Hi! Welcome to this new blog.
First of all, this is an open window on French realities, but it is also a window on USA, UK and the Global Village through gallic lenses.
I am fed up with all these misunderstandings, and all this ignorance which make mutual reflexion so hard to flourish between both sides of the Atlantic (and both sides of the Channel as well).
"French Renaissance"? ...or "Death of French Culture"?
France seems particularly on the defensive. A sense of decline somewhere?
In 2000, Time Magazine Europe made the headlines on the "French Renaissance".
Seven years later, the same Magazine explains us "the death of French culture".
I quote: "Once admired for the dominating excellence of its writers, artists and musicians, France today is a wilting power in the global cultural marketplace."
Is it true? The easy answer would be YES. Or NO.
But reality is seldom black or white. Between death and Renaissance (and vice-et-versa), France is clearly in need of a sharper adaptation to this new Global Village.
France needs to open its ears and its eyes, and learn more. France needs to overcome its fear to take intellectual risks.
But France still needs to open its mouth too, because French culture, whatever fragile, has still some important things to say to the world.
Let's contribute to the debate!
From my specific point of view (explained on this page's left column in About the Author), I'll do my best to bring fresh perspectives.
Please feel free to write your comments! I'd be more than happy to answer to you.
Don't be afraid to write in broken English: I'm not a native English speaker eather, my english is far from perfect (the first foreign language I learned in High School was german, not english)... so we'll share our mistakes and our thoughts.
Of course, if you prefer to write in french it's perfectly OK! But in this case, you'd better visit my French-speaking blog.
Last but lot least, I apologize to all my English-speaking readers for the french langage which appears here and there on this blog: the Blog-provider I pay only uses french.
When I said that France has a hard time adapting to the new Global world...
However, I'm sure you can get used to the few French words used in this blog's architecture.
"Page d'accueil" means "Home Page"
"Lire la suite" means "Click to continue"
"Publié dans" means "Published in"
"Lien permanent" is "Permanent link"
"Envoyez cette note" means "Send this note"
"Commentaires" is "Comments"
And "Catégories" means.... "Categories".
"Bon courage" to you and enjoy!