So yesterday I managed to do a few feminist things while here in Paris–both homages, of a sort.
First, I visited Père-Lachaise, the largest cemetery in Paris and a convenient ten-minute walk from the apartment. I didn’t stay long, just long enough to visit the tomb of Heloise and Abelard, the great medieval lovers and philosophers.
After that (and after a quick café au lait–my exchange mate doesn’t drink coffee, it seems, and I’m in a caffeine deficiency from trying to make do with tea), I dropped by Violette and Co., a feminist/LGBT bookstore in the arrondissement. I picked up a new copy of Le Deuxième Sexe, volume I–I somehow managed to lose the copy I bought last year–and a book called Je suis pas feministe, mais… (“I’m not a feminist, but…”), mostly because I have a book in English with the same title. They’re very different books–the French one is a collection of pointed cartoons, the English one a collection of feminist facts aimed at consciousness raising (i.e., if you believe/know all these things, you really are a feminist.) The cartoons are interesting to me beyond their humor (which I mostly get) because they reproduce spoken French, a very different thing from written French or even the French they teach you at school.
On that note (and of interest to nobody besides myself), I’m doing better with my French than ever–I even attempted to use the subjunctive while talking to the clerk at Violette’s. (We also discussed, unbelievably enough, the fact that a) the only translation of The Second Sex into English was, as I said, absolument merde, and b) there’s a new one coming, thank goodness.) In any case, it’s a relief to me, as one of my quirks is that I actually like to speak French, even if I’m not very good at it.
Today, I’m off to the Louvre–my exchange mate got me a ticket to the premiere of a Titian/Tintoretto show. Tomorrow, I’m going to try aikido Paris-style.