Positive Pressure Room

Odor of sanctity: Gabriel Banez, The Virgin of Ensenada

                                                                             

Tell your fingers

accompany you into the abyss, how
I've known how much I
pushed farther into the depths, where my dream
most bitter
has slept with heart you in bed
wrenkling possibility of my name.
Paul Celan, Reverses breath , translation J.-P. Lefebvre, Seuil, 2003

The work of Gabriel Banez, great Argentine writer too soon reveals itself gradually disappeared in French-speaking reader, through editions The Last Drop of which I mentioned here . The following children disappear, beautiful meditation on time, childhood, irretrievable loss of innocence, Christopher and Nathan Eberhardt Sedierta include in their beautiful catalog extraordinary novel, originally published in 1998: The Virgin of Ensenada.

Here, the center of the world is a small town in Argentina, Ensenada, partido of Buenos Aires province, laid along the ocean. Port of arrival but also the starting point, it is teeming with a cosmopolitan population that is activated in a disorderly manner around the church of Notre Dame, but also on the docks and in bad neighborhoods where cross marine gangsters and prostitutes, paupers expelled from their homeland by the various dictatorships which are born in Europe at this early Thirties. Just like Argentina, Ensenada is at the mercy of people who pour their ships afloat unfortunate, Croats, Greeks, Turks, Italians, Germans and ... Belgian Divas as Sara and her father, a widower, who fled anti-Semitism and hopes to sell hats. The movement is constant, the pitch of the hulls of boats moored in the port is transmitted to the whole city seems unable to fix or offer its people any chance of stability. Even the father figure can not resist this impermanence: the failure of his business - due to the impossibility of being understood: indeed, he does not speak English - Sara forced to look elsewhere for the balance it aspires.

All men are made of water.

This somewhat cryptic sentence is imposed on it immediately and never leave. Fleeting, fickle, they can they provide support to the little girl of nine years who wanders the streets of the city inhabited by migrants? Thus begins the quest for Sarita: that of language - she wants French forget that it is odious, but also that of a human connection, and subtle solid, stable and evanescent as love. Guided by the smells, the voices that whisper sweet prayers in an idiom which is still unknown, mixed babbling prayers, she reaches into a place that would become his landmark: Church of Our Lady of Mercy, which the priest, Bernardo Benzano the collects. In him it does not recognize a father, but despite his young age, a man with beautiful gray eyes and head to sea. Between them creates a bond that is as much of the mind and heart as a forbidden sensuality but that materializes with transience, such as perfumes the composition of which it initiates:

Benzano taught him the rudiments of traditional perfumery and encouraged by the study of species of flowers and roots, trying to discover the odor of sanctity. She spent whole days in distilled extracts, to classify the pollen, and when at last she was about to make a discovery, she shut the perfume in small vials of Funchal blue glass and spun to submit to the verdict priest. Benzano bent over, took off the cap and, as a wine of the divine, squinted and let the scent is released into the atmosphere. He could stay in that long olfactory ecstasy minutes, even hours: after having taken possession of the senses, then the tide flooded the sky in memory of unexplored corners, he said. Thus the need to savor this fragrance. Not just to breathe. To feel he had to travel. The odor of sanctity was so rare and so wild that it led to innocence, a place thought Benzano located somewhere between the knees and the waterline of childhood.

