“Of all the novelties of France under President Nicolas Sarkozy, one of the more arresting is the decline of the abstract noun. In the past, no French leader would make a speech without liberal doses of destiny and history. In one speech Mr Sarkozy’s predecessor, Jacques Chirac, squeezed 13 abstract nouns—unity, liberty, humanity and more—into a single sentence. He was almost outdone by his prime minister (and part-time poet), Dominique de Villepin, who came up with the declaration: “Globalisation is not an ideal, it cannot be our destiny.”

The contrast with the wordcraft of Mr Sarkozy is instructive. In his first big foreign-policy speech, he managed in 18 pages to utter neither the word glory nor the word grandeur. Unlike his British counterparts, who favour verbless sentences, Mr Sarkozy is a verbaholic. According to a linguistic analysis of his campaign speeches by Damon Mayaffre, of the University of Nice, one of Mr Sarkozy’s most frequent words is I, usually followed by the verb want.”

Dans les années 1830, les ouvrages imprimés dits « contraires aux bonnes moeurs » publiés sous le manteau, poursuivis ou condamnés, sont séparés du reste des collections de la Bibliothèque royale et rassemblés afin de constituer une section distincte intitulée Enfer et conservée à la Réserve des livres rares. Quelques années plus tard, le cabinet des Estampes procède à l’identique.

Dès lors, l’Enfer devient un lieu mythique, objet de toutes les curiosités et de tous les fantasmes. Pour la première fois, la Bibliothèque nationale de France expose cette part obscure de ses collections et lève le voile sur l’Enfer.

Info: 04 décembre 2007 – 02 mars 2008. Site François-Mitterrand / Grande Galerie. Dossier de presse, een pdf met kleine plaatjes.

The Independent, Sex please! (we’re French): Paris’s dirty secret:

“The “Enfer” section of the Bibliothèque Nationale – books and prints and photographs purchased, confiscated or donated over almost two centuries – is believed to be one of the largest and richest collections of pornographic and erotic materials in the world. The Vatican’s secret stash is said to be even larger but that, presumably, will never be opened to the public.

How strong can this stuff be? Given what appears daily on the internet, on cable TV, or in the pages of the Daily Sport, is it possible to be shocked by exquisite, but explicit, 17th-century porn?

The answer is, yes. The exhibition is an eye-opener: a quietly and intelligently displayed but garish cornucopia of sadism, masochism, bestialism, scatology, bums, tits and staring genitalia. It is also a fascinating, and sometimes beautiful, expedition through the dark, winding corridors of the human psyche.”

“The French nuclear test codenamed Canopus, which was fired on 24th August 1968 in the Fangataufa Atoll.”

Canopus – a photoset on Flickr.

Times: More Rimbaud and less Rambo, critics tell sweaty jogger Sarkozy

“Is jogging right wing?” wondered Libération, the left-wing newspaper. Alain Finkelkraut, a celebrated philosopher, begged Mr Sarkozy on France 2, the main state television channel, to abandon his “undignified” pursuit. He should take up walking, like Socrates, Arthur Rimbaud, the poet, and other great men, said Mr Finkelkraut.

“Western civilisation, in its best sense, was born with the promenade. Walking is a sensitive, spiritual act. Jogging is management of the body. The jogger says I am in control. It has nothing to do with meditation.”

Boris Johnson: Bravo, Sarkozy – from one jogger to another (via)