Great Lover Research Articles

Material for studying the garden myths of King John III from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century

The image of King John III as a great lover of gardens is permanently enshrined in Polish tradition and is still alive in the consciousness of many Poles. The sources of this phenomenon are stories, legends and anecdotes published throughout the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, crediting him with planting a countless number of trees, bringing poplars from the Ottoman Empire or employing Turkish captives to build the gardens of the Wilanów palace. The belief in their veracity was so strong that even eminent historians, ethnographers, horticulturists and botanists included them in scientific publications and encyclopaedias published at the time. This is how a kind of garden mythology of King John III was created, which to this day has not been analysed or verified in a more detailed way. The aim of the present study was to collect and systematise the most important motifs in the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature related to King John IIIs gardening activities. In addition, the sources of the myth of John III as the gardener king were identified and verified, and existing monumental solitaires, groups of trees and avenues in contemporary Poland commemorating the victory at the Battle of Vienna or the royal couple were identified.

The life and personality of Semyon Semyonovich Zimnitsky in the memoirs of contemporaries and students (on the 150th anniversary of his birth)

Semyon Semyonovich Zimnitsky is an outstanding Russian and Soviet scientist, a doctor of the highest class, who has received worldwide recognition. He lived only 54 years, lived and worked in a very difficult social environment and no less problematic close circle. To his brilliant successes S.S. Zimnitsky owes both his heredity and his teachers — outstanding scientists of Russia, professors Sergei Sergeevich Botkin, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, as well as the conditions for fruitful work that were created at the end of his career. Zimnitsky's charisma was largely determined by his personal qualities. The article shows for the first time the characterological features of his unique, active nature. The people around him described the personality traits of S.S. Zimnitsky in very contradictory ways: from “very obstinate, emotional, constantly conflicting, not shy in expressions, tearing up medical records” to “a gentle, kind person, lively, cheerful, always energetic, always cheerful, with a friendly face, good-natured, with subtle humor, lyrically glorifying nature”. These characteristics differ in tone, but are similar in one thing — S.S. Zimnitsky was a very emotional person. Being a true patriot, through his research he called for Russian science to receive the same powerful magnitude and strength as Russian culture. A passionate and convinced fanatic of his ideas, he was a fiery polemicist, and this exceptional temperament, which gave an original and often bright subjective color to his reports and especially polemical speeches, was one of the significant obstacles to the dissemination of the brilliant ideas and achievements of S.S. Zimnitsky. A great lover of nature and connoisseur of it, S.S. Zimnitsky often, both when analyzing patients on rounds and at lectures, borrowed from nature living and original comparisons and examples that clearly depicted the phenomenon and were forever etched in the memory. His love for nature was also reflected in his poetic works, where much attention was paid to its beauties.

Socio -Cultural Elements in the Songs of Bishnu Prasad Rabha: A Retrospective

Bishnu Prasad Rabha has been an accomplished musician, creative writer, acclaimed master of fine arts, social activist and politician. His contribution to Assamese social and cultural life is great. When we talk about modern Assamese music, we need to mention the name of the musician par excellence Bishnu Prasad Rabha. His contribution to modern Assamese lyrical literature is great. Bishnu Prasad Rabha was a profound composer and musician of his times. He has numerous songs to his credit which speak of the aspirations of the Assamese community at large. Whether be it a romantic song or a patriotic song yet unique quality of the composer Bishnu Prasad Rabha was always there. He was born to Sardar Bahadur Gopal Chandra Rabha, an efficient officer under the Governor of Bengal. He was honoured with Order of Merit of the British empire. Bishnu Prasad’s mother was Gethi Rabha. He was born as the eighth child on 31st January, 1909 at Dhaka. Gopal Chandra Rabha was a great lover of music. Music sessions were held at his residence where the little Bishnu Prasad got acquainted with all the stalwarts of music in Bengal. Unfortunately, his father Gopal Chandra met an untimely death and the family fell into adversity. His widow Gethi along with her children took shelter at their own house in Tezpur. Bishnu Prasad resumed his studies in Tezpur He continued with his other co-curricular activities as well. It is no easy task to assess the worth of the multi -talented personality of Bishnu Prasad Rabha. In his lifetime he was a live legend. Music, fine arts, theatre performance, creative writing, politics, creating social awareness- he explored in all these diverse fields and won accolades for his exceptional contribution. His physical contribution towards the greater Assamese society came to a stop on 20th June, 1969 due to throat cancer. But the grand legacy of his craftsmanship lives on. In this Paper an attempt has been made to assess the socio-cultural elements present in his songs.