Personal Photo, museum Unterlinden

Perfume, delicate balance between meeting immaterial sense, mysticism, the purity of childhood, is engraved in the memory where it leaves an indelible imprint, but a body, more than matter. The ethereal fragrance of rose, orange blossom, lemon verbena, juniper substitute for caresses, touches on in contact with the body. Benzano to the memory of the woman survives in the memory of a smell, as the effluvium syrupy body of a prostitute he can not forget. Between man and the little girl spirit installs relationship fails to materialize so that ephemeral, such as the appearance that occurs once: Lady, sad-eyed mother figure, it is revealed. Evidence of his innocence - a theme very present in the work of Gabriel Bañez - it is also a manifestation of femininity, because it embodied Virgin then a woman, a prostitute and the priest child surprise open frolic with Sarita's father and that the player will identify the latest Eva - Evita, a prostitute with whom he also maintains Benzano an affair. The Virgin is the woman she becomes flesh; error Sara is also that of all the Argentine people who could see Evita Peron an angelic figure. Thus, the small daughter does not discern the evil where it is located; this purity can connect to its surroundings. But can it survive the irreparable leak that time blessed child? Miracles are long. Such as perfumes evaporate and die, the links that are created can not exist at the time. The filial love felt by the priest for child turns into desire. Refusing to indulge in them, it tries to expel the girl by entrusting it to the soup of the Child, a charity to which it continues to escape to find the man she loves.

Ushuaia

The world in which bears and Sara Bernardo is inconsistent. Ensenada, a small town trying to prosper in the shadow of Buenos Aires, is like a world in microcosm: they speak all languages, they also forget; meet there all those held by driven from their countries political disorder. Eva Virgin - prostitute, is the wife of one Joseph Broz that readers will recognize! The fantasy novel which intertwines history with individual destinies, founding a common mythology, both are similar cataclysms suffered by all peoples. The Virgin watches over a world beset with misfortune, wars, dictatorships existing and emerging ... Love can not flourish, as everyone is aware of the role it should play. The priest who aspires to sainthood, noting carefully any miraculous event he witnesses, can not help but be swept away by the passion he feels for Sarah. He attempts to deflect the course indulging in the sensuality of her relationship Eva, then away as far as possible, in a dual quest for purity and of itself. This desperate flight from Argentina this odyssey, letters arrive at Sarita, however belatedly: impressions of a desperate poetry, they also reflect the gradual abandonment of self-awareness. Bernardo Benzano renounces his identity, then forget it. Only love remains passionate and heartbreaking, whose testimony occupies the end of the novel. Falcino Pietro, Bernardo's mentor, could not fully substitute for him the letters he sends Sara is loving, but also of madness. The distance between two people seems to abolish it, as the girl occupies the thoughts, the heart of one she is loved.

; ; Ushuaia Friday 26

Dear Sara,

We were raised so high. Things die slowly. But at times, our souls are in unison. And each of those moments, I feel like being alone with you.

Pietro Falcino

Thus, there is a journey that we undertake is carried by the desire, but can stop at any moment, as this miraculous streetcar can not go to the destination - which, incidentally? And as the wonderful flavors fanning themselves, happiness is fleeting and can not be sustainable, as everyone's life is subject to the whims of a universal destiny that crushes the individual. Spectator and sometimes officer of this disorder, a character that we have not even mentioned, Filadelfio, the puppeteer, who tries to watch over Sarah and Bernardo, but whose kindness is hampered by the violence of this world ... and time, which prevents him to accompany those he protects. But the memories remain, those of Sarah, who at death's door, she remembers those times we offer these subtle and heady scents, these tastes, the sounds, those languages that blend and enriched, dying to be reborn into a new idiom as this Lunfardo Buenos Aires. The belle traduction de Frédéric Gross-Quelen restitue à merveille cet univers foisonnant de sensualité, de tendresse et de désespoir, de chaleur et d’humanité aussi.

                              

                                                                                                                                                                

Gabriel Banez, The Virgin of Ensenada, published today by the March 3, 2011 editions of The Last Drop in a translation by Frederick Gross-Quelen .

To find Argentine literature and its riches, we refer also to the beautiful site of Irene Meyer, who The Virgin of Ensenada is dedicated : Argentine Writers . You will discover treasures and many pages Gabriel Bañez.

Harold And Kumar Bottomless Party Scene Clip

Debut novels (catching) - by Adrienne

Debut novels (Exercise # 15) - Adrienne

it comes to writing lepremier paragraph (about three hundred signs and spaces) of a novel yintégrant the following:

- a skyscraper
-
a cat - a packet of flour
- a subway ticket or a ticket for cinema
- a man and a woman (their characteristics are free) that will be croisentsans

Exercise must be repeated three times.

