The Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck
Extraits
Anglais apprentissage
The Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck
Alors qu'il décrit dès 1936 les conditions de vie dégradantes des travailleurs saisonniers dans l'Eden trompeur des vergers de Salinas et Bakersfield, Steinbeck prépare les textes virulents qu'il publiera dans le San Francisco News en octobre de la même année sous le titre " The Harvest Gypsies ", puis sous celui de " Dubious Battle in California " dans The Nation en septembre. Et lorsqu'en 1938, après avoir voyagé depuis l'Oklahoma jusqu'en Californie avec des familles entières de fermiers expulsés, il remanie ces articles pour publier son pamphlet Their Blood is Strong, le tracé et le souffle épiques du roman sont déjà là. La voix s'y fait accusatrice et dénonce avec des accents bibliques l'exploitation systématique de la terre et des itinérants. L'évolution singulière de ce texte en fait l'un des objets littéraires les plus fascinants de la culture américaine.
11/2007
Histoire internationale
Knowledge and Symbolization in Saint John of the Cross
The works of Juan de la Cruz contains numerous passages dealing with human cognition both ordinary and mystical. This study traces San Juan's examination of the mystic's knowledge in and through God. The sixteenth-century Spanish thinker stresses that conditionality is a fundamental character of all human knowledge, and brings to light a complex movement of contiguity between one and another mode of cognitive activity. Also discussed is the expression, through the instruments of prose and poetry, of the mystic's supereminent and therefore ineffable experience of knowledge and love. Relying upon Juan de la Cruz's own texts, it is shown how a relative communication can be effected despite the barriers separating mystical from ordinary cognition.
07/1993
Musique, danse
On a tué John Lennon
Le soir du 8 décembre 1980, alors qu'il rentre chez lui, au Dakota, à New York, John Lennon est abattu de quatre balles. Le tireur, un certain Mark Chapman, se débarrasse de son revolver et se met à lire L'Attrape-coeurs, le roman de Salinger, en attendant la police avec calme. La mort de John Lennon sonne le glas d'une époque et la fin de l'optimisme. Elle symbolise l'enterrement d'une génération, des années Peace and Love, du rêve de Woodstock et des lendemains qui rockaient. Le 9 décembre 1980 au matin, le monde du rock se réveille avec la gueule de bois...
03/2019
Monographies
Hilma af Klint. The Five Notebook 1
In 1896, Hilma af Klint and four other like-minded women artists left the Edelweiss Society and founded the "Friday Group", also known as "The Five". They met every Friday for spiritual meetings, including prayers, studies of the New Testament, meditation and séances. The medium exercised automatic writing and mediumistic drawing. Eventually they established contact with spiritual beings whom they called "The High Ones". In 1896, the five women began taking meticulous notes of the mediumistic messages conveyed by the spirits. In time, Hilma af Klint felt she had been selected for more important messages. After ten years of esoteric training with "The Five", aged 43, Hilma af Klint accepted a major assignment, the execution of The Paintings for the Temple. This commission, which engaged the artist from 1906 to 1915, changed the course of her life. In 1908, Rudolf Steiner, leader of the German Theosophical Society, held several lectures in Stockholm. He also visited af Klint's studio and saw some of the early Paintings for the Temple. In 1913, Steiner founded the Anthroposophical Society, which af Klint joined in 1920 and remained a member for the rest of her life.
01/2022
Philosophie
«Phädon», or «On the Immortality of the Soul»
This is the first modern translation of Moses Mendelssohn's classic work of 1767, the Phädon. It includes Mendelssohn's own introduction and appendix, as well as footnotes and explanatory introduction by David Shavin. (Charles Cullen's translation of 1789 is the only other extant translation.) The "modern Socrates" of the German classical period, Mendelssohn has created a beautiful translation and elaboration of Plato's Phädo led to a revolution in thought, and a subsequent renaissance in Germany. The debt of the German classical period to ancient Greece is embodied in Mendelssohn's Phädon, as is the promise of the American Revolution. The translation and accompanying notes recapture Mendelssohn's unique marriage of depth of thought and breadth of appeal.
