell whistles and pipes of birds, clear and short– not the long full-throated warbles of spring; when the whirr of the partridge's wings is heard in the stubble-fields, as the sharp hoof-blows fall on the paved lanes; when here and there a leaf floats and flutters down to the ground, although there is not a single breath of wind.
Filed under Fiction, Gaskell, Elizabeth
Tagged as 19th century British literature, inheritance, miserable marriages, stepmother, stepsisters
Good Women: Jane Stevenson (Part 3)
"I have spent an entire lifetime unobtrusively making things easier for people and, over the years, I have developed a certain talent for it."
What exactly is a 'good woman?' That's the question I came away with after finishing Jane Stevenson's Good Women. In this collection of 3 novellas, we see three very different women: In Light My Fire, Freda is great in bed but really… what was married architect David Laurence thinking when he tossed aside a perfectly decent wife and two children for Freda–a woman, who, let's face it, screams trouble?
In Walking With Angels, middle-aged Wenda, saddled with a boring life and an even more boring husband turns to her constant companions: the angels. This isn't necessarily a bad thing when all she does is chat to them, but when she decides to start a business healing people, her husband attempts to intervene.
On the surface Wenda could be described as a 'good woman,' but that tag doesn't fit by the time her story is finished.
So onto Garden Guerillas. .. Following the death of her husband Geoff, Alice still remains in their large 3 storey Georgian home in Kew Greens. Alice fell in love with the house forty years earlier. The house was in disrepair, and while Geoff didn't want to buy it, Alice could not be dissuaded. They scrimped and scraped and it was some years before they could finally tackle repairs. Alice loves the house, but it's the garden that's her greatest treasure.
After Geoff's death, Alice's son, his wife and children, who also live in London, begin visiting a bit more. How sweet, right? No. The daughter-in law has her eyes on Alice's house, and Alice catches her divvying up the bedrooms. After all, according to the d in law, the house is just 'too much' for Alice these days.
What ensues is an ugly episode all based on money. I sided with Alice and she behaved far better than I would have. Alice has to swallow some ugly facts: her son is weak, she's seen as 'in the way,' and she will lose her magnificent garden.
While Alice's son and d in law plot to get the house and shove Alice off to a flat, that's not the last of the insults. Possibly the very worst thing you can say to a gardener is that the beautiful garden they slaved over takes care of itself. Well Alice has her revenge.
Of the three novellas, Garden Guerillas was my favourite. It's a story of moving on but also not letting yourself be steamrolled by those who 'love you' so much…
And the descriptions of the garden. Surely Jane Stevenson must be a gardener?
It was the endless dance through time which drew me out into the garden every day; the constant recomposition of the picture as one element receded and another came forward. It was beautiful every single week, even in winter, but it was never beautiful in exactly the same way, I couldn't paint worth a damn, as I discovered in my far-distant youth, but in that garden I had become an artist. Kew had taken me and taught me.
So what's a good woman? There's a commonality in all of these stories; despite the diverse settings and circumstances, these women triumph and survive. The ever-changing garden is a metaphor for life: one door closes and another opens in a "constant recomposition" way.
I had had plenty of practice in being taken for granted, but I drew the line at being eradicated.
Thanks again to The Gerts.
Filed under Fiction, Stevenson Jane
Tagged as British fiction, inheritance, miserable marriages, novellas
Malicroix: Henri Bosco (1948)
Henri Bosco's moody novel Malicroix, set in the nineteenth century, drops the reader right into the plot when the narrator, a 25-year-old man receives a letter informing him that he has been "left an inheritance: some marshland, a few livestock, a tumbled down house. " So a modest legacy, but, Mégremut an orphan raised by his father's relatives, is intrigued. The property was owned by his reclusive uncle, Cornélius de Malicroix, the Marquis de Malicroix. The young man's father's relatives, the "gentle and patient Mégremuts," don't want him to go, but he is drawn to the situation, partly by curiosity and partly by some aspect of his nature.
I felt myself to be a Mégremut when I was among them, for their gentleness is quite infectious. But, left to myself, I rebecame a Malicroix, with a sort of secret drunkenness and a strange fear. For this Malicroix, unknown to all, hidden within the blackest part of myself, seemed more alive than all the Mégremuts who inhabited me with ease.
Cornélius de Malicroix's notaire, a man called Maître Dromiols sends an "itinerary" and so Mégremut sets off to meet a coach at an "old signpost at the intersection of two poor tracks." The scene reminded of Great Expectations when Pip meets the convict, Abel Magwitch. Not that the scenes are the same, but nonetheless, the bleakness and the loneliness of the landscape form a visual and emotional connection between the two books.