- opting every time for a perspective different narrative: first person, second person or third person singular
- by choosing each time a genus recognizable romanréaliste novel by science-fiction thriller, satirical novel, romand'horreur, etc..

************

the side of my house

Longtempsje went to bed early. Sometimes, no sooner had I closed rideauxsur the skyscrapers of the city and gave one last caress my cat, my eyes would close so quickly that I had just enough time to tell me: "Tomorrow, it I'll have to buy me a kilo of flour, there is no demadeleines .... " And half an hour later the thought that it was time melever and take the subway would awaken me and I had not stopped in dormantde make reflections on what I had seen that day, cesréflexions but had run into a bit special and it seemed quej'étais myself that man or woman that I saw every day on the platform, reading the same newspaper with the same pace, and yet had encorejamais had a look for each other.

the stairs

Yes, celapourrait start well here, so, in a way a bit heavy and slow in this neutral place that belongs to everyone and anyone , where the man and woman secroisent without seeing where life of the skyscraper has an impact, remote etrégulière. Of what goes on behind the heavy doors of the apartments, onne perceives most often echoes that exploded, a cat meows, a flour paquetde tearing, we open a bin to throw an old subway ticketde found at bottom of a pocket when we are looking for a handkerchief.

Letter 1

You see, Mabon friend, it's not just the socks and pompoms and since that left your tuas convent to the city and its skyscrapers, you need dequelques sub in your crosshairs, not for the quest, but t'acheterun cinema ticket! You have your harp, your artwork, your books, as aucouvent, but you also have a cat! You have your room, your office, a jolisecrétaire and sometimes you can put the Office the hands-free MèrePerpétue that is there to scold you when you dropped a package defarine.

My chèrebonne, we told you so often that a girl should remain in the convent jusqu'àce she should marry, you can deduce that this lady who came voirta mother, and this elegant whiskered gentleman who cross it was niunie new maid, or the cobbler! Agree that you voilàprévenue!

Malibu Grand Prix Go Kart For Sale

It Must Have Been Fun (versions 1 and 2) - by Martine B.

Version 1

Lou did not visit sagrand mater. The sight of all these forms the old super depressed. It sedemandait if to eighty years ago, it would be crazy enough to play Auten as Mamie was still. He hated the practices of another run like madmen temps.Pourquoi enplein sun so they could indulge themselves in any sport in a healthy and conditioned, assistéd'un personal robot that continuously monitors your blood sugar and heart votrerythme? Not quite frankly, he did not understand this generation ...

One Sunday a month at her parents leconduisaient Green & Blue, the residence for seniors where athletes lived sagrand mater. It was an old golf club that had been left abandondans the 2030s, at about the time the exercise to the general airétait fallen into disuse. The old clubhouse is now a bar jusde fruit, restaurant dietético-molecular treatment rooms where officiated a myriad of physios and a sallepolyvalente used mostly for balls, because this little mondeavait yet nimble leg. On the old route had been constructed houses, some shops, a beauty salon and uneentreprise funeral. Everything was organized so that residents have pastrop out of their golden retirement.

Louavait horror of having to embrace the friends of her grandmother, as if that sefaisait yet to embrace the people! Their body odor the inconvenienced and had a holy scared of catching a skin disease. But the worst was when they began to radotersur their past, because they thought it would interest the guys, as they said in their old language. Thus some semainesauparavant they had spoken to a strange place, school. He is past avaitdécouvert not working quietly alone at home on his desk as he did touch, but he had to go into a sordid endroitassez where children were called "students . Onréussissait to bake in a good thirty per class (room minusculedénuée of electronic equipment) and they were carrying bags that weighed a ton when ilsextirpaient related objects, paper. On the finest they copied Deslignes of words using a pen sort of dirtied their fingers. Qandil were wrong, it was toutrecommencer. Reliésétaient Other objects of "books." To read, you had to take each sheet between sesdoigts and turn to scroll the words, a waste of energy tempset Lou had thought. A middle-aged person was also there, and after she scribbled Grandfather tempsen of time on a wooden rectangular black or green Quiétis fixed on one wall. She also got angry when the group devenaitbruyant, and threatened to stick them, but they had already airscotchés on their chairs, so why add more?