12/2006
Musique, danse
John Coltrane. The Wise One
John Coltrane est l'un des premiers noms qui apparaît au moment de se plonger dans l'univers du jazz, mais il n'est pas simple d'appréhender son oeuvre du fait de sa diversité. Constamment à la recherche de nouvelles sonorités et désireux de faire évoluer son jeu, il a participé activement à l'évolution du genre. Après avoir joué avec les plus grands musiciens dont Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis ou Thelonious Monk auprès desquels il se construit un style unique, il devient une icône du saxophone à mesure qu'il livre nombre de disques majeurs tels Giant Steps, Olé, A Love Supreme ou Ascension. Coltrane emprunte une voie qui n'appartient qua lui, mêlant étroitement sa quête d'un absolu musical à sa profonde mystique. Développée sur la base d'une vaste collecte d'informations, cette biographie aborde et contextualise l'ensemble de la discographie du point de vue d'un auditeur curieux, avec l'envie d'amener le lecteur à sa musique. Ce livre revient également sur les événements majeurs ainsi que sur les personnages qui ont jalonné la vie de John Coltrane.
Jazz, Blues, Soul, Rap, Reggae
John Coltrane. The Wise One
John Coltrane est l'un des premiers noms qui apparaissent au moment de se plonger dans l'univers du jazz, mais il n'est pas simple d'appréhender son oeuvre du fait de sa diversité. Constamment à la recherche de nouvelles sonorités et désireux de faire évoluer son jeu, il participe activement à l'évolution du genre. Après avoir joué avec les plus grands musiciens dont Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis ou Thelonious Monk auprès desquels il se construit un style unique, il devient une icône du saxophone à mesure qu'il livre nombre de disques majeurs tels Giant Steps, Olé, A Love Supreme ou Ascension. Coltrane emprunte une voie qui n'appartient qu'à lui, mêlant étroitement sa quête d'un absolu musical à sa profonde mystique. Développée sur la base d'une vaste collecte d'informations, cette biographie aborde et contextualise l'ensemble de la discographie du point de vue d'un auditeur curieux, avec l'envie d'amener le lecteur à sa musique. Ce livre revient également sur les événements majeurs ainsi que sur les rencontres qui ont jalonné la vie de John Coltrane.
03/2023
Philosophie
Reading Life / Writing Fiction
Studies of the American novel of the 20s and 30s have tended to concentrate either on works by men (Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck), or on those written in the tradition of experimental modernism (Stein, Faulkner, Djuna Barnes). Based on the conviction that women writers of the period fictionalized their own private and public experiences and concerns, the present study offers an analytical introduction to some hundred novels by more than thirty writers. Its aim is to recover a significant corpus of forgotten or ignored texts, which will make a reconsideration of the centers of interest of American modernism unavoidable.
01/1994
Sciences politiques
The Structure of Political Communication in the United Kingdom, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany
Political Communication in The United Kingdom, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany differs in terms of what the peoples expect to take issue with, how they are prepared to talk about them, which choices they can make to solve problems and, finally, whom or which organizations they delegate to resolve them. This comparative media study of The Economist, Time and Der Spiegel attempts to extract the differences in politics of the three societies.
11/1987
Histoire internationale
On the Border - The Otherness of God and the Multiplicity of the Religions
The Christian theology of religions at present faces a crisis. What precisely is the task of the theology of religions ? Does it merely consist in interpreting the non-Christian religions as steps, phases or contributions in the light of Christianity ? Has one from the theological side conceded the maximum to the non-Christian religions by acknowledging them as anonymous Christianity (Karl Rahner)? This study is an exploration on how one shall liberate the religion of the other from anonymity : how one shall leave the other with his/her own name. The model of thought employed in this study is gained through an analysis of the intercultural process of understanding, explained with instances from Africa and South America.
