STILL READING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

  “You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus... ”

 There must be at least 50 ways to obey a councellor and I dutifully followed David Cobbold’s advice in these matters.

The first opus took me three tries to appreciate. The first time, I made the mistake of reading Mr. Dauzat’s introductory note: a perfect paradigm of all we dislike in the French, i.e. arrogance, superficiality and pretence. Skip at all cost! The second time, I was not in the mood. The third and definite time, I was sitting quite comfortably in the high-speed train to Paris in order to offer my contribution to the “Grunge Tasting” (more on that later on). And it made my day. Took me a while though to realize the author intertwins two narrations and this is the reason for the different fonts in the text.

This Branimir makes you wish you could read his tongue, as I don’t really appreciate translations. It has nothing to do with their quality, but it makes me feel silly, ignorant in a way. Still, it would not be human to learn all the idioms of what was once known as Yougoslavia: a “Titonic” endeavour I would say.

The second hint I took very seriously but I had to wait till I made it to Brussels again to find a decent English bookshop, as I don’t purchase anything from the web, fearful as I am of being robbed by the various bill-paying systems. Even the yearly subscriptions to internet protecting softwares I refuse to settle thus.

So, for the time being, you’ll have to satisfy yourself with this comment:

click here.