Lectures du vin

           Bonneville’s mediatheque was just renovated – here’s a picture. I signed up for a library account today and the librarian recommended good French books for me! He gave me books by Marc Levy, Jean-Christophe Grange, Harlan Cobin, and Fred Vargas. He also suggested I try Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth in French, which is a terrific ideas because the language is rich and the vocabulary can be difficult, but I’ve read the book in English. The other novels are mysteries. Reviews to follow! Haute Savoie has a “Universite Populaire” series throughout the towns in the region. UP hosts discussions once a week in Bonneville ranging from politics to the envionment to architecture. Last night, we went back to the library for a talk on Rousseau, given by the dean of Rousseau’s home in Chamonet. He very clearly traced the origins of Rousseau’s theory, from Plato to John Locke, intertwining ancient and modern philosophers to contextualize Rousseau’s social contract. Although I probably missed loads of what he was saying, he was a compelling speaker, particularly because he aided his presentation with diagrams outlining his concepts, such as the power of the individual to accept a ruler. I noticed that the United States was frequently mentioned in his talk and in the question and answer period. He seemed to be implying, in much more specific and eloquent terms, that the US struggled and still struggles to reconcile the fact that to enjoy equality and liberty, certain rights must be relinquished to the state. While obviously that is true, it’s also true in France, but my philosophy nor my French were strong enough to defend the US then. Despite underaging the rest of the audience by about forty years, we really enjoyed the talk. Especially because it was free and there was champagne afterwards. Next week, there’s a talk about the economy and the environment that I’m looking forward to!