You'll like the english- speaking world !

Congés d'été

2010-07-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

L'équipe d'Anglophoniz vous donne rendez-vous à la rentrée 2010 pour encore plus d'articles sur le monde anglophone!

En attendant, passez tous de bonnes vacances!

Florence Rawlings - A fool in Love (AnglophoniZ n°2)

2010-04-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Do you like Duffy ? Amy Winehouse ? Joss Stone ? Well, I'm sure you'll like Florence Rawlings too, then. You don't know her ? That's really not surprising, I would say. A Fool in Love is her very first album, and it might even make her become the new soul music icon. Discovered when she was only 13 by Mike Batt, one of the best-known British songwriters, she decided, on his advice, to spend her teen years finishing her education and perfecting her musical talents. And now, here we are, ready to listen to her 12 first songs.

Her first track, Wouldn't treat a dog, a cover of Bobby Blue Bland's song, clearly shows her passion for classic American Blues. Far from being a mere cover, she really makes the song hers, she personalizes it, so much so that it gives us the impression of rediscovering the song as if it were a kind of "refreshed" edition. The same can be said about Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me and her amazing cover of A fool in Love by Tina Turner.

But Rawlings has also created some new songs of her own that have more to do with Rock'n'Roll and Blues, such as The Only Woman In The World or Hard to get. And what a success !

But what strikes you the most is not her amazing covers : it's her voice ! It really expresses something and it is delivered with such a particular emotional intensity – just like young Joss Stone did at the time – that it just can't leave

you cold. And this shows that she’s clearly got what it takes to make a brilliant musical career.

In a nutshell, her first album A Fool In Love largely proves that Rawlings is a star to watch. Really. For me, this 21-year-old British singer is undoubtedly the discovery of 2010, that's for sure.

Laura Waldvogel

" Nine " by Rob Marshall

2010-03-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Rob Marshall belonged to the theater field. Nonetheless, in 2002 he has become internationally known as a film director for the jazzy Chicago, an adaptation of the eponymous Broadway musical. Now, in 2009 (2010 in France) Marshall visits again musicals and appropriates Nine, which is also based on Federico Fellini's film 8 ½. Nine's cast is quite amazing, look at the poster. Isn't it attractive? Daniel Day-Lewis (Guido Contini) gives the line to no less than seven great actresses and singers. In the first scene, Overture Delle Donne, he faces all the women that are part of his life, namely

Marion Cotillard as his wife Luisa Contini,
Penélope Cruz as his mistress Clara,
Judi Dench as his friend and costume designer Lillie,
Nicole Kidman as his movie star and muse Claudia Jenssen,
Kate Hudson as an American journalist Stephanie,
Sophia Loren as his late Mamma and finally,
Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas music band as the whore of his childhood Saraghina.

Nine is set in the Italy of the 1960s and tells the story of the famous Italian director Guido Contini, who is on the verge of making his new movie Italia. The problem is that Signore Contini, at ten days from the beginning of the shooting, has no script and absolutely no inspiration . Actually, Guido is, in a way, torn between his image of an adulated director and his behavior with women and especially with his wife and his lover.

Guido has to face the production of his new movie and his lack of inspiration. Thanks to the first scene which introduces the seven women of his life we become aware of the troubles he has to deal with: he has “too many women” ! More seriously I did not manage to find an explanation to this first scene. It is beautiful indeed, and introduces the whole cast ,but what is its exact meaning? I do not know. Throughout the whole movie, Guido would sing and each female character would sing a customized act – two for Marion Cotillard - which is dedicated to Guido. These acts aim at inspiring him, at confronting him or at seducing him too where he stands either as a spectator or at the back, as if he were shy and curious to see what is happening. Each character will thus have his own style: from a pink seductive show to a provocative denouncing one, without forgetting a comforting motherly lullaby. Here you can see a little description on these numbers :

Marion Cotillard sings her pain at being his wife in a sober act (My Husband Makes Movies) and later sings, as if she were a temptress, her anger at him in Take It All
Penélope Cruz shows in a pink atmosphere the seductiveness of her character, whispering to Guido what is necessary to excite him with A Call From The Vatican
Judi Dench exposes her talent as a costume designer in what was the best of costumes at the Folies Bergere, the whole in a very French mood
Nicole Kidman does not want to be a “star” any more and most of all she wants to be herself and so sings her goodbye to Guido while giving him her last guidance to his film in an Usual Way
Kate Hudson plays the superficial, clothes-interested sex-emancipated American who wants Guido in her bed. Rob Marshall has written this role especially for her and has created a glamorous and rhythmic Cinema Italiano fashion show
Sophia Loren is the Mamma and as being dead, represents the comfort Guido needs. Her scene is likened to a lullaby entitled Guarda La Luna
As for Fergie, the 1920s' whore, Rob Marshall has imagined a Be Italian sandy number with chairs and numerous other female dancers. It is quite impressive an act I must confess.