01/1994
Histoire et Philosophiesophie
The Undergrowth of Science. Delusion, self-deception and human frailty
Walter Gratzer's themes in the stories he relates in The Undergrowth of Science are collective delusion and human folly. Science is generally seen as a process bound by rigorous rules, which its practitioners must not transgress. Deliberate fraud occasionally intrudes, but it is soon detected, the perpetrators cast out and the course of discovery barely disturbed. Far more interesting are the outbreaks of self-delusion that from time to time afflict upright and competent researchers, and then spread like an epidemic or mass-hysteria through a sober and respectable scientific community. When this happens the rules by which scientists normally govern their working lives are suddenly suspended. Sometimes these episodes are provoked by personal vanity, an unwillingness to acknowledge error or even contemplate the possibility that a hard-won success is a will o' the wisp; at other times they stem from loyalty to a respected and trusted guru, or even from patriotic pride; and, worst of ail, they may be a consequence of a political ideology which imposes its own interpretation on scientists' observations of the natural world. Unreason and credulity supervene, illusory phenomena are described and measured, and theories are developed to explain them - until suddenly, often for no single reason, the bubble bursts, leaving behind it a residue of acrimony, recrimination, embarrassment and ruined reputations.
Here, then, are radiations, measured with high precision yet existing only in the minds of those who observed them; the Russian water, which some thought might congeal the oceans: phantom diseases which called for heroic surgery; monkey testis implants that restored the sexual powers of ageing roués and of tired sheep; truths about genetics and about the nature of matter, perceptible only to Aryan scientists in the Third Reich or Marxist ideologues in the Soviet Union; and much more. The Undergrowth of Science explores, in terms accessible to the lay reader, the history of such episodes, up to our own time, in ail their absurdity, tragedy and pathos.
01/2000
Histoire et Philosophiesophie
Thinking about Physics
Physical scientists are problem solvers. They are comfortable "doing" science: they find problems, solve them, and explain their solutions. Roger Newton believes that his fellow physicists might be too comfortable with their roles as solvers of problems. He argues that physicists should spend more time thinking about physics. If they did, he believes, they would become even more skilled at solving problems and "doing" science. As Newton points out in this thought-provoking book, problem solving is always influenced by the theoretical assumptions of the problem solver. Too often, though, he believes, physicists haven't subjected their assumptions to thorough scrutiny. Newton's goal is to provide a framework within which the fundamental theories of modem physics can be explored, interpreted, and understood.
"Surely physics is more than a collection of experimental results, assembled to satisfy the curiosity of appreciative experts," Newton writes. Physics, according to Newton, has moved beyond the describing and naming of curious phenomena, which is the goal of some other branches of science. Physicists have spent a great part of the twentieth century searching for explanations of experimental findings. Newton agrees that experimental facts are vital to the study of physics, but only because they lead to the development of a theory that can explain them. Facts, he argues, should undergird theory.
Newton's explanatory sweep is both broad and deep. He covers such topics as quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, field theory, thermodynamics, the role of mathematics in physics, and the concepts of probability and causality. For Newton the fundamental entity in quantum theory is the field, from which physicists can explain the particle-like and wave-like properties that are observed in experiments. He grounds his explanations in the quantum field.
Although this is not designed as a standalone textbook, it is essential reading for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, and researchers. This is a clear, concise, up-to-date book about the concepts and theories that underlie the study of contemporary physics. Readers will find that they will become better-informed physicists and, therefore, better thinkers and problem solvers, too.