By this point, the novel gains Gothic dimensions which continue as Mégremut travels to an island. There on the island, he takes up residence in his late uncle's home, a house in which "everything was so clearly reduced to the soberest utility." The house comes equipped with a laconic servant named Balandran and a large Briard, Bréquillet. Eventually Maître Dromiols, an unpleasant man, arrives accompanied by his strange, much abused servant, Uncle Rat. Dromiols then reads the terms of the will: Mégremut must stay in the house for three months. If this term is completed, then he will be given a letter with instructions for a "mission." It's all very mysterious and all very cryptic.
It's daunting to imagine living in this bleak area for three months, and initially Mégremut has no intention of doing so, but he gets the feeling that Dromiols wants him to fail. Mégremut, curious to discover why his uncle chose to live his life in this bleak place, decides to remain and discover the mystery at the heart of this Gothic novel of revenge and long standing blood feuds.
The novel, a slow, dense, rich read focuses on nature. There are some gorgeous descriptions here. The island is not a particularly habitable place–and that's at the best of times. At worst, the island seems forbidding, dangerous and hostile. Nature is powerful, angry and violent. Which poses more danger for Mégremut? Nature or Man?
In the Camargue, the wind is drunk. It stamps, swirls, loses its head. Nothing can withstand its ravages. A bare land, pale water, and, on the horizon, the white-capped sea, bristling as it arrives from the distance. Everything succumbs to the law of the wind: water, plants, man, beasts.
Translated by Joyce Zonana
Filed under Fiction
Tagged as Blood feud, French fiction, inheritance, Nature, New York Review Books
The Dutch House: Ann Patchett
"I could feel the entire house sitting on top of me like a shell I would have to drag around for the rest of my life."
A story of inheritance, failed responsibility and restitution, The Dutch House from Ann Patchett is told by Danny Conroy. Danny, now a middle aged man narrates the retrospective tale which begins in Danny's childhood. Danny and his sister Maeve are the children of real estate tycoon, Cyril Conroy who, following WWII, begins to accumulate real estate in Pennsylvania. The jewel in his crown is 'the Dutch House' of the title, a mansion built by the ill-fated VanHoebeek family, whose possessions (what's left) remain in the house. The fact that inside this incredible house, all these accumulated objects, some worth a considerable amount of money, are forgotten and gathering dust, is significant. The VanHoebeeks were wealthy before the depression, but the disintegration of the family made all else immaterial.
Cyril's wife, Brooklyn born Elna Conroy, who had at one point been a novice, was uncomfortable with immense wealth and the surprise 'gift' of the vast VanHoebeek house. She finds the 3 storey mansion with its walnut bas-relief walls and her new life suffocating, so she abandons her 2 children departing the scene for India. Shortly thereafter, Maeve becomes diabetic.
My father sighed, sank his hands down into his pockets and raised his eyes to assess the position of the clouds, then he told me she was crazy. That was both the long and the short of it.
"Crazy how?"
"Crazy like taking off her coat and handing it to someone on the street who never asked her for a coat in the first place. Crazy like taking off your coat and giving it away too."
Within a few years, Cyril marries again, an avaricious woman named Andrea who has two young daughters. Andrea, the complete opposite of Cyril's first wife, holds herself in check, barely, but when Cyril dies unexpectedly, she loses no time in evicting 15-year-old Danny–Maeve has long since been made to feel unwelcome. Maeve and Danny, in a matter of days, find themselves cast out of the house and cut off from what they assumed would be their inheritance. There is, however, an education trust fund set up for Danny and also for Andrea's two daughters. Maeve, loathing Andrea and feeling the injustice of her stepmother's actions, pushes Danny into medical school in order to drain as much of the trust as possible.
The novel covers five decades, and most of the novel is defined by Danny's close relationship with Maeve. They connect through their shared past and also through the home they lost. Maeve is a mother figure, sacrificing herself for Danny in contrast to their mother who ran away, ditching her responsibilities in order to care for strangers.
To say too much more about the plot would be to ruin it for others. This is a strongly narrative novel told by Danny, and we only see glimpses of his wife Celeste who takes second place to Maeve. Through Danny's tale, the novel explores failed relationships and failed responsibilities. Maeve's drive to score against Andrea leads Danny to a life he didn't choose for himself, and yet he still manages to pull himself into a direction in which he's comfortable. Both Danny and Maeve suffered from their parents' failed responsibilities. Their mother physically abandoned them, and while their father remained, he emotionally abandoned his children. It's interesting then to see Danny's relationship with Celeste. He's absent in more ways than one. There's one scene when Celeste sees that Danny has improved Maeve's kitchen, and Celeste quietly notes that she had wanted exactly the same thing for years. The narration is well-paced and interesting, and I wanted to know what happened to Danny and Maeve. Elan's early departure stranded the two children for almost their entire adult lives and while they developed into successful people (Maeve was underemployed) the damage was done. Lots of children have it way tougher than Danny and Maeve, but these siblings lost a great deal of money. Ultimately the money lost was secondary to the need for loving parents.
