FYI France: Summer reading
And interesting items for The Collection... their omission now to
be much-regretted later on, as this writer's career progresses,
particularly if his political program succeeds this Fall and his
political star continues to soar thereafter, and even if not...
** Dominique de Villepin ** : he is young (51), he writes well,
and he writes interesting things, and qua author _or_ prime
minister he will have much to say about many things going forward
-- among them digital libraries, and libraries generally, and
education, and the Internet, in France and in other places.
Whether one is a political fan of his or a foe, then -- and both
Stanley Hoffmann and Régis Debray say they like his writing --
* _L'homme européen_ / Dominique de Villepin, Jorge
Semprun ; (Paris : Plon, 2005) ISBN 2259202691.
[forthcoming paperback edition:
(Paris : Perrin, October 2005) ISBN 2262023956.
* _Histoire de la diplomatie française_ / Dominique de
Villepin, Jean-Claude Allain, Françoise Autrand, Lucien
Bély (Paris : Perrin, 2005) 1050 p. ; 24 cm. ; ISBN :
2262021821.
* _Mehdi Qotbi : Le voyage de l'écriture_ / Institut
Français du Nord, préf. Dominique de Villepin (Paris :
Somogy, 2005) 114 p. ; 29 cm ; ISBN 2850567876.
[previous edition:
_Mehdi Qotbi : le voyage de l'écriture_ / [textes de
Yves Bonnefoy, Hélène Cixous, Édouard Glissant, et al.] ;
[préf. de Dominique de Villepin] (Paris : Somogy, 2004)
113 p. : nombreuses ill. en noir et en coul., couv. ill.
en coul. ; 29 cm ; Publ. à l'occasion de l'exposition
organisée par l'Institut français du Nord et Attijariwafa
bank, présentée à la Galerie Delacroix de l'Institut
français du Nord à Tanger du 25 juin au 5 septembre 2004
et à l'Espace d'art Actua d'Attijariwafa bank,
Casablanca, octobre-décembre 2004. ISBN 2-85056-775-2.
-- Villepin has a lifelong and interesting personal connection
with the Maghreb and the Third World -- "born in Rabat, raised in
Latin America", as the bios put it...
* _Toward a new world : speeches, essays, and interviews
on the war in Iraq, the UN, and the changing face of
Europe_ / Dominique de Villepin (Hoboken, N.J. : Melville
House, c2004) xxix, 427 p. ; 21 cm. ; Trans. of: Un autre
monde "With additional debate and commentary."
ISBN 0974960985.
[previous edition:
_Un autre monde_ / Dominique de Villepin ; [discours,
interventions et débat avec] Christoph Bertram, Régis
Debray, Carlos Fuentes... [et al.] ; [préf. de Stanley
Hoffmann] (Paris : l'Herne, 2003) 667 p. : couv. ill. en
coul. ; 21 cm Collection Théorie et stratégie ; ISBN
2-85197-432-7.
-- as I said, both Stanley Hoffmann and Régis Debray... plus
Carlos Fuentes & Susan Sontag & Norman Mailer & Mario Vargas
Llosa & several others, here. Many people everywhere were very
impressed by Villepin's conduct and eloquence at the UN "Iraq
Weapons" hearings, which may account for this particular book,
and there now seems to be even more to Villepin than just that
single occasion in the sun.
* _1905, la séparation des Églises et de l'État : les
textes fondateurs_ / textes choisis et présentés par Yves
Bruley ; présentation de Dominique de Villepin ; introd.
de Jean-Michel Gaillard ; postf. d'André Damien (Paris :
Perrin, 2004) 476 p. : couv. ill. en coul. ; 18 cm ;
Collection Tempus 85 ; Recueil de textes, 1789-1924 ;
ISBN 2-262-02277-1.
-- the Separation of Church and State, à la française: perhaps
very interesting reading for those of us in other cultures who
face the same or similar problems now.
