Émile Nelligan, "The Terrace with its Spectres"

When the dismal terrace again I see
Where turrets bristle from a haunt chateau
The nameless fear of ghosts from long ago
Crosses my whole being and flattens me.

My eye touches, as Dante was wont to see,
At eve some weird and wandering nearby glow
When the dismal terrace again I see
Where turrets bristle from a haunt chateau.

A hellish race returns posthumously
There to sing its loves to the trumpet's roar,
Beldames and knights in funeral attire
Eclipsed without trace as day dawns free

When the dismal terrace again I see


- from The Complete Poems of Émile Nelligan, edited and translated by Fred Cogswell, (Montréal: Harvest House, 1983), p 119.

School Plans

Last night, I had a good chat on the phone with Dr. MacLaine in regards to my academic choices. After some talking, he suggested that I should concentrate my efforts on Queen's, and that whichever decision I made wouldn't be bad. Likewise E-mail from more of my friends, which suggested I should put things on hold as much as possible.

I am leaning towards Queen's, I admit that: I know more of their professors my reputation, their courses seem more consonant with my own interests, it's located in a good mid-sized city near everything but complete within itself, the money's good, and so on.

My only concern is a worst-case scenario: What if I reject the WLU offer, only to be told that "sorry, we're not including you in Queen's," and am left without any scholarship offers?

I really want to talk to the head of Queen's graduate program early this coming week. I really want to do that. I'd like confirmation, absolute and iron-clad.

"Enough, children"

From The Economist:

"Enough, children"

Feb 27th 2003
From The Economist print edition

American anti-Europeanism does less damage than European anti-Americanism. But it is still worrying

THE spoof Google search doing the rounds in Washington, DC, runs: “Your search—French military victories—did not match any documents. No pages were found. Did you mean French military defeats?” An affable Frenchman might merely find it odd that Napoleon is unknown in America, despite selling a chunk of it to Jefferson, but other barbs will hurt. “What do you call a Frenchman advancing on Baghdad?”“A salesman.” On American talk shows, it is open season on continental Europeans, especially those “cheese-eating surrender monkeys”.

Politicians seem to have caught the tabloid spirit. “I am particularly disgusted”, thunders a California congressman, “by the blind intransigence and utter ingratitude of France, Germany and Belgium. The failure of these states to honour their commitments is beneath contempt.” Richard Perle, a Republican hawk, now says that France should no longer be considered an ally. The speaker of the House mutters about boycotting Beaujolais.

( Read more... )

A Female Empress of Japan

From The Times of London:

March 03, 2003

Japan ponders the unthinkable: a female monarch
By Richard Lloyd Parry and Robert Thomson
Lack of a male heir is forcing a radical review of imperial rule



Princess Masako with her daughter Princess Aiko, who may become Empress

JAPAN is secretly preparing for a landmark legal change that would allow a woman to ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne and symbolically transform the status of women in one of the world’s most conservative societies.

A senior palace source told The Times that concern about the lack of male heirs has forced the Japanese court to begin studying the possibility that Crown Prince Naruhito may be succeeded by one-year old Princess Aiko, his only child.

( Read more... )