But we overlay the present onto the past. We look back through the lens of what we know now, so we're not seeing it as the people we were, we're seeing it as the people we are, and that means the past has been radically altered.
The novel takes a rather idealised view of human nature (with Andrea sucking up the book's negative view of humanity). People who've been shafted usually seem to scar and yet here healing takes place in a redemptive way. Should we let toxic people back into our lives? Should we forgive? Is forgiveness for the transgressor or for us? That said, there's one character I won't name (but you can guess it if you've read the book) who needs a good wallop over the head. Does she not see the irony of her behavior? Perhaps, arguably, it's 'penance' as she says but poor Maeve pays for it as she pays for almost all the bad things that take place in the novel. Telescopic Philanthropy so well described by Dickens.
Review copy.
Filed under Fiction, Patchett Ann
Tagged as american fiction, inheritance, mothers who suck, Pennsylvania, siblings, telescopic philanthropy, wicked stepmother
The Belting Inheritance: Julian Symons (1964)
In The Belting Inheritance from Julian Symons, a long-lost son, thought killed in WWII returns years later to the family mansion to claim his estate. But is he an imposter?
The book's plot is not original, but it's the way this story is told which makes The Belting Inheritance so entertaining. The narrator is Christopher, who is orphaned at age twelve and subsequently taken in by his mother's aunt, the autocratic Lady Wainwright. Lady Wainwright had four sons: Hugh, David, Stephen and Miles. The two eldest boys, Hugh and David were killed in the war, but the younger two–although well into middle-age, still live with their mother. The house is vast, gloomy, and it's ruled completely by Lady Wainwright. She dominates her sons and brooks no one else's opinions on any matters.
The story, which is told in retrospect, has a Victorian feel to it, and this is partially due to the Victorian matriarch who supports unemployed sons (of nobility) who can lounge and enjoy lives of leisure. The plot itself, a lost heir who arrives to claim his fortune seems Victorian. Author Julian Symons wisely notes this fact several times in the novel, and even makes a comment about "what Wilkie Collins calls detective fever." The massive house, Belting, which is marvelously described, seems an edifice from a long-past era, but then Lady Wainwright runs her establishment with old fashioned rules:
But the thing I hated the most was the prevailing gloom. The house was dark, Lady W was mean in small matters, and at the same time in the past she had been told that daytime lamps were better for the eyes than ordinary yellow electric light. The hall and all the corridors, both upstairs and down, were bathed in a funerael blue glow.
Uncle Stephen, a rather petty-minded nasty character lives at Belting with his tweed-sporting, dog-breeder wife Clarissa who bemoans "the impossibility of getting a decent kennel maid." Since Lady Wainwright's sons only escaped her in death, Uncle Miles also lives at the house. Lady Wainwright becomes terminally ill and lo and behold a man shows up claiming to be the long-lost David. He has a plausible sounding story and knows facts about Belting and its inhabitants that only a family intimate could possibly know. Stephen and Miles are hostile to David's claim as they stand to lose a great deal of money, and Clarissa goes as far as to threaten to set her dogs on the man who claims to be David. But Christopher, at first, believes that David is not an imposter.
Family politics are often messy and the plot makes good use of the idea that Christopher may be a Wainwright but he's still an outsider. When a murder occurs, Christopher becomes more curious about the man who claims to be David, so he begins an investigation of his own which alters his rather protected, privileged world: he discovers that the Wainwrights are not universally liked.
While the story gets to the root of the claimant's authenticity it's also a story of a controlling mother who hobbles and isolates her sons by encouraging their artistic pretensions which are supported by remaining at Belting. As the plot develops, Christopher becomes his own person, gains objectivity about his family, and has a romantic adventure. The Belting Inheritance is very entertaining and for crime fans, it's well-worth reading. It's marvelous in its characterizations of a fading, privileged family who cling to tradition, brook no criticism, are close knit, but loathe each other:
There was something about the passion with which Stephen tore a bread roll into pieces, the savage loving care with which he dissected a piece of fish, that remains with me still.
Tagged as British Library Crime Classics, inheritance, mothers and sons, Poisoned Pen Press
Family Trust: Kathy Wang
At 74 Stanley Huang is active, dapper and a picture of good health. Back in San Jose from his latest all-inclusive Mediterranean cruise, Stanley is very proud that he has actually lost weight in spite of loading himself with unlimited desserts. But then Stanley begins to have a nagging doubt about weight loss after "twelve days of gastronomic Bacchanalia over international waters. " A trip to the doctor eventually leads to a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
Stanley's illness is the starting point for this story which explores fractured family dynamics in the face of a terminal diagnosis. Stanley has a much younger second wife, Mary Zhu (ex-waitress/massage therapist ) a still pissed-off first wife, Linda and children Fred and Kate. A huge question looms over the family. Does Stanley have any money and who will inherit it?