Needless to say that all these shows are the fruits of his imagination, just as his mother is, in which all is permitted to fill us with enthusiasm.

There are mainly two streams in the criticism made about Nine that are in complete contradiction : a side admires Marshall, his aestheticism and camera style and an other clearly dislikes it and won't go back on the discussion. I must admit that Nine is not as great as Chicago was from my point of view. Some say that Nine lacks the unity Chicago had. It is true in a way and yet the numbers performed are conceived in relation with the personality of the character who sings it -and Guido's imagination too. I think that there is thus an explanation for this lack of unity as far each character's personality is concerned. Guido is searching for inspiration so he imagines different kinds of situations. It may be disturbing at first hand but if you considered the fact that each female character has its own personality as I said before, the director's choice begins to make sense and this lack becomes legitimate. Some others say that Nine's plot is uninteresting. I do not agree with this. Guido Contini faces a crisis that is common to men and artists. How to face the lack of inspiration? How to face a life of semi debauchery on the verge to collapse? And moreover how to face pressure when producers and public are so demanding? All these questions are tackled in the film. There may be no answers but only an hypothetic reaction from Guido.

Then, Rob Marshall has quite an extraordinary sense of aestheticism. Just as in Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha, the photography is beautiful, he knows how to amaze his audience. In this sense Nine is perhaps more spectacular than Chicago the former involving much more dancers and the scenery being more elaborate. Marshall may have not stuck to the real Italian film industry image but he has once again managed to make a film that is pleasing to the eye. However the songs are not as well written as they were in Chicago and that is a shame for sure. They express what is expected but lyrics are not as developed ; it's not as fluent as it was in Chicago. They are mostly redundant with words that come over and over again though they can be very touching.

I will end by saying that Chicago was a jazzy, a cheerful film whereas Nine emphasizes on a more dramatic subject. The two are obviously very different and must be compared carefully. Do not be deterred from seeing it, go and make up your own opinion, or simply go and enjoy the view and the songs !

Marie-Claire Klein

The Lovely Bones by Peter Jackson

2010-01-20T04:28:00.000-08:00

I'm a person who loves going to the movies, sitting in those big red seats feels great! I hadn't seen a movie on a big screen in ages so this past weekend, I decided to go there and I picked Peter Jackson's latest movie: The Lovely Bones. The film came out in the US a few days ago and should be on the French screens around February.

Honestly, I still don't really know how I feel about it... I was both amazed and disappointed.

The movie is based on the best-selling novel by Alice Sebold telling the story of this young girl, Susie Salmon, that was raped and murdered on December 6^th 1973, when she was only 14 years old. After her death, she goes in this wonderful though horrific world she calls the “in-between”. From this world between Earth and Heaven she watches over her family and killer. She seems to be trapped in the “in-between” until she feels finally free to enter Heaven but for that, she has to weigh her desire for vengeance against her urge to see her family eventually heal.

I haven't read the book so I can't tell you if the adaptation is good or not. However, what I can say is that the reconstitution of the seventies looks amazing, it feels like you are really back then. Moreover, the cast is really good!

Mark Wahlberg is Jack Salmon, a dad sharing a special connection with his daughter and who is determined to find her killer.

The mother is played by Rachel Weisz. We can see that this woman is trying to cope with her daughter's death but it affects her relationship with the rest of the family.

Susan Sarandon is really good as an alcoholic grandmother who, oddly, ends up being the strength and consistency needed by the family at this painful moment.

The young Rose McIver is Lindsey Salmon, Susie's younger sister who is very curious and has suspicions. She believes her neighbor killed her sister, and she is right, but it is putting her in a very dangerous situation.

Stanley Tucci is unrecognizable as Mr. Harvey, the neighbor and killer. His behavior is obsessive and we can tell by the way he builds perfect little dollhouses. When he catches Susie's eyes, she becomes her new obsession and he then creates a trap to kill her.