01/2000
Anglais apprentissage
LA VIERGE ET LE GITAN : THE VIRGIN AND THE GIPSY
When the vicar's wife went off with a young and penniless man the scandal knew no bounds. Her two little girls were only seven and nine years old respectively. And the vicar was such a good husband. True, his hair was grey. But his moustache was dark, he was handsome, and still full of furtive passion for his unrestrained and beautiful wife. Why did she go ? Why did she burst away with such an éclat of revulsion, like a touch of madness ? Nobody gave any answer. Only the pious said she was a bad woman. While some of the good women kept silent. They knew. The two little girls never knew. Wounded, they decided that it was because their mother found them negligible. The ill wind that blows nobody any good swept away the vicarage family on its blast. Then lo and behold ! the vicar, who was somewhat distinguished as an essayist and a controversialist, and whose case had aroused sympathy among the bookish men, received the living of Papplewick. The Lord had tempered the wind of misfortune with a rectorate in the north country. [...] "Lorsque la femme du pasteur s'enfuit avec un jeune homme sans le sou, le scandale ne connut pas de bornes. Ses deux fillettes n'avaient que sept et neuf ans respectivement. Et le pasteur était un si bon mari. Certes, il avait les cheveux gris, mais sa moustache était restée noire, il était bel homme et brûlait encore d'une passion furtive pour sa belle épouse immodeste. Pourquoi était-elle partie ? Pourquoi s'était-elle arrachée à lui, dans un tel éclat de dégoût, comme un grain de folie ? Personne n'apporta de réponse. Seules, les dévotes dirent que c'était une mauvaise femme. Cependant que certaines femmes de bien gardaient le silence. Elles comprenaient, elles. Les deux fillettes ne comprirent jamais. Blessées, elles jugèrent que c'était parce que leur mère les tenait pour quantité négligeable. Le vent du malheur qui est censé être bon à quelque chose balaya de son souffle les habitants de la cure. Puis, miracle, le pasteur, qui avait une certaine éminence comme essayiste et polémiste, et dont la situation avait su émouvoir certains intellectuels, fut nommé à la paroisse de Papplewick. Le Seigneur avait adouci l'ouragan du malheur par un bénéfice de recteur dans le nord du pays. " [...]
02/1993
Sciences de la terre et de la
Dinosaur imagery. The Science of Lost Worlds and Jurassic Art, The Lanzendorf Collection
"Paleo-art resides in many of the world's great Natural History Museums, but the most notable collection characterizing the present state of dinosaur art is that of John Lanzendorf. It would be impossible to collect all of the dinosaur artwork being produced today; if it could be done, John would be the one to do it. Highly respected by the artists he supports and the scientists he associates with, John has built an awe-inspiring collection that is representative of the genre and is the envy of many museums. As we move into a new millennium, his collection is the most appropriate source for documenting the marriage of the creative talents of artists and scientists."
The art of natural history is both compelling and emotive, often emblematic of society's view of our world. This same art also reflects the messages that scientists hope to send to a general audience as a part of their effort to influence how the public view and supports science. Art is both the medium and the message.
Dinosaur Imagery is a luxurious testimonial to the public fascination with dinosaurs, enriched by imagery that eloquently illustrates current scientific theories about dinosaur behavior, physiology, locomotion, and reproduction. The evidence for many of these hypotheses of dinosaur life is very good, and thus, the art of dinosaur depiction is rooted in scientific inquiry. The paintings and sculptures that illustrate dinosaur science are powerful, and museums and collectors vie for this art, paying top dollar to acquire it and display it. Dinosaur Imagery is a stunning fusion of superlative scientific inquiry and unparalleled artistic imagination. Regardless of back-ground, no person interested in dinosaurs should be without a copy of this book.
05/2000
Littérature érotique et sentim
Winter's wrath. Tome 1, Contrecoup
Ce sont des reclus, des moutons noirs, jamais acceptés nulle part, mais Winter's Wrath leur appartient. Et chaque membre du groupe rejette la norme lorsqu'il s'agit de musique. Ils ne font pas de compromis quand il s'agit d'amour. Alder Trousseau, guitariste principal du groupe qui détient son coeur et son âme, s'est toujours tenu dans l'ombre de l'homme qu'il hait : Braver "Brave" Trousseau, la voix de Winter's Wrath. Pour le succès du groupe, ils doivent travailler ensemble malgré leur antipathie mutuelle, mais cela s'avère difficile alors qu'ils ont le même type de femmes. Et d'hommes. Le sexe est une compétition pour Brave. Une compétition qui pourrait bien laisser les personnes auxquelles Alder tient totalement brisées. A moins qu'il les revendique comme siennes. Sur scène, les tensions rendent les fans fous. Les chansons qu'ils scandent sont des cris de guerre échauffant les sangs et mettant les corps en mouvement. Mais la vraie bataille se joue entre micros et coulisses, et pourrait bien anéantir le groupe.