Stanley's ex-wife, Linda isn't particularly concerned about Stanley's diagnosis. She's "annoyed" by the "revisionist history her children had indulged in ever since Stanley's diagnosis." She's far more concerned with the financial aspect of things. To Linda, Stanley never came through with his promises, and was "lazy and incompetent," plus terminally unfaithful while she slaved to earn the money for the family.
Even thirtysomething years later, when she'd finally located her courage, had gone and left him, told him that they were going to divorce, leaving him openmouthed and speechless, helplessly steaming in his armchair-even then, he'd managed to come out ahead. Stanley had recovered quickly enough from his brief period of depression, sighing up for a series of elite gym memberships a month after he'd moved out, rebounding shortly after with a sequence of increasingly younger girlfriends. A series of events he'd then capped off by getting remarried with undignified speed. A marriage he couldn't help but publicize by braying to everyone how happy he was, making it appear as if he was the one who'd left her. Because she was still alone, of course.
Unbeknownst to her children, Linda was the real breadwinner of the family and gave Stanley a generous divorce settlement when his philandering became too much for her to tolerate. Stanley's assurances of a large inheritance and a family trust do nothing to assuage Linda's concerns that her feckless ex will prove true to his character—even in his last months. Plus then there's the second wife who, in spite of her enthusiastic efforts to find miracle cures for her much-older husband, seems almost delighted to hasten him into the grave. Will she get the money or will Stanley leave it all to his children as promised? Here's Linda taking charge at a dreaded family meeting:
She clicked the pen impatiently. "I want to write the numbers down, so that there's no confusion. It should be very simple. First you determine your net worth. Then you define a token–that means small, Stanley–amount you give to Mary. Everything else goes to the children."
"I have to take care of Mary," Stanley said. "I am everything to her."
Both of Stanley's children have considerable problems of their own. Harvard Business School graduate Fred has never made good on his early promise. Former classmates have soared into the company of the 1% but Fred, divorced by his dissatisfied wife, lingers in his profession's "swampy bottom." He's dating Saks saleswoman, Hungarian immigrant Erika. Part of his attraction to Erika is her avarice, but it's naive avarice. In other words, given his job title and income (over 300K a year) he can snow Erika into thinking he's far more affluent than he really is.
Stanley's daughter Kate is struggling with some serious personal problems. She is the sole breadwinner while her husband, Denny, hides out with "the majority of his daylight hours unaccounted for, lazing about in a cozily furnished attic" supposedly gathering investors for his start-up which has yet to materialize.
Linda, Stanley's ex, has always been the sensible one when it comes to money, and yet, she begins to plunge into the murky waters of internet dating after a conversation with 'friend' Shirley, a woman Linda dislikes:
She'd undertaken a through redecoration of both herself and her house after her husband, Alfred, had passed, and each now reflected the Versailles-lite sensibilities of a provincial government official.
This is a tale of Chinese Americans whose lives are driven by status markers. Given the subject matter, death in the face of a terminal diagnosis, it's bold indeed for this first time author to take a spiky humorous approach. We follow Linda, Fred and Kate's lives as Stanley's diagnosis becomes all too real. He grows frailer and frailer while the question of money grows stronger. And as we all know, people are at their worst when money enters the picture.
The back stories of each character were overly detailed and I wanted the story to propel forwards–not backwards, but the moments between the family members were perfect. Here's Mary Zhu, elevated to nurse status:
"Last week they brought in a special tree bark I ordered; it had to be sent from Hong Kong. I've been brewing it into a tea for Stanley. It's supposed to be very powerful against cancer. For many people, it is a near-instant cure." She prattled on, detailing all the various acupuncturist, healers, and meditation gurus whose skills were being summoned. Next to her, Stanley preened, lapping it up.
Linda decided she'd had enough. "Please inform your wife that I am a full supporter of Western medicine," she said to Stanley in English. To her left she heard Kate sigh. But she didn't care. Lunch was over.
The novel has a lot of energy, and the author clearly has a complex story to tell. I am fascinated by inheritance plots, and if you are too, then you will enjoy this novel that takes a irreverent, humorous look at the question of assets that may or may exist and may or may not be passed to the next generation My attraction to inheritance stories may be a Balzac thing, and/or it may be the fact that I have seen many inheritance scenarios go horribly wrong.
Filed under Fiction, Wang Kathy
Tagged as family politics, inheritance
Cousin Pons: Balzac
Continued from Part 1..