Finally, Saoirse Ronan, oscar-nominee for her interpretation of the role of Briony in Atonement in 2007 (French title: Reviens-moi), plays Susie, this little angel whose life was taken too early. She thought that life was beautiful and loved the visual aspect of it. She had just discovered her interest in photography and it is probably why her “in-between” is full of special effects trying to add suspense or just beauty to the story.

Unfortunately, I believe that Peter Jackson made a mistake by adding that many effects and that's what disappointed me. Some of them are fantastic, I have to admit, but others are very strange aesthetically speaking or even ugly. If the visual aspect was the only problem, I would not complain but, sadly, they are also useless. They don't help the spectator to understand the story or the characters better, they even disrupt the emotional bond we have built with them.

We all know what Peter Jackson is capable of, he showed that very well in his adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and that is why I expected more from this movie.

Lucie Grisey

Les News

2009-11-28T17:46:00.000-08:00

Anglophoniz est maintenant sur Facebook !

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Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov

2009-11-05T14:24:00.000-08:00

Did you know that the best-seller of Vladimir Nabokov almost never reached our bookshelves as the author himself wanted to burn his work ? Fortunately it has been saved by his beloved wife Vera, his muse – and driver. After many editors refused to publish Lolita, it has eventually been accepted by a French editor, Olympia Press, in 1955 and in the United States in 1958.

I purposely won't give too much information, not to spoil you the novel. I hope you'll forgive my short summary. Actually Lolita is not the story of a girl. More precisely it's not entirely the story of a girl named Lolita but rather that of a man, Humbert Humbert, obsessed with a girl, Dolores “Lolita” Haze. Humbert or “H.H” presents himself as the author of his own memoir. In this way, we readers will be given facts from his point of view, from his own perspective and subjectivity. And that's interesting! The particularity of Lolita is that, actually, Humbert is in his forties and that Lolita is hardly an adolescent. She is, as he coined it, a “nymphet.” You can easily imagine how shocking it was at the time... Basically, the educated European H.H goes to America and moves in at the Hazes' and meets Lolita there. From then on, H.H will develop an obsession for the seductive girl, to even marry the mother in order to get closer to the daughter. But Charlotte Haze will soon die in a car accident. H.H, as a cautious stepfather, takes the - easy - decision to take care of Lolita and together they will drive throughout the United States. That's the beginning of games of manipulation and sexual intercourse leading to a strange relationship between the two. Eventually the story will end with Lolita taking flight from H.H with the help of another man. In short.

To put it in a nutshell, H.H seems to corrupt a young and nice girl, or isn't it rather the opposite? What would you be capable of when blinded by love ?

Lolita is thus presented as the memoir of a man, Humbert Humbert who has written “the confession of a white widowed male”, which is actually the subtitle of the novel. The foreword written by John Ray, Jr directly invites the reader in the text by telling the practical facts : who, where, when, why and how they end up. Of course it is all mockery, John Ray does not exist, and neither does Humbert nor Lolita.

Highly controversial a novel, Lolita is nonetheless one of the greatest literary work of the twentieth century. Nabokov managed to manipulate the reader and even forced him to re-read his work so as to fully understand all the tricks he has put in it. Lolita is not simply a novel, it is not an easy novel either. Lolita is a story of love, of passion, of destruction. It compares Europe and America and introduces the doppelgänger theme (indeed, there are one or two examples of doubles in the novel). Lolita is also a detective story, including clues scattered throughout the plot. We readers are detectives who are eager to collect them and to solve the puzzle Nabokov displays in front of us. Moreover, Humbert Humbert is so persuasive and gifted that we are nearly bound to love this character that decency would suggest us to hate. His “fancy prose style” as he says seduces and even elates us hence the sense of manipulation that it conveys.

Seven years later, Stanley Kubrick completed to immortalize Lolita (and Lolita) with the release of an eponymous adaptation, quite close to the novel but not as crude as the novel. As a last proof of the book's success, “lolita” is now a word commonly used that, according to dictionary, defines “a sexually precocious young girl.”

Marie-Claire Klein

Sortie du Numéro 1 d'AnglophoniZ

2009-10-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Nous sommes heureux de pouvoir enfin vous annoncer que le 1er numéro d'AnglophoniZ est sorti !
Vous pouvez le trouver dans la plupart des bibliothèques de l'UDS (U2/U3, Portique, Bibliothèque des Langues, MISHA, histoire, Socio, . . .), aux restaurants Universitaires Gallia, Esplanade et Paul Appel, ainsi que dans certains locaux associatifs (Treffpunkt, ADEM, AIUS, cafèt AED/AES, ADS notament).

