Ever heard about
Stendhal Syndrome ?
(better and longer explanation for french speakers
there)
Nothing as spectacular happened to me ; and I am not so moved by Renaissance art. However I am easily overwhelmed with emotions and I cry all of sudden when confronted to certain art forms and especially words - books, speeches, songs, poetry. Wordsmiths lead to tears quite easily.
I remember the last time I have been being moved to tears happened in Edinburgh, while listening to an unexpected opening speech from Richard Holloway before Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time. You can listen to
this speech here. I have listened to it again, over and over, afterward, and it never brought similar emotions again - not as strong. Was it only the right moment, the right ambiance ? Was it echoing my own thoughts, was I just focused enough to let the words resonate deeply ? Was I touched by his voice, at the moment ? I will never know.
Last week I went to the Getty Center with
Cherry and
Phoenix. In the middle of several photography exhibition, I stumbled upon a photograph of Victor Hugo. On his death bed. by Nadar.
It brought back to my memory the sound of his poetry, the sadness, the beauty, the longing for his dead daughter that fills them, and I burst into tears.
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
"Demain, des l'aube, a l'heure ou blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m'attends.
J'irai par la foret, j'irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.
Je marcherai les yeux fixes sur mes pensees,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbe, les mains croisees,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.
Je ne regarderai ni l'or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et quand j'arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyere en fleur."
English translation, even is every translation is a betrayal. It looses the cadence and can't do justice to his words, .
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
"Tomorrow, at dawn, when the countryside becomes white,
I will leave. You see, I know you are waiting for me.
I will go by the forest, I will go by the mountain.
I cannot stay away from you any longer.
I will walk the eyes fixed on my thoughts,
Without seeing anything outside, nor hearing any noise,
Alone, unknown, back curved, hands crossed,
Sad, and the day for me will be like the night.
I will not look at the evening gold falling down,
Nor the faraway sails descending towards Harfleur.
And when I arrive, I will put on your tomb
A green bouquet of holly and blooming heather."
Victor Hugo was a poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, probably the most important of the French Romantic writers ; he was also a statesman and a human rights campaigner, fiercely against death penalty, misery, children's labor... After 1849, one third of his work was for politic, one third about religion, and the last part for human and social philosophy.

(I also think he has a gorgeous intriguing old man face - hence this portrait I did years ago)
He is better known abroad for such novels as Les Miserables or Notre-Dame-de-Paris, but it's almost sad cause his poetry is heartbreaking ; then very few people know he was also a talented illustrator. Maybe because Hugo kept his artwork out of the public eye, fearing it would overshadow his literary work.
Plus de poesie
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
Nuits de juin
L'ete, lorsque le jour a fui, de fleurs couverte
La plaine verse au loin un parfum enivrant ;
Les yeux fermes, l'oreille aux rumeurs entrouverte,
On ne dort qu'a demi d'un sommeil transparent.
Les astres sont plus purs, l'ombre parait meilleure ;
Un vague demi-jour teint le dome eternel ;
Et l'aube douce et pale, en attendant son heure,
Semble toute la nuit errer au bas du ciel.
On vit, on parle, on a le ciel et les nuages
On vit, on parle, on a le ciel et les nuages
Sur la tete ; on se plait aux livres des vieux sages ;
On lit Virgile et Dante ; on va joyeusement
En voiture publique a quelque endroit charmant,
En riant aux eclats de l'auberge et du gite ;
Le regard d'une femme en passant vous agite ;
On aime, on est aime, bonheur qui manque aux rois !
On ecoute le chant des oiseaux dans les bois
Le matin, on s'eveille, et toute une famille
Vous embrasse, une mere, une soeur, une fille !
On dejeune en lisant son journal. Tout le jour
On mele a sa pensee espoir, travail, amour ;
La vie arrive avec ses passions troublees ;
On jette sa parole aux sombres assemblees ;
Devant le but qu'on veut et le sort qui vous prend,
On se sent faible et fort, on est petit et grand ;
On est flot dans la foule, ame dans la tempete ;
Tout vient et passe ; on est en deuil, on est en fete ;
On arrive, on recule, on lutte avec effort ...
Puis, le vaste et profond silence de la mort !
Vivants
Oui. Je comprends qu'on aille aux fetes,
Qu'on soit foule, qu'on brille aux yeux,
Qu'on fasse, amis, ce que vous faites,
Et qu'on trouve cela joyeux ;
Mais vivre seul sous les etoiles,
Aller et venir sous les voiles
Du desert ou nous oublions,
Respirer l'immense atmosphere ;
C'est apre et triste, et je prefere
Cette habitude des lions.
*****
My trip is coming to an end, soon. Today I bathed in sweat and heat. I stepped on a pestilential mud made of thousands of dislocated fishes' corpses. We almost hit an owl crossing the road. The crescent moon was thin, a bright nail cut in the night.
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