01/2021
Musique classique
Songs of Love. 12 Romances. 12 Lieder. Soprano (tenor) and piano.
Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940), hitherto consigned to a footnote in musical history as Stravinsky's piano teacher, is undergoing rediscovery. A double graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatoire, she emerged as a virtuoso pianist and composer in the romantic tradition. She was associated with some of the great musicians of her day, including Balakirev and Auer. She performed in both Germany and the UK in the 1900s, but her career petered out after 1920. Songs of Love was first published in 1904. No evidence survives of any public performance in Kashperova's lifetime although it is very likely that they were performed at her regular 'musical evenings at home on Tuesdays' mentioned in her Memoirs. The transparency of the piano writing strongly suggests that she would accompany herself singing. Kashperova, by all accounts, possessed a fine voice, and in the summer of 1906 she decided 'to learn from the artistry', as she put it, of the tenor Raimond von Zur-Mühlen who was widely celebrated for having developed (with Clara Schumann) the Lieder-Abend tradition. His summer-schools on the Baltic coast were frequented by aspiring singers from all over Europe, even Japan and India. Kashperova herself was responsible for the poetic lyrics of Songs of Love (in both Russian and German), which may well have emerged from her own bittersweet experience of life and love ; she was not to marry until 1916 at the age of forty-four. That Kashperova is the author of both the music and the lyrics of Songs of Love would suggest that they express very personal sentiments. Instrumentation : soprano (tenor) and piano
12/2023
Tourisme étranger
Moroccan tracks Volume 11. The sagho djebel
The Sagho djebel is the eastern extension of the Anti-Atlas, a volcanic mountain with granitic mamelons, basaltic organs, chaos of black shales, pink sandstones... at the gates of the Sahara. As far as the eye can see, large wild, arid spaces. A desolate land made for the lonely DPM. And for a thousand miles around, silence is the only companion. Absolute plenitude and the desire to take to the track. From flat expanses to rolling hills, from sharp relief to steep canyons : pure, original nature. The character is strong, rustic but the heart is soft. The colours are soft and gentle. Ochre, pink, brown, violet, the colour chart stretches in a gradation of shimmering pastels, sometimes accompanied by an overwhelming heat. Eldorado in the heart of the desert, rare are the oases ; modest green spots in the infinitely large, they are the reminders that we are on African soil. The wild charm of the Sagho is due to its exceptional geology : high cliffs and steep peaks, tabular escarpments and deep canyons in the middle of which caravans of camels and mules circulate. When you arrive on these immense plateaus, the lunar horizon is so vast that you want to go everywhere at once to see if it is really as beautiful elsewhere ! The Sagho also surprises by the richness of its lights : limpid like those of the nearby Sahara, or sometimes in half-tone, as in the neighbouring Dades valley. The Sagho is also the Morocco of the last Berber nomads, descendants of the ancient lords Aït Atta. In autumn, after leaving the snows of the High Atlas, they set up their dark wool tents on the slopes of the jebel until spring. They can neither read nor write, but they are sure of their way through the Atlas Mountains and the Moroccan desert. In the Sagho, they have built houses of unbaked stone, dug wells, planted almond trees, grown wheat, barley and various vegetables. Others built herds of goats and sheep, and caravans of camels. Most of them are now sedentary, semi-nomadic or nomadic...