Lou remembered a documentary film he visionnépour his history project, in which a humiliated Mr. Perez unepauvre daughter because she had not completed a work called duty, we pourlequel ; scoring. She had been humiliated Supreme, a zero out of twenty. Why twenty elsewhere? Nowadays, all celan'était possible. Lou was planning his own work days and faisaitses exercises at their own pace: they are not forced either to accelerate rythmequand he was tired or slow it down if it was going well. When avaitatteint skill level he passed to the next, simply. Loun'avait never saw the supervisor because he was moving when that was not enfantne objectives or had damaged his office touch, and very studious and Louet Careful with sonmatériel.

In this film, many other détailsavaient intrigued the young boy. The "students", although qu'entassésdans this room did not seem to suffer. They even had air biens'amuser, especially when the adult's back was turned. Some desmessages consulted on their i-phone and answered it, others were chatting off the record, there were also who were holding hands under the tables. Lou avaitégalement observed many échangesde glances, followed by endless giggles. He had promisd'en talking with his grandmother.

Sunday after Grandma had explained his youth Quedan the main interest of boys and girls were deséduire of the opposite sex. We knew we liked to quelqu'unquand you heckled incessantly. It followed a kind of adjacent verbalequi lasted a while, then one day you could not you passerl'un other. Then you kiss, and it was the débutd'une great adventure that made you enter the world of grands.Mamie and Grandpa had known so on schools of the university. Lou's mother was born a few years later. Ilse asked how, in fact, a question still to be elucidated. Now it was still easier, onpratiquait IVF according desétudes forecast needs of industry and finance. This avaitéradiqué very simply another problem to which he formerly avaientparlé his parents, the unemployed. Those who did not comply with cesméthodes had reproductive choice, but their children were doomed Ades menial jobs, like nursing for example. (There are a few rebels avaitencore refractory medically ill.)

Wherereasons people met this totally random, they said they loved each other. Ilsécrivaient texts to express their feelings, or they reported the devive voice. Being in love lesgens put in a strange state, Mamie said they had the "upside down". 'Well, it would be nice!' Retorted Lou. But Mamie avaitrépondu him that this made them happy, and she knew nothing better.

Alone at his desk the next day, Lou had trouble concentrating. It necessit to rethink the words of his grandmother and said that finally, have fun ondevait past.


************
few days after the release of version 1, Martin writes that by rereading, she has remorse and sent me version 2, by asking me to substitute one for another. I replied that I publish the two so that everyone can enjoy changes. After all, there is a blog where the writing is moving and not static ... So far it is way!

MW

***************

Version 2:

Lou did not visit sagrand mater. The sight of all these forms the old super depressed. It sedemandait if to eighty years ago, it would be crazy enough to play Auten as Mamie was still. He hated the practices of another temps.Pourquoi run like madmen enplein sun so we could engage any sport at home in a healthy environment and conditioning, assistéd'un personal robot that continuously monitors your glucose levels and cardiac votrerythme? Not quite frankly, he did not understand this generation ...

One Sunday a month his parents leconduisaient to Green & Blue, the residence where senior athletes sagrand mother lived. It was an old golf club that had been left abandondans the 2030s, at about the time where the general physical airétait fallen into disuse. The old clubhouse is now a bar jusde fruit, restaurant dietético-molecular treatment rooms where officiated a myriad of physios and a sallepolyvalente used mostly for balls, because this little mondeavait yet nimble leg. On the old route had been built houses, few shops, a beauty salon and uneentreprise funeral. Everything was organized so that residents have pastrop out of their golden retirement.