Eusebia, Elena e l’imperatore romano Giuliano l’Apostata

Eusebia, Helena, and the Emperor Julian the Apostate The Emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus, known to posterity as the Apostate, is an extraordinary figure in the history of the Roman Empire. And although he was Caesar for only five years (355–360), and Emperor for less than two years (361–363), he became famous as a wise and just ruler, a good commander, a brave soldier, and an efficient administrator. He was also a great lover of ancient culture and a talented writer. He left behind many official letters and literary works. His writings provide valuable information both about the Roman state in the fourth century and about himself and his family. He was also one of the best educated Roman rulers, well versed in Greek and Latin literature, philosophy, and history. Two exceptional women played a particularly important role in the life of Julian the Apostate: his wife Helena and Eusebia, the wife of Emperor Constantius II, his cousin. Both were endowed with many good qualities, which are mentioned not only by Julian the Apostate himself in his writings, but also by other ancient authors, including the historians Ammianus Marcellinus, Eutropius, Zosimos, the rhetorician Libanius, and historians of the Church Socrates Scholasticus and Hermias Sozomen. Both Eusebia and Helena are very interesting figures. But, while about Eusebia there is a great deal of information in various sources, about Helena there are only brief mentions. Nevertheless, both of these empresses are worth closer attention. In my article, written in Italian, I present a picture of the virtues of Helena and Eusebia, as contained in the writings of the Emperor Julian the Apostate himself, as well as other ancient authors.

Un francez cu suflet de oltean: Charles Laugier. Însemnări despre activitatea medicală, culturală și publicistică

The mission which we undertook on the occasion of celebrating a century since the publication of the first issue of the "Arhivele Olteniei" magazine, is to bring to the audience's attention the actions, the deeds of a great lover of Craiova culture from the beginning of the 20th century. In this article we will praise the personality and activity of Dr. Charles Hyppolite Laugier, founder of the publication "Arhivele Olteniei", who showed tenacity and a spirit of organization and enthusiasm in his approach to the medical, cultural and scientific field of Oltenia.