08/2022
Non classé
The Concept of Man in Igbo Myths
In the vast silence of their isolation, the traditional Igbos have learnt the ways of living in harmony with nature. From their origin in distant time, they have kept a sacred perspective on the natural world. In our age, there is the need for traditional wisdoms to retain their validity and be intrinsic to our philosophic and scientific perceptions of the cosmos. We cannot do without their knowledge, their spiritual perspective, and their deep faith in the harmony of all nature. Ignoring these qualities has profound environmental implications. Global warming, environmental pollution, and the exhaustion of nature's resources are but a few of the symptoms of the nature's experiences as we continue to mistreat it in order to satisfy our own ends. This work helps us to realise that wherever we are, we are a part of nature. All the things around us are as presences, representing forces and powers of life that are not ours and yet are all part of us. Then we find them reflecting in ourselves, because we are nature, though not identical with it.
11/1999
Non classé
Experimental Social Dilemmas
Most of the papers on social dilemmas were presented at a conference on social dilemmas that was held at the University of Groningen in the spring of 1984. Social dilemmas are interpersonal situations that are characterized by a conflict between private and collective interest, i.e. in attempting to further their private interests, participants may end up worser off than if they had abandonned self-interest and worked for the good of the community. The chapters in this book describe efforts made by social psychologists, sociologists, and political scientists to advance our understanding of the psychological processes that influence people's behavior in social dilemmas. It is assumed that understanding of these processes can help our search for solutions.
12/1986
Non classé
Studies in Scottish Fiction:- Nineteenth Century
The contributors to this volume of essays take a new look at nineteenth-century Scottish prose writing. Adopting diverse approaches, they discuss critically and in detail pre-Victorian and Victorian Scottish fiction represented by James Hogg, Sir Walter Scott, John Galt, Susan Edmonstone Ferrier, John Gibson Lockhart, Thomas Carlyle, William Edmonstoune Aytoun, George MacDonald, Robert Louis Stevenson, John Davidson, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, and James Matthew Barrie. There is a rich diversity in nineteenth-century Scottish literature, but there is also the distinct voice of cultural identity and national self-consciousness.
12/1985
Histoire et Philosophiesophie
CONSTRUCTING QUARKS. A Sociological History of Particle Physics
Widely regarded as a classic in its field, Constructing Quarks recounts the history of the post-war development of elementary particle physics. Inviting a reappraisal of the status of scientific knowledge, Andrew Pickering suggests that scientists are not passive observers; and reporters of nature. Rather, they are active producers of the world through a social symbiosis of experimental and theoretical practice.
"Constructing Quarks chronicles what many have begun to regard as a major revolution in 20th century science-the discovery of quarks and gauge field theories of strong, electromagnetic and weak interactions. A prodigious piece of scholarship that I can heartily recommend."
-Michael Riordan, New Scientist
"An admirable history.... Because his account is so detailed and so accurate, and because it makes clear why the physicists did what they did, it is eminently suited to be required reading for all young physicists entering or contemplating entering the practice of elementary-particle physics."
-Hugh N. Pendleton, Physics Today
"A very detailed description of a remarkable enterprise."
-John Polkinghorne, Times Higher Education Supplement
01/1984
Poésie
Epilepsy: the invisible pain
They say life is a long stretch of a calm river, but not for everyone ! She was for me until the day when everything rocked, the day my destiny was changed dramatically. People do not realize how life can be so sweet and so beautiful. They complain all day long for trivialities. They are not even aware that they have before their eyes the most beautiful wealth : the luck and happiness of living in good health. I was rich before. Now I am poor because my child has an incurable disease, that has currently no hope of being healed. As a parent, how can we accept that ? , How to continue living carrying the bundle of pain in my head ? , How to overcome this feeling of helplessness ? When I started speaking to my heart, I didn't know myself that this was the beginning of a new life : a rebirth as a poet. When I learnt that my 7-year-old daughter was suffering from the Dravet Syndrome, a rare genetic epileptic encephalopathy, this was like an earthquake in my life. Then, I needed to write in order to express my sorrow and my pain. Words and rhymes came naturally to my mind. This was obvious that poetry would be my survival weapon.