When Pons suffers the ultimate humiliation at the home of his relations, the de Marvilles, he decides to take his evening meals with his best friend, the naive German musician Schmucke. Schmucke and Pons work at the same theatre and lodge at the same building. Schmucke, who doesn't care much about food, doesn't understand Pons's "gastric nostalgia," and he treasures his friendship with Pons above all else. Events occur which further blacken Pons's welcome at the de Marvilles' home, and Pons subsequently becomes ill. With Pons incapacitated in bed, and very possibly dying, the concierge Madame Cibot takes command of Schmucke & Pons–her two "nutcrackers." She and her tailor husband don't own the building but instead they run it for the elderly absent owner. Cibot is ailing and finds it difficult to continue to work, and La Cibot bemoans the lack of private income while noting that servants are often left annuities by former, grateful employers. Before Pons's illness she wasn't a bad caretaker, but Madame Cibot has gradually taken over various aspects of Pons and Schmucke's lives. She does their laundry, makes and mends clothes and even provides meals. It's through these services that she gradually creeps into every aspect of the bachelors' lives and she begins to become obsessed with gaining an annuity through inheritance. Once fixated on this idea, she becomes increasingly disgruntled and convinced that she's owed. Balzac, as ever, that great chronicler of human nature understands Madame Cibot; need, opportunity and justification–all those elements twist and turn in a poisonous blend, and soon Madame Cibot plots to strip Pons of his fortune. But she isn't the only one who can't wait to get her hands on Pons's art collection, and the vultures gather….
Through Cibot's greed, Balzac introduces a network of corruption and some great secondary characters. The ambitious 'man of law' Monsieur Frasier is by far the most intriguing. He's a dangerous cobra–waiting to strike at his enemies, and someone you certainly don't want to cross. Frasier has a checkered past and he's desperate to get ahead in society:
The next day, at six in the morning, Madame Cibot was in the rue de la Perle, eyeing the abode of her future legal adviser, our Monsieur Frasier, man of law. It was one of those houses inhabited by erstwhile lower-middle-class people. You entered it from an alley. The ground floor was partly taken up by the porter's lodge and the premises of a cabinet-maker whose workshops and showrooms encumbered a small inner courtyard. It was divided into two portions by the alley and the well of the staircase, into which saltpeter and damp had eaten. The whole house appeared to be suffering from leprosy.
Before meeting Frasier, Madame Cibot speculated why he didn't marry one of his clients–a certain Madame Florimond. Frasier's concierge tells Madame Cibot that she'll understand when she sees Frasier:
Monsieur Frasier, a shriveled and sickly looking little man with a red face covered with spots which spoke of impurities in the blood, who moreover was constantly scratching his right arm, and whose wig, pushed far back on his head, incompletely concealed a sinister-looking, brick-coloured cranium, rose from the cane armchair in which he had been sitting on a green leather cushion. Assuming an amiable air and a fluting tone of voice, he said as he offered her a chair:
'Madame Cibot, I think?'
Schmucke is the one perfectly good character in the book (Pons has the weakness of loving food), and so while Schmucke is completely sympathetic, his dialogue was maddening. Yes I know he's German, but the passages of his broken English weren't easy to plough through:
'Unt yet,' he continued, 'zey haf hearts of golt. In a vort, zey are my little Saint Cecelias, scharmink vomen, Matame te Portentuère, Matame to Vantenesse, Matame to tillet. I only see zem in zehamps-Elyssées, vizout zem seeink me. Unt yet zey lof me much, and I coult stay in zeir country-house, put I like much pesser to pe viz my frient Pons, pecausse I can see him ven I vish unt efery tay.'
In Cousin Pons, Balzac shows that innocence, kindness and decency are poor adversaries against greed. Many people have designs on Pons's valuable art collection, and its questionable acquisition will solve the problems of some characters and make the careers of several others. Some of the vultures who gather for the spoils are more vicious than their fellow predators; the powerless will always be powerless, even as they grab the crumbs from the table. As Madame Cibot notes:
'I knew perfectly well, my dear Monsieur Frasier, that I shouldn't get even a whiff of that particular roast…'
Filed under Balzac, Fiction
Tagged as 19th century French literature, Balzac, inheritance, La Comédie Humaine
Cousin Henry
Cousin Henry (1879), a short novel which runs to just 280 pages in my edition, came late in Trollope's career. Weak on characterisation, but strong on its depiction of guilt, it's not the best place to start for anyone treading into Trollope territory for the first time. Trollope's sub-plots are absent and instead this is a very simple story in which Trollope examines the question of inheritance.
The elderly, childless Indefer Jones owns an estate, Llanfeare, in Wales. When the book opens, he's close to death, and he's spent the last few years of his life vacillating back and forth regarding the disposition of his estate. For many years now, his young niece, Isabel Broderick, has lived at Llanfeare. Isabel is the product of Indefer's now deceased sister and an attorney who has since remarried and has several children by his second wife. Mr. Broderick's new wife, Isabel's stepmother, considers Isabel a burden and a threat to the family's limited resources. During visits back home to her father, Isabel has been courted by the local curate, Mr. Owens–a man who has but 200 pounds a year to live on. Uncle Indefer cannot decide whether to leave his estate to Isabel or to a male relative, a young clerk, the Cousin Henry of the title, who lives in London.
