"But for me, it is an aptitude of my sensitivity, the aptitude to sense the diverse, that I establish as an aesthetic principle of my knowledge of the world."
(V. Segalen, Essay on exoticism.)
The production of wine in Crimea is attested from ancient Greece, and the local character of this production is reflected in the use of some very old indigenous grape varieties, including "Ekim kara" (which you will not find anywhere else ) which is used to make "черный доктор" ("black doctor") wine ... But the great development of viticulture in...
If there is a moment of the year, more than any other, it's hard to be so far away from Crimea... It's on Easter day !... So here is what I wrote about it in 2019...
Note that Euripides actually wrote this part two first, in 414 BC... We should therefore, in addition to the numerous innovations which have profoundly influenced the theater, recognize to him, with the writing of Iphigenia in Aulis, the invention of the "prequel" with that part one, written in 406 BC.
"... look to the left, at the first violins and shout so that everyone thinks that you have recognized them individually. There are only world celebrities there. This one, at the first desk, is Vieuxtemps..." Could you read (perhaps you have?) on page 373 of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita (Inculte editions). And to ask yourself,...
When I say "Iphigénia", for most French speakers this title will probably evoke Racine, while for our German friends it will perhaps be Goethe... Or Gluck... (I am afraid that in 21st century Europe, the vast majority of our fellow citizens - French-speaking in any case - are surely wondering at this moment "but, who is this Gluck?")...
The...
To offer or to treat yourself!... The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.
There are two big families of Santas. The Nicolaus family, and the family From the dawn of time...
The side roads that I once took to escape this classical antiquity which, at university, bored me, led me to the North, whose climate perhaps suited my temperament better, to meet the Vikings. The Vikings later took me on the Eastern route, to Russia, Ukraine and Crimea... Finally, Crimea made me rediscover Greek antiquity... Circumnavigation "in...