01/2019
Droit
Constructing Reality
Is Lily-Julie just a projection of Nicholas's own desires ? Is reality just a projection of our own ideas ? The former is one of the central questions in John Fowles's novel The Magus ; the latter is the nucleus of constructivism. This study traces constructivist ideas and their transformation into narrative in The Magus. For long before constructivist theories were put forth, John Fowles confronts both the protagonist of his novel and the reader with the central constructivist theme : the construction of reality.
11/1999
Non classé
From Scarcity to Sustainability
For futures studies and environmentalism the late 1960s and early 1970s were a heyday period of great publicity, and much scientific interest was devoted to them. The study 'Limits to Growth', commissioned by the Club of Rome, has played an important role for the further advancement of these fascinating fields. Each of them in its own way deals with the long term prospects of humankind and desirable future paths of humanity and the globe. This investigation illustrates a very important phase in the development of these two areas and writes a history of ideas and a history of impact of the Limits to Growth debate and other activities of the Club of Rome. It includes information that has so far only been known to a very limited number of directly involved individuals and looks into very recent stages of the sustainable development debate and newest developments of more pragmatic and critical futures studies. For the purpose of this study some 100 interviews have been made worldwide with very well known and often influential individuals. Among them are : Sicco Mansholt, Alexander King, Jan Tinbergen, Robert Jungk, Saburo Okita, Lord Kennet, Johan Galtung, Barry Commoner and Philip de Seynes.
12/1991
Littérature française
Les inventeurs. Essai
What do Christopher Columbus, Reneke, Zénobe Gramme and Louis Pasteur have in common ? They were all inventors. Well fine, but who invented the crab's claw, the suction cups and the flight of squids or the proboscis of blood sucking insects ? Is invention intellectual fantasy, an industrial tool or a fundamental biological reaction ? How is this riddle to be solved ? Should we go through the list of inventions or inventors ? Is it a question of circumstances or motivations ? Who is in charge ? The Material or the Spirit ? In order to try to find a way of answering these questions, first a few very different inventors and their inventions will be presented. A few paradoxes emerge from this first part. Then we will devote an entire chapter to an exceptional inventor whose extraordinary work revolutionized how we now approach this topic. Finally, what can be said about all the inventions like the wings of birds or butterflies, the eyes of fish or insects, the leaves of trees or the social organization of beehives ? In these cases, man is not the inventor. There are countless marvels like these in the world around us. Can we explain them ? This will be the subject of the third part of this essay.
02/2017
Lecture 6-9 ans
L'énigme du sabre. Edition bilingue français-anglais
C'est dimanche et comme souvent Louise et Arthur viennent rendre visite à leur grand-mère. Ils aiment bien y aller, elle joue avec eux et leur raconte plein d'histoires. Mais aujourd'hui, elle n'a pas le temps et les deux cousins s'ennuient. Alors, ils décident de grimper dans le grenier où sont entreposés de vieux souvenirs et objets abandonnés. Ils y ont déjà été, mais maintenant ils sont plus grands et peut-être trouveront-ils un trésor qu'ils n'avaient pas aperçu, lors de la dernière visite. Après un long moment de recherche, dans un coin, Louise découvre une malle poussiéreuse. Les deux cousins, l'ouvrent et entrevoient un sabre avec une inscription. Une trouvaille qui va les mener jusqu'à l'école militaire de Saint Cyr de Coëtquidan, sur les traces de leur grand père. It's a Sunday and often as not, Louise and Arthur go and visit their grandmother. They like to go there, she plays with them and tells them lots of stories. But this Sunday she does not have the time, so the two cousins are bored. They decide to climb up into the attic, where old memorabilia and abandoned objects are stored. They have been there before, but now that they are taller, maybe they will find a treasure they did not see during their last visit. After a long moment of searching, in a corner, Louise discovers a dusty trunk. The two cousins open it and see a sword with an inscription. A discovery that will lead them to the military school at Saint Cyr de Coëtquidan, in the footsteps of their grandfather.
