07 décembre 2020

Upcoming talk on Louis PASTEUR


 Zoom talk on Wednesday 9 December by Leeann McKEE on Louis PASTEUR.  us

Pasteurisation of milk, and of course wine, the discovery of optical isomers, vaccines for rabies and anthrax - all of these were discoveries by Louis Pasteur. He was a polymath in the fields of medicine, chemistry and bacteriology. Was he however a fraud? Let's look at the major works of the "Father of Microbiology" with the hindsight of his recently discovered laboratory handbooks and find out more about this complex genius. 

Remember you will need to have joined our mailing list via cfbelfast@gmail.com in order to subscribe to the Zoom call.*

Looking forward to seeing you there!


How about a visit to Versailles?

Allison sent the link below describing it as “A ‘sight & sound experience’ – 6 episodes available in French and English”.

Believe me it is all that and more. Simply wonderful. Enjoy ….

Expodcast : Centre de musique baroque de Versailles (cmbv.fr)


À bientôt,

Philip



*In order to comply with the requirements of data protection regulations and out of respect for the privacy of our attendees you are requested not to take photographs nor make video or audio recordings during any of our Zoom meetings. And just to assure you that if you do sign up to our distribution list, Cercle Français de Belfast will never share your details with any other party.

 soin de vous et de vos proches,


À bientôt, Philip



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08 novembre 2020

CfB November talk. Haussmann et Paris embellie

Chers Amis,

This month's event is …. 

Topic: Haussmann et Paris embellie

with: Hélène Guillet and Philip McGrory

Hélène et Philip vous emmènent dans le Paris de Napoléon III avec les grands travaux du Baron Haussmann pour l’embellissement de Paris. 

Hélène and Philip take you back to the Paris of Napoleon III with the large-scale transformation of the city under the design of Baron Haussmann. 

This presentation will take the form of a video to be available on the Cercle Français de Belfast's private YouTube Channel. Watch out for an email arriving in your inbox on Wednesday 11th November containing a link to the video.

Prenez soin de vous et de vos proches,

À bientôt, Philip







21 octobre 2020

Zooming Bonjour tristesse

Le Petit Robert dictionary includes the verb zoomer and defines it as rapprocher le sujet grâce au zoom.  Elaine BELL certainly brought her subject, Françoise Sagan's Bonjour tristesse, closer as she hosted her third Cercle de Lecture using the Zoom online meeting platform.


Elaine's annotated school copy of Bonjour tristesse

Logging into the Cercle's virtual waiting room it was immediately apparent that Elaine's talk had attracted a substantial number of participants.  Philip had previously emailed members with her notes so we were able to see the themes she intended to address in our bookclub discussion.

Now a practised hand for Zoom meetings Philip reminded us of some basic protocols, not least using the mute facility and the raising of a hand should those taking part wish to make a point or pose a question. Another tip was to use gallery view and clicking on that it was pleasing to see 25 people had joined the meeting.

Exchanges

Referring the reading group to her notes and speaking in French and English, Elaine conducted a lively exploration of the text and was adept at sounding out the views of the attendees.  The exchanges were certainly animated and one comment received after the session commended the very high level of preparation and discussion.  It was interesting to hear participants linking some of the novel's themes to other books and authors they had read.  F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby was one such parallel and mention was also made of D.H. Lawrence. 

Bonjour tristesse had also been made into a film using locations identified in the book and one of our members mentioned that he had walked several times past David Niven's house on one of those promontories east of Nice.

Other members commented on the experience of re-reading a text that they had first encountered at school.   Indeed, Elaine proudly showed her copy, kept from her days as an écolière, which was liberally annotated with key points, marginal notes and vocabulary items.

The Zoom discussion format worked well and it was fascinating to see and hear members engaging with one another. When the microphones are unmuted and a person speaks that person becomes the current contributor and Zoom illuminates their screen. That makes it possible for members to see their interlocutors up close and with their name below their picture.  As there were many new faces (and names) at the meeting that's a particular benefit of the online format.

It would be great to have CfB book club sessions more often and if members have suggestions for suitable titles, especially where the French book is available with English translation and possibly a film tie-in, please do let us know.

Meantime, un très grand merci to Elaine and Philip for another very successful meeting; and of course to everyone who took part.  It was a most enjoyable evening.  See you next time.

Bonne Lecture !