Davidson L. Hepburn, PhD: 13th District

Davidson L. Hepburn, PhD:13th District Myron E. Reed In June I had the honor of speaking with Davidson L. Hepburn, PhD, a native of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. For those unfamiliar with The Bahamas, it is comprised of a chain of islands spread over 500 miles in the Atlantic Ocean, located east of Florida, north of Cuba and the island of Hispaniola, and west of the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands (with which it forms the Lucayan Archipelago). The island's capital is Nassau, which lies on the island of New Providence. Andros is the country's largest island. The other inhabited islands, some of which have interesting names, are Grand Bahama, Rum Cay, Eleuthera, Cat Island, Long Island, San Salvador, Ragged Island, Crooked Island, Acklins, Exuma, Great Inagua, Great Abaco, the Bimini Islands, Mayaguana, and the Berry Islands. The country of approximately 400,000 residents is 90% Black, with the overwhelming majority of its citizens considering themselves Christians. Interestingly, the country is one of the richest in the western hemisphere, following the United States and Canada, with an economy based, in large part, on offshore finance and tourism. Dr. Hepburn has had a long and distinguished career in public service. Among his honors include serving as Ambassador of the Bahamas to the United Nations (UN), President of the General Conference of the United Nations, Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and non-resident Ambassador of the Bahamas to Cuba and Haiti. Myron E. Reed: Brother Hepburn, you obviously have had a long, distinguished, and impactful career in public service. For the purpose of this discussion let's focus on your early life, formal education accomplishments, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and some of your professional experiences. Davidson L. Hepburn: Yes, that would be fine. I am deeply honored to be among the Omega Men selected for this project. [End Page 371] MER: Tell me about your early life growing up in The Bahamas. DLH: I was born on Cat Island, Dowds hamlet, New Bight. I lived there until I was about 15 years of age then moved to Nassau, New Providence, the capital, to continue my education. To give you an idea of how rural life was on Cat Island, the school I attended was a one-room schoolhouse where all students met and studied together. I had a wonderful childhood upbringing. My parents were very dedicated to my education, particularly my mother. MER: What did your mother and father do for a living? DLH: My parents were farmers, we had various crops and had livestock such as sheep, goats, and horses. MER: Talk a little more about your early life on Cat Island? DLH: I was one of eight children. One of my early vivid memories was that among the sons, after reaching a certain age, as an early test we were required to break in a horse. The way we did it on Cat Island was to take the horse into the ocean into water up to the horse's shoulders so they could not run away. After the horse becomes calm, we walked the animal back to the sand where they would dash away, and if you didn't fall off, you passed the test. I was never a great lover of horses, but it was something we were required to do. MER: How did your early education progress after Cat Island? DLH: I finished high school in Nassau, New Providence. MER: What high school did you attend? DLH: I attended Southern Senior High School along with evening continuation classes to help prepare myself for the required junior and senior certificate examinations. MER: Was Catholicism a big part of the curriculum at the schools you attended? DLH: No, Catholicism was not part of the curriculum, but the Baptist church had a major influence and control of the youth. At a certain age we were required to be baptized and became full members of the church. Baptisms were held on the beach. There was a specific area set aside for the ceremony with a hole for the minister and helpers. Each candidate would be escorted out and dipped into the water...

‘Many straunge sygnes and tokyns’: The Affective Power of Thomas Malory’s Palomides

Despite explicit comparisons to Lancelot and Tristram throughout the Morte Darthur, the Muslim knight Sir Palomides is denied their status as both a great knight and a great lover because of his race and religion. Malory offers a surprisingly compelling glimpse of the psychological toll of that liminality and isolation.