06/2018
Policiers
Goebius' Strange Model
A company elaborates in great secrecy a project, vital to its very survival. As the project develops, it leads the protagonists far beyond the originally envisioned simple business strategy, and brings them close to the forefront of the physical laws governing the behavior of the universe. Two intrigues intertwine... will they meet ? Or do they form the single-sided face of a Möbius strip ? "This novel is as unexpected as a UFO, and refreshing..." Cédric Villani, Fields Medal 2010. "This book is fascinating, I read it all at once..." Etienne Ghys, Perpetual Secretary of the French Academy of Sciences.
01/2020
Décoration
Colour and meaning. Art, Science and Symbolism
'John Gage's Colour and Meaning... is full of ideas... He is one of the best writers on art now alive' - A.S. Byatt
'Magnificent' - The Independent on Sunday
'Erudite but accessible' - The Architect's Journal
Is colour just a physiological phenomenon? Does it have an effect on feelings? This vividly written book, the sequel to Gage's award-winning Colour and Culture, is ultimately informed by the conviction that the meaning of colour lies in the particular historical context in which it is experienced and interpreted.
John Gage explores the mysteries of themes as diverse as the optical mixing techniques implicit in mosaic, colour-languages in Latin America at the time of the Spanish Conquest and the ideas of Goethe and Runge, Blake and Turner. For students and lecturers in the history of art and culture, for artists and designers, and for psychologists and scientists with a special interest in the subject, John Gage has produced a compelling study of the meaning of colour through the ages.
01/1999
Littérature française
Sons of Fantasy
When we were children, we believed anything was possible... This book is a fantasy novel originally written for children. But, if you are a father or a mother, a teacher or a writer, if you still have some bits of fantasy in your soul... then, this novel is for you too. We all know how geniuses changed the world with their childlike Imagination, and how people use creative thinking to solve problems. This is a story about hope ; "Sons of Fantasy" shares the story of M. Alger, a father grieving for the loss of his dear wife, who left him with two beautiful kids. Norris and Socrates were adjusting to life without Mom... But things got more complicated when one of them was paralyzed because of a severe psychological trauma due to an overdose of fantasy... This family has a very interesting neighbor who lives a few feet away. He has a weird little hobby, reading books in the most unlikely places... He for example travelled to Romania and read "Dracula" by Bram Stoker in the Castelul Bran Castle, because it's said that the main character Dracula lived in it. And then all of a sudden he stopped travelling... He got a month ago a big long hat that belongs to the greatest witch that lived during the middle ages, "Moje Gayla". In fact, after being burned by the church, one of her relatives kept her belongings inside a wooden box... and in the twentieth century one of her grandchildren donated the box to "The Magic Square Museum" in London. Genius bought the hat at a public auction as an art relic to decorate one of his rooms. Could this weird neighbor be the reason of Socrates' psychological trauma ? Or maybe he is the one who will cure him ? And what has the hat to do with all this ?
08/2018
Cinéma
Aesthetica antarctica. The Thing de John Carpenter
Aux confins du monde humain, en Antarctique, un organisme mystérieux est découvert dans la glace par une équipe de scientifiques. Exhumée et réanimée, la Créature de The Thing de John Carpenter constitue une énigme pour le regard. Chacune de ses manifestations à l'écran la présente sous un jour différent : un malamute de l'Alaska, des restes humains bicéphales calcinés, un chien dont le faciès explose en déhiscences florales, une tête humaine mobile dotée de cornes d'escargot et de pattes d'araignée. L'impossibilité de saisir une forme stable de cette Chose porte le doute sur la nature de tout corps représenté à l'image. Il faut, en de telles circonstances, délaisser la question du monstre au cinéma pour envisager celle du monstre de cinéma. Que signifie, au-delà du simple ressort fictif, la nature métamorphique de la Créature ? Que peut-elle nous donner à penser sur la nature des figures filmiques ? En endossant une perspective attentive à la question du matériau, cet ouvrage propose, à partir du film de John Carpenter, une réflexion traversant l'histoire de l'art, la littérature fantastique, l'esthétique et la philosophie de l'art, se renouvelant au contact d'opérateurs empruntés à la biologie et à la physique.
11/2019
