Tag: French literature

Creative writing, Culture, Literature

The Art of Writing an Entire Novel Without The Letter E | Georges Perec | Art of Saudade

Can you make a sentence without using the letter E? It may seem a bit hard, but not impossible. How about a 500 characters text? It’s getting more complicated, right? Now try to write a 500 pages novel without one of the most commonly used letters in the alphabet (at least in most of the European languages). Well, this is what the French author Georges … Continue reading The Art of Writing an Entire Novel Without The Letter E | Georges Perec | Art of Saudade

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Learning, Literature, Quotes

Why Literature Matters | Roland Barthes On The Real Meaning Of Words | Art of Saudade

Who was Roland Barthes? Roland Barthes was born in the middle of World War 1, an event that marked him for life. Raised during the bloodshed that devastated Europe, Roland found refuge in literature. He dedicated his life to literary creation and criticism and, by the end of his 40s, he managed to publish his collection Mythologies, where he gathered myths of popular culture. He … Continue reading Why Literature Matters | Roland Barthes On The Real Meaning Of Words | Art of Saudade

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Literature, Quotes

Who Is Annie Ernaux And Why Was She Awarded The Nobel Prize In Literature? | Art of Saudade

France is the country with the most Nobel Prize winners in literature: 15 Nobel laureates, all of them men. This year, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded for the first time to a French female author, Annie Ernaux.  Annie was born in the middle of World War II, in a small town in the Normandy region. She portrayed the ordinary life of her working-class … Continue reading Who Is Annie Ernaux And Why Was She Awarded The Nobel Prize In Literature? | Art of Saudade

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Literature, Philosophy

Candide and Martin in 2022 | Art of Saudade

“Hey, write something about the French elections!” How do I get political without getting political? By doing what the 18th-century French philosophers did, I guess… use extra irony and turn everything into satire. One of the masters of irony during the Age of Enlightenment was Voltaire. In 1759, he wrote the biggest parody of his time – Candide, where he criticized every rotten detail of … Continue reading Candide and Martin in 2022 | Art of Saudade

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Culture, Life lessons, Literature, Philosophy, Quotes

Fear Of The Other According To Montaigne | Art of Saudade

Only a little less than a century after the Europeans “discovered” new lands, one of the greatest French thinkers Montaigne meets someone who spent some time with the “barbarous and savage cannibals”, as they called the Indigenous people.  Where did the word ‘barbarous’ come from? The name barbarous was given by the Greeks to any people that didn’t speak their language. The term simply meant … Continue reading Fear Of The Other According To Montaigne | Art of Saudade

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Literature, Quotes

Meet The Woman Who Inspired The Little Prince’s Beloved Rose | Art of Saudade

Who Was Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry? Consuelo Consuelo chérie,Dépêchez-vous de revenir…(Consuelo Consuelo darling, hurry back home…) – Excerpt from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s letter to his wife Consuelo The Rose in The Little Prince is self-obsessed, vain, and naïve… yet she is the only rose worthy of the Little Prince’s love. So was Consuelo to Antoine. She had the bad habit of not replying to his letters. … Continue reading Meet The Woman Who Inspired The Little Prince’s Beloved Rose | Art of Saudade

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Life lessons, Literature, Philosophy, Quotes

A World Full Of Baobab Trees And Roses | The Little Prince 79 Years Later | Art of Saudade

What book would you bring if you were stranded on a desert island? I don’t have to think twice. I’d definitely take a tale under 100 pages that will make me travel the universe and remind me of the essence of human nature. The Little Prince. Hey, that’s a simple children’s book, you might say. And it’s overrated. Hmm, are you sure that a book … Continue reading A World Full Of Baobab Trees And Roses | The Little Prince 79 Years Later | Art of Saudade

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Culture, History, Literature, Poetry, Quotes

Reinventing The World Through Visual Poetry With Guillaume Apollinaire | Art of Saudade

Looking for a safe place in a world ravaged by wars, the Polish teenager Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary de Wąż-Kostrowicki (you get a cookie if you pronounce it right) was roaming around Europe until he finally settled in Paris in the early 20th century. Little did he know that more misery was yet to come. The charming French capital was the cradle of art back … Continue reading Reinventing The World Through Visual Poetry With Guillaume Apollinaire | Art of Saudade

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Literature, Quotes

A Brief History of Surrealism: From André Breton to Frida Kahlo | Art of Saudade

Surrealism as a cultural, literary, and artistic movement emerged in the aftermath of World War I when artists would not only dream of a better world, but they would try to create it.  Among the major figures of Surrealism were the writers André Breton, Robert Desnos, Paul Éluard, Louis Aragon, and the painters Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst and René Magritte. André Breton, the Father of … Continue reading A Brief History of Surrealism: From André Breton to Frida Kahlo | Art of Saudade

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Culture, Happiness, Life lessons, Literature, Philosophy, Quotes

Imagine Sisyphus happy!

In his 1942 philosophical essay The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus introduces his philosophy of the absurd. We all know life can be really weird sometimes, but making a whole philosophy out of it? Only Camus is able to do that. Born in Algeria in 1913, one of the best French philosophers Albert Camus lived in a world torn apart by two World Wars. He was … Continue reading Imagine Sisyphus happy!

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