New Year and other thoughts...

Best wishes for everybody ! Peace and Love... Happiness, what else ? Everything good is good... My two cultural thoughts are driven by Jack London and Akira Kurosawa. I have been thinking about them a long time and I could improve my knowledge thanks to Michel Viotte who made a nice DVD called "Jack London : an american aventure"(2016) and his great book intitled "les vies de Jack London" (The lives of Jack London) published in 2016 (Editions de La martinière).

I'm just discovering the man, his face, his habits, his family, his books and it is so wonderful since I read his book "The Call of the Wild" (L'Appel de la forêt) when I was in primary school. Around 40 years back, I selected his book because my teacher said probably it was an history with a dog so my motivation was just driven by this fact but the author's name didn't mean anything for me at that time and I forgot him during so many years. I remember that the teacher liked my resume and explanations, plus a drawing (a wolf) that I drew on the first page of my homework. But, that's it ! I was so young that the author didn't mean so much in my mind at that age... But he is a great man that I would have appreciated to meet. I saw his photographies from Asia, from Hawaï, from Southeast Asia, from London....I discovered he travelled until Japan, Korea, Mexico... I also made my way in that countries so it was so nice to know that... Thanks everyone for putting Jack London's private documents to the public ! For the photography lovers, there is also that interesting book in American version "Jack London - Photographer" (2010) written by Jeanne Reesman, Philip Adam and Sara Hodson. The French version exists also in Phébus Editions "Jack London - Photographe" (2013).

Jack London's Letters to her daughters...

It is also so sweet to read his correspondence with his daughters because it is far from the image of “a wild man” that we could imagine through some of his books… He underlined, for example, all the small details concerning the expenses of his daughters like dresses, sleepers, pens etc. but also, his good advices to them and his strong wish to understand and help them in their future if they need it. We know that he was divorced from his first wife so he couldn’t see his daughters, Joan and Bess, as much as he wanted but he was living a happy life with his second wife called Charmian. You will find below one of the letters that Jack wrote to Joan which shows that he is nice to her and gives her some good advices on the importance for a lady or a woman to be well dressed, and to be proud of it. He also congratulates and encourages her for being in the right way.

Glen Ellen, California

16 septembre 1915

Chère Joan,

Premièrement, j’ai demandé à Tante Eliza de t’envoyer le chèque de 7 dollars, ainsi tu pourras acheter les deux paires de chaussures, pour Bess et pour toi. […] J’aimerais un jour te voir avec tes mules à talon françaises. Joan, tu es sur la bonne voie. N’hésite jamais à devenir une jeune fille, puis une femme, délicate et charmante. Il y a là un orgueil de jeune fille, un orgueil de femme, et c’est vraiment un bon orgueil. Ne sois pas trop coquette, bien sûr. A l’inverse, ne sois jamais mal fagotée. Peu importe l’excellence des pensées qui fourmillent dans ton cerveau, montre-toi toujours, dans ton allure et ta tenue, un délice pour tous les yeux qui te regardent. […] Il n’y a rien en ce monde que ton Papa n’aimerait plus demander pour toi qu’une grande intelligence, une vraie fierté, un beau corps et que, en plus du reste, ce corps soit superbement vêtu. […] Je ne te dirai rien à propos de la façon dont tu mènes ta barque, à propos de la façon dont Bess mène la sienne, mais il y a pourtant de nombreuses choses que j’aimerais te dire, et j’y pense beaucoup en ce moment. Tu es sur la bonne voie. Vas-y. Pousse ton esprit vers ce qui sera sa suprême beauté ; et garde ton corps en paix avec lui.

 

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Concerning the Japanese filmaker Akira Kurosawa, I really discovered him after my long stay in Japan, watching his DVD at home. His movies are really well prepared, so incredibly well done mixing sometimes the two worlds (the dead ones and the alive ones). There is one DVD made by Catherine Cadou who worked with him during his movie "Ran"(Le chaos, 1985) that I really would like to discover soon. So, the DVD called "Kurosawa's way" (Akira Kurosawa, la voie) is also a must for everyone who like the master... Akira Kurosawa wrote also "Like an autobiography" (Comme une autobiographie) about him which is very interesting to read....

Well, take care !

New Year Photo/Copyright Catherine Pulleiro