While the tow-boat, in which Christophe now embarked floated, impelled by a light east wind, down the river Loire the famous cardinal de Lorraine, and his brother the second Duc de Guise, one of the greatest warriors of those days, were contemplating, like eagles perched on a rocky summit, their present situation, and looking prudently about them before striking the great blow by which they intended to kill the Reform in France at Amboise – an attempt recorded twelve years later in Paris, August 24, 1572, on the feast of Saint-Bartholemew.
Catherine de' Medici: the Calvinist Martyr, 1828, by Honoré de Balzac, tr. Katharine Prescott Wormeley
Yes, that was what he was looking at, the wind. The wind that had escaped to the sea, an entire shore of wind that flew above the sea.
Yann Andréa Steiner, 1992, by Marguerite Duras, tr. Barbara Bray
Thursday, December 24, 2015
wind that flew above the sea
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just got power back after three days... st. bartholemew's day ; dumas et al. the scarlet pimpernel's father? live around then i think or maybe that was henry VII. the wind the wind blows our trees over and robs us of electricity. between the wind and earthquakes it's no wonder the ancients worshipped gods... not making sense today: tired after no sleep and too much work...
ReplyDeleteIt's been windy around here as well. I can easily imagine being impressed and worshipful in the face of this force that shows you where it is by pushing around everything that it isn't.
DeleteThat Duras passage is gorgeous. I've been thinking a lot about wind, and the sky, of late.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're making these end-of-year pairings again. It reinforces my notion that all of literature is one big book, talking to itself, and we just jump into the conversation here and there. Or something like that. What I mean to say is that I'm reading all of these posts and, as with last year, it's quite a good idea, so thanks.
If you like the Duras then here's the part that I trimmed off before I posted it:
Delete"But no, he was looking behind him, back where the wind came from, because that wind was so strong, a solid block, so strong that it was as if it had changed direction, come from the forests, from a place unknown; as if it had left this ocean sky for the unknown shores of another time.
Yes, that was what he was looking at, the wind. The wind that had escaped to the sea, an entire shore of wind that flew above the sea."