ETRETAT: SOME PHOTOS ONLY

Photos taken during a short visit to Etretat during September 2017.

Etretat is commune in the Seine-Maritime department in Normandy in north-western France.

ETRETAT: HISTORY ON THE WALL –MAURICE MARCEL GUILLARD

Hunting for memorial plaques on walls is a thrilling activity. I appreciate the hunt. Last week the small town Etretat in Normandy, France was an object for my private research. The content of one of the plaques was easy to understand because the text was also in English. The second plaque caused problems. Who was the man who gave his life for the fight of France: Maurice Marchel Guillard. He was born June 4, 1895. He died in a German concentration camp April 5, 1945. He was executed by the Germans because of his active work in the French resistance movement. He was shot. But who was the man? I have searched for information about him without any facts except the official report of those who were killed during the war. Maurice Marchel Guillard: Facts and photos wanted.

ETRETAT: MAURICE LEBLANC

-The creator of the famous fictional gentleman thief Arsene Lupin-

Etretat is a commune in the Seine-Martime department in Normandy in north-western France. The small town is situated about 32km north-east of Le Havre

. The French novelist and writer Maurice Leblanc wrote many of his famous books about the fictional gentleman thief Arsene Lupin  in Etretat. He was the owner of a nice house which has been made a museum: Le clos Arsene Lupin. I discovered the museum during a private visit to the small town.

The fictional gentleman thief Arsene Lupin has been appeared in books, movies and television programmes. The French novelist Maurice Leblanc was born in 1864 in Rouen in Normandy. He died in 1941 in Perpignan. Maurice Leblanc who wrote about twenty-one novels and collections of short stories, was influenced by the French novelist Gustave Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant.

TROUVILLE-SUR-MER: GUSTAVE FLAUBERT

The history of French literature was a subject for the library students who studied at the Norwegian Library school in Oslo in 1970. I do remember the lectures because I was interesting in reading the books written by the French author Andre Malraux and above all: Books about the dramatic life of the author. I must admit that the famous French novelist Gustave Flaubert was not to be found on my agenda of writers in year 1970. I had forgotten about him until I passed a statue of Gustave Flaubert last week in the French city Touville-sur-Mer in Normandy.

The city of Touville is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. A white statue of the famous French novelist was set up close to the sea to inform me and other tourists that he too had stayed in the city. It was nice getting knowledge of the French author again after all these years! Gustave Flaubert was born in 1821 in Rouen, in the Seine-Maritime department of Upper Normandy, in the northern France. He is known for his debut novel MADAME BOVARY (1857). The work of the novel took about five years  to finish.The publication of the novel was regarded as a scandal. The government brought an action against the publisher and the author on the charge of immorality.
Gustave Flaubert was the leading exponent of literary realism in France. Finding “ the right word” was an important aim to achieve quality in literary art. The precise writing style of Gustave Flaubert had a large influence on writers like Franz Kafka and J.M. Coetzee. The opera MADAM BOVARY by Emmanuel Bondeville, was based on the novel of Gustave Flaubert.

Gustave Flaubert died on May 8, 1880.

SAMI NATIONAL THEATRE: JOHAN TURI

 -Nasunala theather  guovdageaidnu norga-

The play was set up at The Norwegian Theatre situated in Oslo last Wednesday, September 6, 2017. Because a close friend of mine, Gunnar Gjengset, is one of the authors of the play, I took time to attend the performance. A splendid play and a splendid performance played by Idor Antte Ailu Gaup, Inga Marja Sarre and Egil Kestitalo.

 The play was written by Gunnar Gjengset

and Harald Gaski.

The content of the play was the struggle to write the first Lappish book and the problems to get the book published. The author, Johan Turi, had no formal education. He wanted to make people respect the Lappish people and culture by writing his story about the Lappish way of life, religion, traditions, hunting, medicine used and conflicts with the modern society. In the play we meet three persons on a train travelling between the City of Narvik in Norway and the City of Kiruna in Sweden.Two men and one woman: Johan Turi, Johan Lundbohm and Emile Demant-Halle.

The main person of the play is the first Lappish author Johan Turi .Anyway the authors have made a close description of two  important persons who made it possible for him to write and publish his book: The Swedish businessman and director, Johan Olof Hjalmar Lundbohm ( 1855-1926), and the Danish writer ,artist and folklorist, Emilie Demant –Hatt ( 1873 – 1958).

The performance was a mixture of music, sounds, sound recordings and above all: The use of an electric train which went around the stage from time to time. The actors made use of “ body language”  to express the texts. The languages of Lappish, English and Norwegian were used by the actors with translations on the walls.

Johan Turi was played by actor Idor Antte Ailu Gaup, Johan Lundbohm by actor Egil Keskitalo and actress Inga Marja Sarre played the Danish folklorist Emilie Demant-Hall. The work was well done by all of them.

Johan Turi wrote the book” Muitalus samiid birr”. The  book was published in 1910. The book has been translated to German, Swedish, English, French, Finnish, Hungarian, Italian and Japanese. The Norwegian translation is done by Harald O. Lindbach. The Norwegian title is: Min bok til samene. The translated book was published in 2010.

Johan Turi was born in Kautokaino in 1854. He moved with his family to Sweden in about 1870. The illustrations printed in the book were made by Johan Turi himself. He was owner of reindeers.

BICYCLING, POEMES AND NATURE

If you had asked me some days ago about my knowledge of a poet named Rumi, the answer would have been negative. Never heard of the man would have been my answer. During a bicycling tour with friends whose private interest in publicity about their names is rather limited, I was informed by the former high school teacher who Rumi was. We were bicycling for at last seven hours on Friday, September 1, in a forested area to the East of Oslo. Østmarka is the name of a part of the congregation of woodland known as Oslomarka. The area is situated within the municipalities Oslo, Lørenskog, Rælingen, Ski and Enebakk. So far, some facts about the map of the tour. Due to my lack of bicycling training, we had to make pause at a cabin or café or cottage named: Mariholtet Sportsstue. It is a nice place.

In front of the café I saw a poster contenting a poem. The name of the poet was Rumi. The former high school teacher gave me a private lecture of the work and the history of the late Pershian poet named Rumi. His real name is, Jaral ad-Din Muhammad Rumi. Rumi is his popular name I was told. Born in 1207 and died in 1273. He was a poet, lawyer, Islamic scholar, theologian, Sufi mystic and a teacher who took Islam seriously. He was also of the opinion that use of music, poverty and dance was a path to reach God. The main messages of his works are contenting his thinking and his attitude to life: Unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love.

People of all sects and creeds loved his peaceful and tolerant teaching. A life in peace and harmony – not hostility and hate -was his goal. So far, some facts about the official report about the work and life of Rumi. Hollywood personalities such as Madonna, Goldie Hawn, Philip Glass and Demi  More love to perform his love poems. Above all: Rumi was born in 1207. His works are still read worldwide even close to a cabin in the forest of Oslo, the capital of Norway in year 2017!