Davidson L. Hepburn, PhD: 13th District

Davidson L. Hepburn, PhD:13th District Myron E. Reed In June I had the honor of speaking with Davidson L. Hepburn, PhD, a native of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. For those unfamiliar with The Bahamas, it is comprised of a chain of islands spread over 500 miles in the Atlantic Ocean, located east of Florida, north of Cuba and the island of Hispaniola, and west of the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands (with which it forms the Lucayan Archipelago). The island's capital is Nassau, which lies on the island of New Providence. Andros is the country's largest island. The other inhabited islands, some of which have interesting names, are Grand Bahama, Rum Cay, Eleuthera, Cat Island, Long Island, San Salvador, Ragged Island, Crooked Island, Acklins, Exuma, Great Inagua, Great Abaco, the Bimini Islands, Mayaguana, and the Berry Islands. The country of approximately 400,000 residents is 90% Black, with the overwhelming majority of its citizens considering themselves Christians. Interestingly, the country is one of the richest in the western hemisphere, following the United States and Canada, with an economy based, in large part, on offshore finance and tourism. Dr. Hepburn has had a long and distinguished career in public service. Among his honors include serving as Ambassador of the Bahamas to the United Nations (UN), President of the General Conference of the United Nations, Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and non-resident Ambassador of the Bahamas to Cuba and Haiti. Myron E. Reed: Brother Hepburn, you obviously have had a long, distinguished, and impactful career in public service. For the purpose of this discussion let's focus on your early life, formal education accomplishments, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and some of your professional experiences. Davidson L. Hepburn: Yes, that would be fine. I am deeply honored to be among the Omega Men selected for this project. [End Page 371] MER: Tell me about your early life growing up in The Bahamas. DLH: I was born on Cat Island, Dowds hamlet, New Bight. I lived there until I was about 15 years of age then moved to Nassau, New Providence, the capital, to continue my education. To give you an idea of how rural life was on Cat Island, the school I attended was a one-room schoolhouse where all students met and studied together. I had a wonderful childhood upbringing. My parents were very dedicated to my education, particularly my mother. MER: What did your mother and father do for a living? DLH: My parents were farmers, we had various crops and had livestock such as sheep, goats, and horses. MER: Talk a little more about your early life on Cat Island? DLH: I was one of eight children. One of my early vivid memories was that among the sons, after reaching a certain age, as an early test we were required to break in a horse. The way we did it on Cat Island was to take the horse into the ocean into water up to the horse's shoulders so they could not run away. After the horse becomes calm, we walked the animal back to the sand where they would dash away, and if you didn't fall off, you passed the test. I was never a great lover of horses, but it was something we were required to do. MER: How did your early education progress after Cat Island? DLH: I finished high school in Nassau, New Providence. MER: What high school did you attend? DLH: I attended Southern Senior High School along with evening continuation classes to help prepare myself for the required junior and senior certificate examinations. MER: Was Catholicism a big part of the curriculum at the schools you attended? DLH: No, Catholicism was not part of the curriculum, but the Baptist church had a major influence and control of the youth. At a certain age we were required to be baptized and became full members of the church. Baptisms were held on the beach. There was a specific area set aside for the ceremony with a hole for the minister and helpers. Each candidate would be escorted out and dipped into the water...

Uniwersalno-teologalny wymiar muzyki i śpiewu w ujęciu Benedykta XVI

Niniejszy artykuł został napisany głównie w oparciu o liczne przemówienia Benedykta XVI z okazji ofiarowanych mu koncertów wielkiej muzyki światowej. Wyłania się z nich obraz papieża jako wielkiego miłośnika i znawcy tej dziedziny. W jego komentarzach i wypowiedziach muzykologicznych wybijają się dwie podstawowe cechy muzyki i śpiewu: charakter uniwersalny oraz charakter teologalny. Uniwersalny, ponieważ odsyła słuchacza ku sprawom nieprzemijającym, ponadnarodowym, ponadkulturowym. Te aspekty starano się wydobyć z papieskich przemówień w pierwszej części artykułu. Jednak to zorientowanie muzyki i śpiewu ku temu, co uniwersalne, nie jest u Benedykta XVI ukierunkowaniem ku jakiemuś czystemu abstrakcjonizmowi, jakiejś pustce egzystencjalnej, lecz jest ukierunkowaniem teologalnym, tzn. ku Stwórcy piękna kosmosu, ale i piękna artystycznego, w tym muzycznego, Dawcy talentów tworzących piękno, a równocześnie ku Bogu­‑Człowiekowi, który objawił się jako Miłość osobowa. Muzyka i śpiew umożliwiają poszukiwanie Boga i zarazem kontemplację tajemnic Jego istnienia i działania zbawczego. W przekonaniu papieża nie da się oddzielić wymiaru uniwersalnego od teologalnego; w jego nauczaniu nawzajem się przenikają.