Louavait horror of having to embrace the friends of her grandmother, as if that sefaisait yet to embrace the people! Their body odor the inconvenienced and had a holy scared of catching a skin disease. But worst was when they began to radotersur their past, because they thought it would interest the guys, as they said in their old language. Thus some semainesauparavant they had spoken to a strange place, school. Lou was formerly ainsidécouvert is not working quietly alone at home on his desk touch but needed to travel to a sordid endroitassez where children were called students. We managed to bake in unebonne thirty per class (room devoid of any electronic equipment), andit would be carrying bags that weighed a ton, which ilsextirpaient related objects, paper. Of the more flexible they copiaientdes word lines with a kind of pen they dirtied the doigts.Quand they were mistaken, it was toutrecommencer. Other objects reliésétaient books. To read ilfallait take each leaf between his fingers and turned for fairedéfiler words, a waste of time and energy had thought Lou.Une middle-aged person was also there, and she scribbled time time Surun rectangular wooden board black or green on a fixed Desmurs. She also got angry when the group became noisy and threatening paste them, but they déjàl'air taped to their chairs, so why say more?

Lou remembered a documentary film that had its visionnépour History Project, in which a humiliated Mr. Perez unepauvre daughter because she had not completed a work called duty, we pourlequel obtained a score. She received the ultimate humiliation, a zero out of twenty. Why twenty elsewhere? Nowadays, all celan'était possible. Lou was planning his own work days and faisaitses exercises at their own pace: they are not forced or accelerate alorsqu'il was tired, or if slow progressing well. When avaitatteint skill level he passed to the next, simply. Loun'avait never saw the supervisor because he was moving when that was not meeting its objectives enfantne or had damaged his office tactile and Louet studious and very careful with sonmatériel.

In this film, many other détailsavaient intrigued the young boy. Students, qu'entassés well in cettepièce, did not seem to suffer. They even seem to have fun, especially when the adult's back was turned. Some of the consulted messagessur their i-phone and answered it, others were chatting off the record, there avaitaussi who held hands under the tables. Lou was also observed numerous regardscomplices trade, followed endless giggles. He had promised to parleravec his grandmother.

Sunday after Grandma had explained his youth Quedan the main interest of boys and girls were deséduire of the opposite sex. We knew we liked to quelqu'unquand you heckled incessantly. It followed a kind of adjacent verbalequi lasted a while, then one day we could no longer without each other. Then qu'ons'embrassait, and it was the beginning of a wonderful adventure that you faisaitentrer in the world of adults. Grandma and Grandpa had known way, on the benches of the university. Themother Lou was born a few years later. He wondered well how, indeed, still a matter elucidated. Now it was still more simple, we practiced IVF basisof studies looking besoinsde of industry and finance. It was eradicated in a very simple problem once anadditional which he had talked his parents, the unemployed. Ceuxqui did not comply with these methods of reproduction had lechoix, but their children were doomed to menial jobs such as nursing fromLondon example. (There were a few rebels auxmédicaliments refractory to fall ill.)

Wherereasons people met this totally random, they said they loved each other. Ilsécrivaient texts to express their feelings , or when they declared devive voice. Being in love lesgens put in a strange state, Mamie said they had head upside down. 'Well, it was êtrebeau!' Retorted Lou. But Grandma had replied that lesrendait happy, and she knew nothing better.

Alone at his desk the next day Lou had trouble concentrating. It necessit to rethink the words of his grandmother and said that finally, have fun ondevait past.

Alton Brown Cocoa Brownies

"I remember" - by Adrienne


In brown lescitations Perec, ennoir, my variation on its themes.


2I remember when I was seven or eight years my aunt had a Mercedesdécapotable blue and I was surprised that we want to give argentpour a car that had only two seats.

4 Jerne remember in 1990 we took our Romanian friends see auHeysel celebrations on the occasion of 60 years (and 40 years of reign) of King Baudouin etqu'il weather was beautiful.

42 Jerne remember that in 1968 I confused the "Iron Curtain" with the "Iron Gate", which was on the other side of town oùj'habitais, so I expected to see Russian tanks going to Labouchere's uncle Marcel, the following Saturday.