A dilemma arises. Indefer, when he's in the mood to leave his estate to his devoted niece, Isabel, forbids her to marry Mr. Owens, "the grandson of an innkeeper," so when he keeps changing his mind, Isabel, who still expects to be left a sizeable legacy from the estate if it goes to Cousin Henry, believes she will be free to marry Mr. Owens. Indefer agonizes about the decision:
Mr. Indefer Jones, who was now between seventy and eighty years old, was a gentleman who through his whole life had been disturbed by reflections, fears, and hopes as to the family property on which he had been born, on which he had always lived, in possession of which he would certainly die, and as to the future disposition of which it was his lot in life to be altogether responsible. It had been entailed upon him before his birth in his grandfather's time, when his father was about to be married. But the entail had not been carried on. There had been no time in which this Indefer Jones had been about to be married, and the former old man having been given to extravagance, and been generally in want of money, had felt it more comfortable to be without an entail. His son had occasionally been induced to join with him in raising money. Thus not only since he had himself owned the estate, but before his father's death, there had been forced upon him reflections as to the destination of Llanfeare.
Indefer, at one point had a younger brother named Henry, who "disgraced the family." He ran off with a married woman and spent too much time at "race courses and billiard-rooms." While Indefer strongly disapproved of his brother's lifestyle, he acted as a benefactor for his wastrel brother's son, the Cousin Henry of the title. Indefer even paid for his nephew to attend Oxford, but he was sent from there in disgrace. The young man is seen to be "sly" and "given to lying," and is considered a great disappointment. Shortly after the book opens Cousin Henry is summoned to Llanfeare and this releases Isabel to visit her family. Indefer still agonizing about the disposition of the estate, thinks that Isabel 'deserves' it but believes that the estate should go to a "Jones." The perfect solution, as far as he is concerned, would be if Isabel agreed to marry her cousin, but she refuses to do so.
Uncle Indefer dies, and the last will, drawn up by the very sagacious lawyer, Mr. Apgood indicates that Cousin Henry is the heir. Isabel is supposed to inherit 4000 pounds, but there's no 4,000 pounds to give. This leaves Isabel penniless and Cousin Henry the new owner of a large estate. But is there another will? Did Uncle Indefer, famous for his will changes, dictate another will prior to his death? Two local farmers swear this is so and that Isabel is the rightful owner. Where, then, is the last will?
One of the problems with the story is that Cousin Henry is seen by everyone in the novel as weak and despicable. All the servants at Llanfeare and the locals think that Isabel, a young woman they know well, should have inherited the estate, and the fact that Cousin Henry is the heir is seen as grossly unfair. For his part, Cousin Henry thinks he's rather hard done by, and he has a point. His uncle summoned him from London–it wasn't as though Henry weaseled his way into the house on false pretenses. If anyone needs to share some blame here, it's Indefer Jones for not being able to make up his friggin' mind. Cousin Henry, quite frankly, has my sympathy. The estate has been dangled in front of his nose for years. Yes, he's a vacuous young man, but he was promised the house repeatedly, and now Master of Llanfeare he's treated badly by the servants, who, in some sort of mini-rebellion, all give notice and depart–with the exception of the housekeeper who serves him very poor meals.
Isabel is not an appealing heroine. She says she thinks that the house should go to Cousin Henry, but then when the chips are down, it's clear that she's bitter about it (not that I blame her). She rather hypocritically considers that she's too much of a "lady" to appear to care about the inheritance, and so she refuses to join in the hue and cry when the house is searched for the missing will. And then there's her relationship with Mr. Owens–a very flat character who doesn't leave much of an impression. Isabel proudly refuses to take that 4,000 pounds in payments from her cousin. So even though she didn't become the heiress of Llanfeare, she still can't marry Mr. Owen as he's too poor to support a family. Isabel's stepmother wants to shake some sense into Isabel and I did too.
The best part of the book is Trollope's understanding of Cousin Henry's thought processes : he has the justification, the opportunity, and the need to seize the moment, but he isn't a bad man, and so he believes that passivity still leaves some room for the moral high ground. I loved the descriptions of Henry's inner moral arguments as he goes back and forth, trying to decide if he should do the 'right thing,' and then arguing with himself about what that 'right thing' might be.
While the main characters are weakly drawn, there's a peculiar aspect to this book–I wondered if Trollope considered making it longer at some point. A court case for legal action against the local newspaper which has published numerous anti-Cousin Henry articles is in the works and the formidable Mr. Cheekey (otherwise known as Supercilious Jack) is mentioned and discussed in tones of fear and awe by several of the characters. It is arranged that during the trial Henry will be brought "under Mr Cheekey's thumbscrews" in order for the truth to be discovered. The legendary Mr. Cheekey, however, never appears and we are left only with his awesome reputation for wringing the truth from his victims in court. Mr. Cheekey, a character who is only talked about in Cousin Henry remains firmly established in the mind of this reader. Seems like a bit of a waste of a wonderful character.