Hilary Koprowski (5.12.1916-11.04.2013) polski lekarz, pionier wirusologii i immunologii, pianista klasyczny, wizjoner, erudyta

Hilary Koprowski (1916-2013) Wybitny naukowiec, pionier wirusologii i immunologii, twórca pierwszej w świecie doustnej szczepionki przeciw wirusowi poliomyelitis (?polio?) wywołującemu chorobę Heinego-Medina, a także ulepszonej szczepionki przeciw wściekliźnie i różyczce, inicjator badań nad przeciwciałami monoklonalnymi w diagnostyce nowotworów i immunoterapii. Opublikował ponad 900 prac naukowych. Dyrektor Instytutu Wistara (1957-1991) oraz profesor Instytutu Biotechnologii i Zaawansowanej Medycyny Molekularnej, dyrektor Centrum Neurowirusologii i Laboratoriów Fundacji Biotechnologii w Thomas Jefferson University (1992-2013) w Filadelfii. Erudyta i humanista, gigant intelektu, poliglota, wielki miłośnik muzyki, sztuki i poezji. Autor opowiadań, wierszy, sztuk teatralnych, utworów muzycznych. Doktor honoris causa kilku światowej sławy uniwersytetów. Wieloletni członek Amerykańskiej Narodowej Akademii Nauk i Polskiej Akademii Nauk. Uhonorowany licznymi godnościami akademickimi oraz odznaczeniami narodowymi wielu państw (USA, Polska, Francja, Belgia, Finlandia). W 2012 r. dzieci polskie mianowały prof. H. Koprowskiego Kawalerem Orderu Uśmiechu. W roku stulecia odzyskania niepodległości przez Polskę, 11. listopada 2018, pośmiertnie uhonorowany Orderem Orła Białego dla niezwykłych Polaków. Patron m. in. Gdańskiego Parku Naukowo-Technologicznego.

THE CONCEPT OF MAḤABBAH PERSPECTIVE OF RABI'ATUL ADAWIYAH

The Divine love story of Rabi’atul Adawiyah is one of the legendary stories that has been told from time to time. This story has washed away many hearts of listeners, especially those who want to be one with God. However, this story is often only used as a fairy tale that leaves no mark on the listeners, even though this story gives a great awareness of the importance of one's love for others and of course for God. Rabiatul Adawiyah appeared as a tough woman not necessarily a great lover, but was born from the womb of a life full of struggles. His life experiences, socio-political conditions, his views on world life, and the existence of his God became a long process in his search for and discovering the concept of divine love.

Marka Evangelizminin Satın Alma Bağımlılığı, Satın Alma Niyeti ve Tavsiyede Bulunma Üzerindeki Etkisi: Taraftar Ürünleri Örneği (The Effect of Brand Evangelism on Purchasing Addiction, Intention to Purchase and Recommendation: The Case of Fan Products)

Purpose – Brand evangelism is a more advanced form of Word of mouth marketing. If word of mouth marketing is a framework for marketing communication, brand evangelism is a spirit. In brand evangelism; the consumer is acting as the defender, ambassador and lawyer of the brand and he/she is a great fan or a great lover of the brand. Studies conducted on the brand evangelism in Turkey is quite limited and is therefore still open to development. Design/methodology/approach – With this study, it is aimed to contribute to the literature on brand evangelism. For this purpose, eFANgelism scale was used in the study and thus the effect of brand evangelism on purchasing addiction, intention to purchase and brand recommendation was tried to be determined. In this respect, a questionnaire was conducted with 614 participants using convenience sampling method and tested in SPSS 25. Findings – The findings show that; brand evangelism has an impact on on purchasing addiction, intention to purchase and recommendation. Therefore, what marketing experts need to do is to create a community of evangelist consumers. Discussion – Marketing managers should see Evangelism Marketing as part of their marketing strategy. Evangelist consumers can play a critical role in the business's acquisition of new customers and increase the sales of the brand. Because brand evangelists run the embassy of the brand without any interest, which can be effective in convincing potential customers.