54 I remember that Voltaire was an anagram of Arouet L (e) J (eune) By writing V instead of U and I instead of J.

87 J e mesouviens that my father once said that he had in his childhood latoute first edition of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets but qu'ill'avait loaned to a friend who did it had ever made.

95 Jerne remember that in American movies of my childhood, everyone parlaitle French, cowboys like the Indians, and that I am astonished me what day when I Having doubled in a western German.

101 Jerne remember the tennis matches that were present at the sea with my onclequi was all excited at the idea of meeting Jackie Brichant.

105 I remember "Baby Cadum.

101 Jerne remember that my father had a cousin who had splendidesmoustaches Paul.

112 I remember that Colette was as a Fellow of the Belgian Royal.

123 I remember the violinist Ginette Neveu estmorte in the same plane as Marcel Cerdan.

125 Jerne remember that I wondered what was that this stain on the front deGorbatchev.

138 Jerne remember that we saw pass a Tour stage, while vacationing inFrance, and people shouted "Go Eddie" as hysteria.

145 Jerne remember that I saw Bathing Beauty Esther Williams with and that I asked myself how she could stay so long without breathing sousl'eau.

152 I remember that Warren Beatty is the small frèrede Shirley McLaine.

161 Jerne remember my grandfather never missed any film with Mireille Darc because he was sure

sooner or later she was walking naked.

167 Jerne remember we sang "Only You" with the Platters and "Gigil'Amoroso" with Dalida.

177 Jerne remember that our teachers we spoke at least once a year of Sputnik even when there was not born when it was launched.

187 Jerne remember at 18 or 19 years my brother was such a fan of Patrick Dewaerequ'il had to have been perm curls and push it even s'étaitlaissé kind of mustache.

196 I remember Marina Vlady is the sister of Odile Versois.

210 I remember Fausto Coppi had a friend who was called the "White Lady"

211 Jerne remember I was twelve years old when I discovered Nutella in uneamie. We were great in pots kw, less expensive, but sansnoisettes.

230 Jerne remember my father telling at the end of the war, allemandeavait a bullet shattered the window of the family millinery.

242 Jerne remember he told me that in May 1940, when the whole familleétait poised to go into exile, his father suddenly changed aviset decided to stay: my father was very disappointed, he had his bag audos with the sausage for a picnic.

259 I remember that Charles de Gaulle étépour me a street name before that of a politician.

265 I remember Lee Harvey Oswald.

282 Jerne remember that Maurice Chevalier sang, rolling the R and I necomprenais why, given that Fleming was not.

291 Jerne remember when he was little , my brother loved filmsde Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin , and even those with Chariot.

301 Jerne remember playing Sidney Bechet Petite Fleur .

313 I remember Bourvil.
I remember a skit in which Bourvil ilrépétait several times at the conclusion of each paragraph sapseudo-conference: "Alcohol, no, ferruginous water, yes!"

329 Jerne remember in The Household Carolina (Michel de Ghelderode) jejouais the role of Columbine, but my parents did not even come see me dérangéspour.

346 Jerne remember that Provence had told my father that the best pastisétait Casanis, so for him it was "a Casanis or nothing."

363 Jerne remember the movie Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange , which caused me descauchemars for many years.

364 Jerne remember my joy when a friend of my mother gave me any sacollection de la Comtesse de Segur.

Jerne remember 382 paintings by Emile Claus who had been exposed to Ostend.

416 Jerne remember that the best friends of my parents had a "Peugeot" and I wondered where it was going to end because chaquenouvel purchase only increased the number: 304, 404, 504 ... but then they are passésà Mazda.

451 Jerne remember Orson Welles when he said "Rosebud ..." in the film CitizenKane.

469 I remember when she sang Brigitte Bardot Sidonie aplus a lover, But I do not fear anyone on a Harley-Davidson or Lafin summer

Ala request of the author, the publisher has left as a result of this work quelquespages white on which the reader may note the "I mesouviens" that reading them will, hopefully, inspired.