Paris, Apollinaire and Devoir de mémoire

Less than a week ago, last Wednesday, our cercle français met to reflect on the First World War battle of Verdun.  As we approach the one hundred year anniversary of the battle, we were exploring the theme of devoir de mémoire, the duty to remember.  The battle lasted 300 days and accounted for three quarters of a million casualties, with fatalities of 162,400 on the French side and 143,000 on the German.  A devastating death toll.

On Friday, 13 November, just over 300 days since the 7 January attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo and the Kosher supermarket, Paris was attacked again, in several places at once. 129, mostly young people, were killed.

The government's response has been forceful.  Président François Hollande says that France is at war.

The notion of being at war reminded me of our Verdun reflections.  These had included a short segment on Guillaume Apollinaire, a poet who served on the front line of the Western Front.  At the onset of war, Apollinaire composed these lines for his poem, La Petite Auto:

                      Nous dîmes adieu à toute une époque

                      Des géants furieux se dressaient sur l'Europe

                      Les aigles quittaient leur aire attendant le soleil

                      Les poissons voraces montaient des abîmes

                      Les peuples accouraient pour se connâitre à fond

                      Les morts tremblaient de peur dans leurs sombres demeures

                            We said a final goodbye to a whole era
                            Furious giants were standing over Europe
                            Eagles left their eyrie, waiting for the sun
                            Ravenous fish rose from the depths
                            Nations flocked together to know each other deep down
                            The dead trembled with fear in their dark dwelling places

Apollinaire was also a casualty and was invalided out of the army in 1916 with a shrapnel wound to the head. He died in the influenza epidemic of 1918, two days before the signing of the Armistice.

His words above, 100 years later strike me as having a resonance with today.

Where do we go from here?  Will it always be like this? Is the future changed utterly?

Discussing the legacy of Verdun, our small group took comfort at the reconciliation, even after the devastation of two world wars, that has taken place between France and Germany. The leaders of the two countries will stand together in May 2016 to remember those who died 100 years ago in the battle of Verdun.

I expect, as they reflect on lessons learned, that their thoughts will also include those who died in Paris, Beirut, Syria, Libya and other war-torn countries that make up our fractured world.

We too must reflect.  It is our devoir de mémoire.

The Parisianer

Spending a bit of time browsing recently I came across a post on the Lost in Cheeseland blog.  It related to a creative arts project that needs funding to ensure its success. No different, you might think, from any other project but what I liked in addition to the theme itself was its funding model.  More in a moment.
The project is called The Parisianer and the idea is that 100 artists/illustrators will share 100 pictures capturing the essence of Paris.  At the end of this year there will be an exhibition, a book and posters of the artwork.

To succeed the project needs financial backing and rather than chasing grants or money from other sources it uses the concept of CrowdFunding fuelled by social media.  People share details of the project on their social networks and if they are so minded contribute to specified subscription ranges. When the project is realised they are sent the items listed for the respective price bands.
If insufficient funds are raised and the project does not go ahead any monies contributed are returned. Progress is recorded on the website to show how much has already been raised and how many days remain for contributions. The service is provided by KissKissBankBank and it is encouraging to see the number and variety of creative projects being financed in this way.

Of course, I signed up. I definitely would like to have that book.  Although I've written about books on Paris before, I got to thinking - what captures the essence of the city?
The monuments? The cafes and restaurants? Light? The Bridges?  For me, walking along the Seine would be high on the list.
What captures its essence for you?

Like to know more? Check out this link to The Parisianer project.