“Prefer not, eh?”: Re-Scribing the Lives of the Great War Poets in Contemporary British Historical Fiction

Although the First World War has become history by now, the memory of the war continues to be repeatedly fictionalised: retrospectively inspired narratives are often regarded as more genuine and far-reaching than historical or documentary accounts in their rendition of the past. Yet, memory is creatively selective, reflecting a highly-conflicted process of sifting and discerning what should be remembered, neglected or amplified from the stream of war experience. In his book about Pat Barker, Mark Rawlinson argues that “historical fiction has been transformed in the post-war period by the way writers have exploited the porous and unstable demarcation between fiction and no fiction, stories and history” (14). Jill Dawson’s The Great Lover (2009), Geoff Akers’s Beating for the Light: The Story of Isaac Rosenberg (2006) and Robert Edric’s In Zodiac Light (2008) have not become best sellers like Barker’s Regeneration trilogy; yet, they too represent the predominant commemorative drift in contemporary British fiction about the Great War. Without doubt, these three authors have followed in Barker’s steps in their purpose of holding a mirror to real people and real events in the past and of deciphering the deleted text of ‘the war to end all wars.’ However, while Barker chose to write about the often-anthologised Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, Dawson, Akers and Edric base their narratives on the writings, and lives, of Rupert Brooke, Isaac Rosenberg and Ivor Gurney respectively. My discussion of these three novels will explore the various ways in which the past can be accessed and interpreted from the present and represented in fiction. The authors’ decisions as to what historical instances to unravel do not just reveal the relation that contemporary British fiction entertains with the Great War and with history, but also how the past erupts in the present to interrogate it. Taking three salient features of Hutcheon’s “historiographic metafiction” (1988)—intertextuality, parody and paratextuality—as my theoretical points of departure, I will explore the dominant frameworks and cultural conditions (that is the propagation of either patriotic or protest readings) within which the Great War has been narrated in the novels and the new approaches, opportunities and ethical implications of using historical and literary sources to re-scribe a previously non-existent version of the lives of the iconic Great War Poets.

소설에서 초점화의 이해와 교육— ｢특별하고도 위대한 연인｣, ｢타인의 방｣, ｢유예｣를 중심으로 —

소설에서 초점화의 이해와 교육— ｢특별하고도 위대한 연인｣, ｢타인의 방｣, ｢유예｣를 중심으로 —

Lwówek Śląski in the arms of the muses. The activity of prince Constantin Hohenzollern’s private orchestra in the period of 1852–1869.

Prince Constantine (Friedrich Wilhelm Constantine) of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, a great music lover, aimed to create a good orchestra at his court. In the 1840s, he had already had a decent ensemble conducted by Thomas Täglichsbeck, which gave regular concerts in Hechingen. Villa Eugenia, the prince’s palace at that time, hosted numerous prominent figures from the world of music, first of all Franz Liszt; this acquaintance had a great influence on Constantine. After he abdicated and moved to his dominions in Silesia, in 1852 the prince decided to build a little palace with a concert hall for three hundred people in Lwówek Śląski (then German Löwenberg in Schlesien). Free weekly performances of the orchestra in the winter season (from November to April) in a provincial town of five thousand dwellers were something unheard of, so they soon attracted attention of music lovers. The artistic life of Lwówek was frequently described in the press in Wrocław, Leipzig and Berlin, it was also mentioned in foreign magazines. People praised the excellence of the orchestra, which achieved the peak of its capacities under the new chapelmaster Max Seifriz. He worked systematically on new repertoire and was particularly eager to perform compositions by young composers of the so-called New German School. The ensemble’s fame was consolidated by concerts whose guest conductors were the stars of the world of music of that time, i.e., Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagner. The activity of the orchestra and the time of musical glory of Lwówek came to a sudden end when prince Constantine died in 1869.

Lloyd Shapley and Chess with Imperfect Information

Abstract Anyone who has ever studied game theory knows the name Lloyd Shapley. Just recall Matching, Deferred-Acceptance Algorithm, Core, Market Games, Stochastic Games, Shapley value, and Shapley vector. 1 But Professor Shapley was also a great lover of chess with imperfect information. Upon our first encounter at Stony Brook in 1998, I was fortunate to investigate the chess problems he set before me. In this essay I analyze some of those problems, in commemoration of Lloyd Shapley's contributions to the study of chess and chess with imperfect information.

