1. Guy de Maupassant, “Nuit de neige”

    La grande plaine est blanche, immobile et sans voix.
    Pas un bruit, pas un son ; toute vie est éteinte.
    Mais on entend parfois, comme une morne plainte,
    Quelque chien sans abri qui hurle au coin d’un bois.

    Plus de chansons dans l’air, sous nos pieds plus de chaumes.
    L’hiver s’est abattu sur toute floraison ;
    Des arbres dépouillés dressent à l’horizon
    Leurs squelettes blanchis ainsi que des fantômes.

    La lune est large et pâle et semble se hâter.
    On dirait qu’elle a froid dans le grand ciel austère.
    De son morne regard elle parcourt la terre,
    Et, voyant tout désert, s’empresse à nous quitter.

    Et froids tombent sur nous les rayons qu’elle darde,
    Fantastiques lueurs qu’elle s’en va semant ;
    Et la neige s’éclaire au loin, sinistrement,
    Aux étranges reflets de la clarté blafarde.

    Oh ! la terrible nuit pour les petits oiseaux !
    Un vent glacé frissonne et court par les allées ;
    Eux, n’ayant plus l’asile ombragé des berceaux,
    Ne peuvent pas dormir sur leurs pattes gelées.

    Dans les grands arbres nus que couvre le verglas
    Ils sont là, tout tremblants, sans rien qui les protège ;
    De leur oeil inquiet ils regardent la neige,
    Attendant jusqu’au jour la nuit qui ne vient pas.

     

  2. Bouteilles à vodka : Homme (Napoléon ?) ; Alsacienne; Cosaque (?); éditées pour Robj
    vers 1922-1924

    @credits

    (Source: frenchhistory)

     

  3. thecyberflaneur:

    Ads for Emile Zola’s novels, which, like most 19th-century novels were first published as serials. Au Bonheur des dames/The Ladies’ Paradise (1883), La Bête humaine/The Beast Within (1890), La Débâcle/The Downfall (1892). Funny how the first two are billed as “great new novels.”

    (Source: Gallica 1, 2, 3)

    (via frenchhistory)

     

  4. producermatthew:

    French reporter and photographer Gilles Jacquier has become the first western journalist to die while covering the unrest in Syria. Jacquier was killed by a mortar round while covering a pro-government rally in Homs this week, one of eight casualties according to Syrian state media.

    The Syrian government has restricted access to the country by foreign journalists during the unrest, but Jacquier’s employer France 2 said the visit was government-approved. [Reuters photo]

    (Source: matthewkeys, via breakingnews)

     

  5. Such a lovely video and song.

     

  6. teramerapyar:

    [Moral of European history: one simply does not walk into Russia in the winter.]

    (via the-sexpat-life)

     


  7. Pain is just a French word for bread.
     


  8. Dominique Strauss-Kahn

    He is an innocent man wrongly accused and is part of a set-up. The women that accused him was herself accused not only of lying, but of talking to an incarcerated man about the benefits of accusing Mr. Strauss-Kahn of rape. The same man was in jail for the possession of 400 pounds of marijuanna.

    The woman received $100,000 from the man and other sources, and spent hundreds of dollars every month on telephone bills. If she had this kind of money, what was she doing working as a housekeeper in a hotel?

    So now, Mr. Strauss-Kahn is no longer the head of the IMF and will not be running as a candidate for French presidency. I estimate that he will be released soon, and the accuser will be tried, judged, and incarcerated for different crimes. She won’t be able to say who put her up to setting up Mr. Strauss-Kahn in jail. Everything works for everybody.