Trollope seems to be playing with the roles here of the good vs the bad characters. Traditionally Isabel would be considered the heroine, but she's hard to like, and poor Cousin Henry would be the villain, yet here Trollope clearly intends Henry to be a sympathetic character– in fact he even addresses this victimization of Henry towards the end of the novel. Perhaps that's why Trollope treats these two with generosity–opting for the positive outcome. Trollope also considered the question of inheritance in the excellent novel: The Belton Estate.
Filed under Fiction, Trollope, Anthony
Tagged as 19th century British literature, inheritance, Trollope
The Gate by Natsume Soseki
"He happened to glance up beyond the eaves and noticed the bamboo leaves gathered densely atop the bamboo stalks, like the stubble on a monk's close-cropped head. As the leaves luxuriated in the autumn sunlight they drooped down heavily in silent clusters, not a single one stirring."
When Tony announced Japanese Literature reading month, January in Japan, I decided to join in. I think I've read one Japanese novel in my lifetime, which, when I thought about it started to feel pathetic. So now I've read two. And even though that now with one move I've doubled my Japanese reading bank, somehow it doesn't feel as though I've made much of a leap. My unfamiliarity with Japanese literature came back to haunt me on just about every page of my chosen book, The Gate by Natsume Soseki: the history, the customs, the terms, but one thing was constant. Yes, the universality of bad human behavior. Hey, I've read Balzac; I know when people are being bad.
The Gate written by Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) is a very simple story, and it's beautifully written with a very calm style that matches the novel's content. Published in 1910, The Gate is the story of Sosuke and his wife Oyone, a Tokyo couple who live in modest circumstances. Sosuke and Oyone are childless, and we're not far into the novel when we learn that Sosuke must assume care of his younger brother, Koroku. While a great deal of the novel is spent on the day-to-day routines of life, underneath the calm conversations, there's a matter of contention between Sosuke and his aunt. Sosuke's father died leaving a house, his possessions, and some antiques. Since Sosuke was not living in Tokyo at the time, he turned over all financial matters to his uncle–a man known for his financial fecklessness….
The very helpful introduction from Pico Iyer goes a long way in explaining Japanese customs. For example, "the individual's job in public Japan is to keep his private concerns and feelings to himself and to present a surface that gives little away." It's all about "conflict avoidance," and we see that repeatedly in the novel. With my western sensibility, I'll admit to a certain frustration to this approach. I couldn't understand why on earth, anyone in their right mind would turn over any financial responsibilities to an uncle who has a history of business disasters, and then I also felt frustration about Sosuke's failure to confront his relatives about his remaining inheritance. I kept hoping that Sosuke would go over to his aunt and uncle's house and kick some bottoms. But Sosuke is a study in avoidance, and apparently his skill at adroitly finding excuses not to confront his relatives even annoys his brother:
Koroku was privately of the opinion that all this dithering stemmed from an inborn flaw in his brother's character.
Poor Koruku. He depends on the inheritance if he wants to attend university. So with that quote in mind, while I know that Japanese life is all about "conflict avoidance" it would seem that Sosuke has taken this to whole new level: subject avoidance.
The issue of a missing or misspent inheritance is not the only incident that troubles the tranquility of Sosuke and Oyone's life. There's also a robbery committed against their landlord–a remote figure at first who turns out to be a very colourful character, an antique screen that may or may not be valuable, and there's also an ex-husband who may awkwardly reappear. But all of these issues are mere ripples on the surface of life–no drama, no hysteria, no arguments or fights, and instead the emphasis is on the daily routine, trips to the bathhouse accompanied by Sunday liberation. I loved these scenes of Tokyo life that show Sosuke spends his Sundays as he tries to pack in so much into just a few precious hours of freedom:
Realizing that both this Sunday and the fine weather that accompanied it had drawn to a close, a certain mood came over him: a sense that such things did not last for long, and that this was a great pity. From tomorrow he would again, as always, be busy at work–the thought brought on pangs of regret for the good life he had tasted for this one afternoon. The mindless activity that filled the other six days of the week seemed utterly dreary. Even now, as he walked along, he could see before his eyes nothing but the outlines of the large but windowless office that the sun scarcely penetrated, the faces of his colleagues sitting beside him, the figure of his superior summoning him with a "nonaka-san, over here, please…."
We see the sights and colours of the city through Sosuke's eyes, and there's a sense of wonderment marred by the realities of economics and a rather pleasant lack of materialism:
That time in his life when he could not pass a bookstore without wanting to go in, and once inside to buy something, now belonged to the distant past. True, one English-language volume in the center of the window with a particularly fine binding and entitles History of Gambling fairly leaped out at him with its disctinctiveness, but that was all. Smiling to himself, he hurried across the street, where he stopped for a second time, to peek inside a watchmaker's. On display were numerous gold watches, watch chains, and the like, which again he regarded as so many pretty-coloured, well-formed objects without the slightest desire to make any purchase. Nevertheless, he examined all the price tags dangling there from silk threads, comparing this item and that, and came away surprised at how cheap the gold watches were.