Lloyd Shapley and chess with imperfect information

Anyone who has ever studied game theory knows the name Lloyd Shapley. Just recall Matching, Deferred-Acceptance Algorithm, Core, Market Games, Stochastic Games, Shapley value, and Shapley vector.1 But Professor Shapley was also a great lover of chess with imperfect information. Upon our first encounter at Stony Brook in 1998, I was fortunate to investigate the chess problems he set before me. In this essay I analyze some of those problems, in commemoration of Lloyd Shapley's contributions to the study of chess and chess with imperfect information.

Mieczysław Wallis w poszukiwaniu piękna - impresje z podróży

The article presents impressions from research expeditions of polish 19th century scholar - Mieczyslaw Wallis . This aesthetician, philosopher and historian of art was a great beauty lover. So, in his travels around the country and abroad he searched manifestations of the beauty in: architecture, painting, sculpture and formations of nature as well. His handwritten notes which contained his memories from these journeys are very important and intellectually atractive reading.

La femme de nos vies by Didier Van Cauwelaert

Reviews 221 roman à clé that provided often malicious portrayals of France’s literary glitterati, Portraits is seemingly a much gentler work. Although its title appears to focus on women, the real portrait is of Sollers viewed from the perspective of the real and imagined women in his life, the women he loved and the ones he created in his fiction. This is clear from the book’s first line, a pastiche of one of Simone de Beauvoir’s more resounding pronouncements, “On ne naît pas homme, on le devient, la plupart du temps à ses dépens” (11). For Sollers the most important part of this quotation is the section he added,“la plupart du temps à ses dépens.” The author seems to imply that if he has become an intelligent and sensitive adult, a good deal of the credit is due to the women he encountered and molded him, at times despite himself, into the man he is today. With Eugenia he experienced the morphing of the purely sexual into the erotic as he learned that“une femme est faite, ou non, pour vous confronter à la vérité physique, à son abîme, à son sillage, à ses éclosions” (35). It was Dominique “qui m’a appris une discipline stricte, la traverse de la vie et des apparences au bout des mots” (40). From one the life of the body and from the other the life of the mind, from one the joy of the transient and from the other the pleasure of turning the passing moment into something which may endure. While these two states of being can appear to be polar extremes, what unites them is the need in each instance for discipline. One is not born, he seems to say, a great lover or a talented writer, but one can at least learn the former if not always the latter, and for him the great teachers in both areas were women. For all its charm, a reader might wonder where Sollers is going with this little text which features graceful writing suffused with a Gallic version of sexual political correctness. Despite the lightness of Sollers’s touch, one suspects a deeper, darker judgment. A tentative response may be found toward the end of the volume. If the first and main section of Portraits is autobiographical, the latter, shorter portion favors a form of literary analysis. It is here one is rather startled to learn that “Toute femme est une Cléopâtre en puissance”(140). If Sollers praises the intelligence, understanding, and patience of women throughout, it is only at the end that he acknowledges in a muted way the incredible power over men that the gentle sex wields. Florida State University William Cloonan Van Cauwelaert, Didier. La femme de nos vies. Paris: Albin Michel, 2013. ISBN 978-2-226-24686-8. Pp. 294. 19,50 a. Prix Goncourt 1994 recipient Van Cauwelaert’s most recent novel is the story of an imposture, but it is first and foremost a love story. The narrator, who is named David Rosfeld, returns to Hadamar hospital in Germany, where he should have died seventy years earlier, to reunite with Ilsa Schaffner, a woman to whom he owes his life. An Internet alert has notified him that Ilsa, for whom he had been searching for decades, is dying and at the very hospital where they first met. At Hadamar, David meets Ilsa’s only living relative, her granddaughter Marianne, who has shunned her grandmother her entire life, ashamed of having a person officially labeled a Nazi in her family. But over David’s lunch invitation, Marianne hears David’s incredible story about his own identity which he hopes will rehabilitate Ilsa’s memory in her eyes. Given up by his Aryan parents to be interned at the Hadamar psychiatric hospital, the narrator,then fourteen-year-old Jürgen Bolt,befriended David Rosfeld,a Jewish orphan whose intelligence quotient would allow him to be sent to an experimental school for gifted children run by Ilsa Schaffner. Then David would work for the Reich rather than die in the gas chamber with the rest of the hospital’s patients. Rather than accept this opportunity, David...

