08 avril 2014

The French Connection: 12 mars 2014

The origins of this talk by Hélène GUILLET & Philip McGRORY date back to an idea of then French President, Nicolas Sarkozy to mark Ireland's tenure of chairing the European Union.  The President had the idea of an exhibition charting connections between the two countries.  The exhibition was set out in a series of panels with commentaries in English, French and Irish. We were therefore honoured that the person tasked with providing the French translation was none other than our speaker, Hélène.


The Norman castle at Carrickfergus, County Antrim
We were taken on a tour from virtually the dawn of recorded history, through the arrival of the Normans, onto 1690 and the Williamite and Jacobite wars and to the flight of the Wild Geese.

Our speakers explained the origins of the Collège des Irlandais in Paris on the rue des Irlandais near the Sorbonne.  Hélène showed us a picture of a wedding ceremony being performed in the famous cultural centre. It was her wedding from two and a half years ago in which she married Cairan who also worked on the President's commemorative project mentioned above.

Next, Philip brought us closer to home and into Lisburn. He shared a little known fact that Lisburn was the only town in Ulster to have a French church, in which the minister conducted and the congregation followed services in French.

Numerous names of notables reinforcing the Franco-Irish connection were mentioned.  We had Sir Francis Beaufort, of wind scale fame, connections of the Mac-Mahon lineage and Richard Hennessy, an Irish officer serving in the army of Louis XV who went on to establish the renowned cognac house. 

Did you know that there were relatively few prisoners in the Bastille when it was stormed in 1789? And that one of them was Irish? And that there were Bastille day celebrations in Belfast in 1791 and '92? We learnt that.


Check out names on pillar columns
Have you ever been under the Arc de Triomphe and looked up at the 600 names commemorated there? Some of them are of Irish connection so next time, check out Charles Edward Jennings de KILMAINE inscribed on column 5 of the Northern pillar and Henri Jacques Guillaume CLARKE on column 11 of the Eastern pillar.

Sir Richard Wallace was Conservative and Unionist MP for Lisburn in the period 1873 to 1885. He spent a lot of his time at his home, the Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne.  Clicking on the following link to the Bagatelle reveals an interesting connection with Marie Antoinette.

Detail on fountain at Wallace Park, Lisburn
Sir Richard was also a philanthropist donating 2.5 million francs for the relief of poverty and he also provided the legacy of Wallace Fountains, enduring symbols of Paris and of which there are two remaining from the original five in Lisburn.

Philip and Hélène's talk covered military connections especially in the 20th century - we heard about Redmond, Messines and Samuel Beckett's resistance role in World War 2 and they shared a recent photograph showing troops from both sides of the border working with their French peers to train soldiers in Mali.

There was still plenty to connect... we looked at the French background of local, familiar faces - former Taoiseach Sean Lemass, previous Unionist leader, James Molyneaux, Field Marshall Montgomery and to the Irish background of the familiar General Charles de Gaulle whose maternal connections include the McCartan's of County Down.  In fact there were so many connections that Philip tested our knowledge with a picture quiz of 20 people with Franco-Irish connections.  These included artist Sir John Lavery, engineer Peter Rice, and designer and architect, Eileen Grey.

Our speakers were bringing their fascinating talk to a close but there was still something to explain.  Notice for the talk had referred to a sea-going snail, what was that about?  At the foot of several of their slides we had noticed a picture of a snail. They hadn't referred to it but all was about to be revealed.

It turns out that one of the earliest Franco-Irish connections is embodied in a snail, the Irish cepaea nemoralis.  Apparently this genus is found only in Ireland and the Pyrenees area. How did it get from there to here? 

Hélène and Philip left that to their appreciative audience.

14 mars 2014

Catherine LARGAN: 21 février 2014



Nous avons la grande tristesse de vous informer du décès, à l'hôpital, de Catherine LARGAN, secrétaire du Cercle français de Belfast. Nos pensées sont avec sa famille, son époux Ray, sa fille Anne et son fils Paul.  Nous les passons nos plus sincères condoléances. Nous perdons une femme bien aimé par tous ceux qui la connaissaient.

We are very sad to inform you of the death, in hospital, of Catherine LARGAN, secretary to the Cercle français de Belfast.  
Our thoughts are with her family; her husband Ray, daughter Anne and son Paul. We offer them our sincere condolences. 
We have lost a lady, much loved by all those who knew her.

21 février 2014

Caféfrancophilo


Chers amis,
La première réunion du caféfrancophilo, au Cercle français de Belfast, aura lieu le 26 février 2014 au Dark Horse Coffee House, Belfast à partir de 19h.30.
Notre conférencier sera Jim Holland et notre thème: Traduire, c'est trahir?
Nous discuterons le poème, Quand vous serez bien vieille de Pierre de Ronsard et la version de William Butler Yeats.
L’entrée sera libre. 
En espérant vous voir nombreux!
Cordialement
CfB

10 février 2014

QFT screens Louis Malle's Ascenseur pour l'échafaud

Chers Amis,

I nearly missed this little gem.  Only when an email from QFT dropped into my mailbox this morning did I realise that next week QFT will be showing one of the classic film noir thrillers of French New Wave cinema …..

Louis Malle’s “Lift to the Scaffold” (Ascenseur pour l'échafaud)

A handsome veteran of the Indo-China and Algerian Wars (Maurice Ronet) and his lover (Jeanne Moreau) plan the murder of her arms-manufacturer husband. But on his way from the crime scene he's trapped in a lift, she anxiously walks the night streets of Paris waiting for him, and a teenage couple steal his car and gun...
Jeanne Moreau, Paris and a score by Miles Davis – could you ask for anything more?
This digitally restored version will be at QFT fromSunday 9th February until Thursday 13th February.
For full details see QFT’s website … http://www.queensfilmtheatre.com



A bientôt,  Philip

Saint-Germain-des-Prés: mercredi 12 février


Around twenty of us braved the inclement weather and settled in the warmth of the Dark Horse Coffee House as Claudine McKeown presented her personal look at the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area of Paris, home to many renowned artists and writers and as we were to hear to Claudine herself in her student days

Claudine, ably assisted by husband Seamus in managing the technology, explained that her talk would be in French, supported by PowerPoint slides in English.  This approach found favour with many present.

