The Sorrow and the Pity

Au jour le jour means from day to day. The expression conjures the image of a French provincial town out of the pages of Flaubert or Balzac, as opposed to the sophisticated salons of French Vogue or Marie Claire. One day, in this reckoning, is similar to the other. "We must work" was the refrain of Chekhov’s Three Sisters. Marie Claire is au contraire "un prenom familier, " but no matter. If you took language lab in high school you will remember the iterations of a whole way of life life out of the reader "la maison," "la cuisine," "la table" that could translate as Middletown USA. There’s Paris and the elegant Polo Club in the Bois de Boulogne then just the life in Clermont-Fernand, the town in which Marcel Ophuls' The Sorrow and the Pity takes place.

read "Chicago" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

Cosmic Indifference

Black Hole

Have you ever faced the cosmic indifference of the universe? You always think that your behavior is what's causing the problem, going through the painful analysis of what you would or would not have done or said to deserve the treatment you received. What's worse is the realization it has nothing to do with you.

read "Chicago" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

Head

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What if the Earth Were Square?.

AI generated image of Rubik's cube

What if the earth were square and warning sides put up everywhere, "Beware the steep descent." Ancient Greek thinkers such as Eratosthenes and Aristotle discountenanced such notions in the 4th century BC. But what if reality is the illusion? For instance many people wrongly think that abstract paintings are just about the surface of the canvas, when in actuality abstraction is tantamount to photorealism with so called figurative art being the delusion. What is the world? In this universe, you learn to take "he's going off the deep end" seriously. Christo might be employed or of course each country could put up its own fence. A square world would give new meaning to the concept of a "rip tide," since the inertial force of the water falls would continually wash away existence.

read "Chicago" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

Misery

 

Misery is a great title for a horror thriller. Many people wrongly. associate the emotion with malaise. However,  the kind of drudgery and hopelessness one associates with cement shoes is truly terrifying. Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of the Amontillado" deals with revenge by immurement. Waiting For Godot and Endgame are generally regarded as existential comedies, but Hamm and Clov live in garbage cans, only poking their head up to answer a turn of phrase. "Do you believe in the life to come?" Clov asks. "Mine was always that" is Hamm's response. "Insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results" is a common saw. Another one is often framed in flowery plaques on bathroom walls, as an admonition to men. "We aim to please. Will you aim, too, please?" The joke rests in between the commas.

read "Chicago" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

Straight Flush

 

"Fountain." Duchamp" (1917)

  
SNL modified Trump's "we have all the cards" remark to the Iranians. "We have all the cards, you only have a straight" was the joke.  You can be flush with victory which is the expressions Hegseth and Trump have evinced repeatedly, as they counted their chickens before they hatched. Or simply flushed like the heroin in that famous Trainspotting scene. You night say that The White House has a straight flush when it comes it comes their continually declining arsenal.

read "Chicago" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

Cage Aux Folles

Unless you're polyamorous, a great deal of weight is placed up the notion of faithfulness. The underling notion is truth of course. A polyamorous individual is being as truthful and one who is monogamous. Things get a bit more complicated when a supposedly monogamous individual cheats. The reverse is not true of polyamory. Few polyamorous individuals who ware secretly monogamous will ever be upbraided for the feeling that they only want to be with their legal partner in life, although as strange as it may sound there are covens of gay, straight and trans people who demand a certain allegiance to the cause. The Sullivanian analytic movement argued for promiscuity as cure for possessiveness. The underlying notion was a critique of the oedipal triangle which also came under scrutiny by French analysts like Deleuze famous for his Anti-Oedipus tome. The comic possibilities of perverse or not so perverse arrangements are legion. Remember Cage Aux Folles?

read "Chicago" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star