THE PENSIVE CITADEL

6 7 R T H E P E N S I V E C I T A D E L V I C T O R B R O M B E R T The early morning hours were the most di≈cult. Lying in bed, I would count the future sabbaticals the way some count how many springs they may still live to see. In the rented room next to the funeral parlor, I imagined the black limousines lining up in the adjacent driveway, ready to convey their co≈ned loads to the town’s periphery. Thoughts drifted. It was di≈cult enough on drizzly days, but more di≈cult still when the early rays of the sun intruded with insistent irony. Half awake, I was afraid to fall asleep again and not make it in time all the way to Phelps Hall. I had already been late several times, and as a teaching graduate student I was vulnerable to occasional inspections. Yet I enjoyed facing my students. As for sabbaticals, they were at that stage only distant mirages. At the present it was fun to make my freshmen repeat ‘‘C’est rond, c’est long, c’est bon,’’ the slightly salacious words uttered with inescapable innuendo by the fictional Mireille in the Méthode orale we used as a textbook in this intensive language course. That was more than sixty years ago. Presently, the emeritus professor seated on a bench with a missing slat in the Parc Monceau , at the edge of the 8th Arrondissement, muses on the actual 6 8 B R O M B E R T Y sabbaticals that punctuated his academic life. A film in rewind. The self takes on the features of a character in a third-person narration. He and I absorb impressions of the park: the fake ruined colonnades, the duck-filled pond, the groomed flowerbeds, the couples snuggling on nearby benches, the jocose groups munching their luncheon sandwiches on the grass, the neoclassical rotunda that was once a toll station at the entrance of Paris and now houses public toilets. On my bench, I ponder the meaning of the word sabbatical. It pleases me to think that beyond the obvious reference to an extended academic leave every seven years (with luck, more often) for the purpose of renewal and research, the word had more venerable meanings associated with the number seven: the seventh day of creation, when the Lord rested; the seventh day of the week, meant to be a day of repose, reverence, and spiritual meditation; the seventh year during which the land was to remain untilled and allowed to rest according to religious law, and all debts remitted . As for the word sabbath, it carried slightly perverse and therefore seductive undertones, referring as it does to demonic nocturnal revels. Somehow sabbatical had become for me a metaphor evoking the broader joys of life. In a sense, my academic existence began in a sabbatical mode. An entire year on a Fulbright Fellowship in Rome to finish my dissertation on Stendhal, the great lover of Italy. In that immediate post–World War II year, Rome was still awaking from nightmarish times recorded in neorealistic films such as Roberto Rossellini ’s Rome, Open City and Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thieves. Peace had returned, but Italians were profoundly divided as the new Cold War intensified. Riot squads in jeeps – the celere created by the minister of the interior, Mario Scelba, known as the ‘‘Iron Sicilian’’ – were protecting the U.S. Embassy and suppressing left-wing manifestations as well as neofascist rallies. But by 1950, Rome once again began to transcend contemporary history, and the newly wed Fulbright couple, in quest of historic perspectives and poetic sensations, were discovering the legendary hills of the eternal city, but also the more popular quarters, as Bettina and I followed the footsteps of Stendhal, using his Promenades dans Rome as guide and inspiration. Our walks often led us up to the church of San Pietro in Mon- T H E P E N S I V E C I T A D E L 6 9 R torio on the Janiculum. There was...