Hour 10: Cyrano de Bergerac
Posted on October 20, 2007 in Books
Sarah had a challenge for us to read in a language that was not our native languages. English is not my first language, but it is by far the one I most adept. Second would be French, so I ventured out to read Edmond Rostand’s play Cyrano de Bergeac. I’ve only ever seen the movie versions of this (both the Gerard Depardieu faithful film version and the amusing Steve Martin one). It’s a story that I’ve liked, but never gotten around to reading. I read only a bit of it this past hour, but it just reminds me how rusty my French is. Shamefully, my comprehension of French diction was the best and how has fallen quite subpar. I love French, but I suck at sticking to things and keeping them up, especially musical instruments and languages. I think French is one of the most lovely languages, and sometimes, if I’m lucky, I dream in French rather than English. I was glad to pick a play and not Dumas. I try to read a lot of things in French, but I usually fail. I will not try to rad Dumas in French though, nor do I really want to finish the musketeer series even though I really liked The Three Musketeers. Anyway, this play is fun lyrically because it’s written in verse and rhyming couplets. Cyrano does not make an entrance for 900 lines. I’ll continue to read for a bit, and have some dinner I think.
I loved the Steve Martin movie. Keep up the great reading!
well done Athena, and sorry for not dropping by sooner! I was having problems accessing this page for some reason, but I’m glad it’s resolved itself. Hope you had fun with the Read-a-thon, looks like you did really well!