* _L'Entente cordiale dans le siècle_ / Conseil franco -
britannique ; sous la dir. de Jacques Viot et Giles
Radice ; préf. de Dominique de Villepin et Jack Straw
(Paris : O. Jacob, 2004) 364 p. ; 24 cm ; ISBN 2-7381-1411-3.
-- Villepin and Jack Straw... now _there_ is a pair...
* _L'entente cordiale de Fachoda à la Grande Guerre :
Dans les archives du Quai d'Orsay_ / Maurice Vaïsse,
préf. Dominique de Villepin (Paris : Ed.s Complexe, 2004)
141 p. ; 21 cm. ; ISBN 2804800067.
* _Le requin et la mouette_ / Dominique de Villepin
(Paris : Plon : A. Michel, 2004) 263 p. : couv. ill. ; 23
cm ISBN 2-259-20170-9.
-- foreign relations writing -- but "requin" translates loosely
as "shark", "mouette" as "seagull", so there has been much fun
had in the French presse, over which current Paris politicians
fit which label. The Bebette Show used to portray a previous
Premier Ministre as a pelican: Balladur... "On dit 'Izmir'..."
* _Le cri de la gargouille_ / Dominique de Villepin
(Paris : Librairie générale française, 2003) 216 p. :
couv. ill. ; 18 cm ; Collection Le livre de poche 15435 ;
ISBN 2-253-15435-0.
[previous edition:
(Paris : A. Michel, 2002) ISBN 2-226-13429-8.
-- a "meditation" upon French politics, in the classical style --
wonderful writing, cascading imagery, pensive and deliberate
analysis of the good & the bad & the really ugly & the truly
magnificent, in the French political character, all by the person
who now has the key job of making things happen, there -- very
enjoyable reading.
* _Les Cent-jours ou L'esprit de sacrifice_ / Dominique
de Villepin (Paris : Éd. France loisirs, 2003) 634
p.-[16] p. de pl. en noir et en coul. : ill., jaquette
ill. en coul. ; 25 cm ; ISBN 2-7441-6183-7.
[previous editions:
([Paris] : Perrin, 2002) ISBN 2-262-01900-2.
([Paris] : Perrin, 2001) ISBN 2-262-01397-7.
(Paris : le Grand livre du mois, 2001) ISBN 2-7028-6394-9.
-- another wonderfully-written Villepin oeuvre: this time about a
childhood favorite, he says -- Bonaparte's "one hundred days"
return from Elba and tortured attempt to recapture and reposition
the French ship-of-state "naufrage", before Waterloo and St.
Helena hit. Upon Villepin's appointment as prime minister, Le
Tout Paris, and the rest, immediately nicknamed his government,
"Les Cent-jours de Villepin"... Indispensable reading for anyone
else whose childhood fascinations likewise included Napoleon,
particularly if Emil Ludwig was all that was available back then.
Also an interesting "meditation" upon the general difficulties of
selecting & motivating & supervising high-ranking people:
Bonaparte had a hard time of that, his second time around --
Villepin faces the challenge himself, now.
* _Aventuriers du monde : Les grands explorateurs
français au temps des premiers photographes 1866-1914_ /
Collectif, préf. Dominique de Villepin (Paris :
L'Iconoclaste, 2003) 306 p. ; 31 cm ; ISBN 2913366074.
* _Éloge des voleurs de feu_ / Dominique de Villepin
([Paris] : Gallimard, 2003) 822 p. ; 23 cm ; ISBN
2-07-071006-8.
-- and "on poetry", by the prime minister... Poetry!? Not too
many prime ministers, anywhere or anytime, or any who have
aspired to become prime ministers, have thought about much less
written about poetry. (Lincoln did: someone might tell Villepin
that.) Elegiac tone -- it's an elegy... -- but relaxing and,
again, very interesting reading.
Homme du destin? Perhaps not yet... But certainly person of the
hour, at least, in France now... See also Fabius & Sarkozy &
Jospin & Lang & very many others, still, also Villiers & Le Pen,
add Emmanuelli & Bové. But Villepin is off & running. And he
writes interesting things, and he writes them well.
Bonnes vacances.
--oOo--
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