She started by locating the area geographically in Paris, highlighting some of the key landmarks of the 6th arrondissement. Claudine then focussed on the construction of the Abbey church in some fields outside the not yet then expanded Paris. The abbey and the fields explain the name.  The church, she told us, reinforcing the point with a slide, is also the final resting place of René Descartes, philosopher, writer and mathematician.

On to history, and we were treated to pictures of and comments on various places that make up the patrimoine of the area.  Here was the church of Sainte Sulpice, here La Sorbonne where Claudine as a student met up with her future husband and here the Luxembourg. Bright, sunny images a welcome counterpoint to the weather outside!

Sitting in a café, it was especially interesting to note how the talk progressed to café culture at its best by including brief, personal accounts of four famous cafés in the area: Le Procope, Brasserie Lipp, Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots and the writers and artists who frequented them.

Place named after writers Sartre and De Beauvoir
Claudine shared a memoir of a once exasperated owner of the Cafe Flore and later friend of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. The cafe owner recounted how the couple had developed the habit of coming to the café and sitting all day over a single cup of coffee.  Warmer than their nearby flat, the café became the meeting place for discussions with their many friends and followers.

Music was next on the tour and with the help of a series of posters and short videos we learnt how the area had danced through the post-war years.  Music was our final stop and what better tribute to end on than Juliette Gréco's rendition of Claudine and Seamus's favourite song, Guy Béart's Il n'y a plus d'aprèsÀ Saint-Germain-des-Prés).



01 février 2014

Fête des rois. Gavottes and galettes in Belfast

Last month's réunion of the Cercle français was a colourful and festive occasion. The tables of the Dark Horse Coffee House had been moved to the perimeter to leave plenty of space for dancing and the walls were draped in bleu, blanc, rouge bunting. Musicians from BalFeirste played Breton music on a variety of instruments including the bombarde. The atmosphere at this early stage of the evening was full of buzz and chat.

Philip McGrory lived up to the MC in his name and soon had us organised for the evening. First up, he explained was a demonstration of a gavotte. Vanessa and Fergus took to the floor, others of the troupe joined in and our evening got into its rhythm.

Following a spell of more music and chat, we were called back to order for a couple of magic tricks. Magic, Magi and the fête des rois. In a nice touch, one of the magician's tricks involved participants who were all French. He supplied them all with menus from the restaurants of famous French chefs and somehow managed to get them all to select dishes from the various menus, the cost of which added up to an amount he had previously written on an enveloped card.

Then on to the galettes, prepared by Amélie. They were délicieuses! And substantial. Each baked with a fève inside. Warned beforehand to be careful when eating, it was soon established that 4 femmes and 2 hommes were in the running to be selected queen and king for the evening. This was decided by ballot. Vive la révolution! More music and la reine and le roi took to the floor in a celebration dance.

Vanessa then distributed copies of a song and got the whole audience to sing-a-long. That finished, it was back to the floor for a demonstration of and a joining in a chapelloise. Cameras and phones flashed all around as people captured the festive fun.

It was a great evening. Thanks to all who joined in and made it possible.

 

12 janvier 2014

Décembre 2013 - Choix de poèmes

Our poetry evening ‘Choix de poèmes’ on the 11th December was a wonderful success thanks entirely to our members who selected and presented their choice of poems and to the lively and informative discussions which followed. 

A number of people expressed their pleasure at having been reacquainted with a favourite poem or at having discovered a new work. It was also interesting to compare the various anthologies members had brought with them. Some of the books were old but all were beautifully kept in keeping no doubt with the many treasured memories they contained.

First up, was Jonathan with Arthur Rimbaud's Le Dormeur du Val – a sensitive poem about a fallen soldier composed when the poet was quite young. Amélie was next with her rendition of Victor Hugo's Sur une barricade written in 1872. This was her favourite poem from an author we don't immediately think of as a poet.

An extract from L'Invitation au voyage by Charles Baudelaire was Margaret's choice. Reading from Douglas Parmée's anthology, Twelve French Poets, a text familiar to many at the meeting, she delivered the poem in such a way that one member who was already familiar with the text said that it was like hearing it, really hearing it, for the very first time.
My own rendition was Déjeuner du matin by Jacques Prévert. A deceptively simple poem, often studied in French primary schools despite its quite adult, mature theme. One of the members commented that the poem had a cinematic or theatrical feel to it. Prévert of course was also a screenwriter most notably for Les Enfants du Paradis. Incidentally, a full size cinema poster for that film, crediting Prévert, adorns the staircase wall of the Harp Bar, just opposite the Dark Horse.
Liberté by Paul Éluard was Claudine choice. Here the theme of freedom seemed to connect with other poems independently chosen for the evening. It was an appropriate poem to lead to an extract of a lecture - The whole thing: On the good of poetry - given by the late Seamus Heaney and voiced by his friend, Jim. Discussion around the extract led to a lively exchange on the value of reading aloud, hearing rather than reading the poem and the whole subject of translation.
All in all it was an excellent evening which members felt ought to be repeated in future programmes. As ever, the Dark Horse was the perfect venue – Warm ; comfortable seats ; soft lighting ; treasured anthologies and timeless literature.
Poetic.