The introduction makes the point that this author's protagonists are the "masters of doing nothing at all. They abhor action and decision as scrupulously as Bartleby the Scrivener." This is definitely true of Sosuke–a man who finds that he may have to face a past that he's studiously avoided. Translated by William F Sibley.
Finally a question for readers and Tony: can anyone recommend any Japanese CRIME novels?
Filed under Fiction, Soseki Natsume
Tagged as inheritance, japanese literature, marriage, New York Review Books
Balzac nailed it.
"I have learned so much practicing my profession! I have seen a father die in a garret without a sou or a stitch of clothing, abandoned by two daughters to whom he'd given 40,000 pounds income! I have seen wills burned. I have seen mothers rob their children; husbands steal from their wives; wives use love to kill their husbands or drive them mad–in order to live in peace with a lover. I have seen women teach their legitimate children tastes that will surely be the death of them, while favouring some love child. I cannot tell you everything I have seen because I have seen crimes that justice is powerless to rectify. In the end, none of the horrors that novelists believe they've invented can compare to the truth. You'll soon become acquainted with such charming things yourself; as for me, I am moving to the country with my wife. I am sick of Paris."
This is a speech made by the lawyer Derville to his clerk Godeschal at the very end of Balzac's novella Colonel Chabert. In the first speech, taken from the book, those familiar with Balzac can identity some of the characters Derville refers to. There's a similar speech in the film version, but it takes place much earlier in the film, and in this scene Derville (Fabrice Luchini) speaks to Chabert (Gerard Depardieu).
"Lawyers see worse things than writers can invent. I've seen wills burned, mothers despoil their lawful children on behalf of those bred in adultery, wives use their husbands' love to murder them or drive them mad so as to live with their lovers. I've seen ugly quarrels over still-warm corpses. I have seen crimes, Sir, that human justice is powerless to punish. Our offices are sewers that no one can clean."
The speech is altered but we get the point: Derville, in his professional capacity as a lawyer, has witnessed some horrendous acts of human behaviour.
Balzac's novella is the story of a man who arrives in Paris claiming to be Colonel Chabert–one of Napoleon's trusted soldiers who fell at the battle of Eylau. It's been years since the battle, and the man who claims to be Chabert argues that due to his injuries he was unable to return earlier. Now back in Paris to claim his estate, he finds that his wife, a former prostitute, has married Count Ferraud, a Restoration society social climber. Since he can't get his wife back, Chabert wants the return of his millions accumulated during Napoleon's reign, but his wife is loath to give up a penny–plus to acknowledge Chabert's claim will render the children she has with Count Ferraud bastards, the issue of a polygamous marriage. And this is where the lawyer Derville comes in…
I saw the film in 1994, and it remains one of my favourite films of all time–the acting, the scenery, the story are all incredible, but there's something about the quote from Balzac's novel (and the speech in the film version) that sticks with me. A day doesn't go by without recalling these 2 scenes–one literary and the other cinematic. 1994 was some time ago–almost 20 years, and in this passage of time, I've seen some of the things Derville/Balzac describes. I've known wills to be destroyed and the frantic post death looting of estates. I've seen wives longing for their diseased husbands to die, I've seen husbands dump their dying wives, I've seen husbands stealing from their wives, children stealing from their ancient parents, and I've seen people driven mad by their spouses. Ok, no garrets and the illegitimate thing doesn't translate well to today's world, but bottom line, Balzac nailed the "sewers" of human behaviour. Put money in the equation, and morality goes out the window.
And this brings me to Derville. Why does Derville decide to champion Chabert's cause? Is this just a whimsical decision? I don't think so. When Derville meets Chabert, he has just won "300 francs at cards," and he tells Chabert "I can certainly use half of that to make a man happy." He gives Chabert a daily allowance of 100 sous a day while he investigates the legitimacy of Chabert's claim. Once Derville establishes the facts, he contacts Colonel Chabert's wife who is now the Countess Ferraud, and the games begin….
Derville seems partly motivated by altruism and partly by curiosity. Does he want "justice"–whatever that is in this complex case to prevail? As he tells his clerk:
We see the same ill feelings repeated again and again, never corrected. Our offices are gutters that cannot be cleansed.
Himadri over at The Argumentative Old Git recently wrote a blog post about a passage from literature that he holds dear, and he suggested that others do the same. This is my contribution. Perhaps my choice isn't so contemplative or as beautiful as Himadri's passage from Anna Karenina, but my choice puts my life in perspective. I'm often told that I'm cynical, but then I think of Derville–one of my literary heroes and silently shrug. No wonder I admire Balzac's work.
Filed under Balzac, Blogging, Fiction
Tagged as 19th century French literature, Balzac, inheritance, La Comédie Humaine, napoleonic wars