Mary and Max by Adam Elliot

2009-10-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

Have you ever dreamt of having a foreign pen-pal ?

In the seventies, Mary Daisy Dinkle, an Australian 8-year-old girl with a birthmark the colour of poo, would like to have a real friend who isn't made out of seashells or chicken bones and also would like to know where babies do come from in America as she already knows that in Australia they come from beers as her grandpoppy Ralph told her. One day while shopping with her mother she finds a New York phone book. She picks a name, totally at random and decides she will write to this person. Mary starts her letter. Fortunately he will answer and tell her about his life : the friendship of Mary and Max begins.
Her fortune pen-pal is named Max Jerry Horowitz. He is an atheistic Jewish in his forties. Overweighed, he suffers from the Asperger Syndrome and has a goldfish named Henry VIII – of course, many Henrys will live with Max. Finally, he is affected with an addiction to chocolate hot-dogs (a recipe of his own). He wants a friend who isn't invisible as he sits in the corner of the apartment reading books.
Contrary to Max who is single and alone in a huge city, Mary is rather surrounded : she has an alcoholic kleptomaniac mother, a distant taxidermist father and an agoraphobic old legless neighbour in a wheel-chair.
Mary and Max's friendship will last for twenty years and won't be free from difficulties, especially on the part of Max, stressed and confused by each letter Mary sends him because it reminds him of periods or events he wishes to forget. Two significant parts of the movie will coincide with the committal of Max for 8 months and Mary's attempt to help him overcome his Asperger Syndrome thanks to a book, and this will turn to be a catastrophe for their relationship, introducing the themes of suicide and depression.

Mary as an adult is played by the Australian actress Toni “Muriel“ Colette (from PJ Hogan's Muriel's Wedding) and Max by Oscar-Winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (Truman Capote). To add to the Australian spirit of the film, Eric Bana (Troy, Hulk) plays Mary's husband, Damian.
Adam Elliot, the Australian Oscar-Winner for Best Short Animated Film, wrote and directed this animated film made with modeling clay with some astounding details. Mary and Max deals with various subjects such as friendship, suicide attempt, love, the Asperger Syndrome or the gap between NYC and Australia. Just a quick reminder concerning this syndrome : people affected show disorders such as significant difficulties in social interaction.
All in all Mary and Max depicts in an apparently light way some serious subjects. Indeed, I say apparently because you will not take your little girl or your nephew to see it ! It is full of grey, of brown and that is not likely to please children. No, this movie is aimed at an adult public which may even be disturbed by a few scenes, and yet it involves parts that are funny and sweet. Moreover, the clay seems to attenuate what is happening and thus adds another dimension to the movie. If it were not in clay, the story and the direction would be very dark and disturbing.

Now animation is more and more chosen to deal with serious subject matters as in $9,99, another Australian clay-movie whose subject is the meaning of life.

Marie-Claire Klein

AnglophoniZ recrute !

2009-10-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

Tout est dans le titre. AnglophoniZ cherche à agrandir son équipe de rédaction. Si vous maniez correctement la langue de Shakespeare, si vous vous sentez l'âme d'un(e) journaliste, si l'écriture vous branche, si vous avez envie de rejoindre une équipe jeune, dynamique et travailleuse, envoyez un mail à cette adresse:

anglophoniz@gmail.com

Réponse garantie. Mais vous avez intérêt à assurer.

The Hurt Locker by Kathryn Bigelow

2009-10-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Plot: Iraq. Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.

The Hurt Locker is the latest film of Kathryn Bigelow. It was released in 2008 in the US but only arrived a few weeks ago in France.
The Hurt Locker tells us the story of an elite Army bomb squad unit in present-day Iraq, named the Bravo Company. The Bravo Company is supposed to go back to the US 40 days later, after a year in Iraq. But before that, the members of the unit have to deal with extreme urban war and guerilla situations, one day after the other. When the movie begins, the Bravo Company just lost its leader, Staff Sgt Matthew Thompson. As the unit is composed of only three soldiers, this death is a very traumatic event to overcome for the two soldiers still alive. Moreover, they also have to deal with their new leader, Staff Sgt James Will, who doesn't really know what the word "safety" means. This new leader is a "wild-man", a cow-boy, for whom no situation is dangerous enough. But the unit has to work as a team in order to be efficient, so its members will have to deal with each other, to avoid dying on the battlefield.
The Hurt Locker is a film filled with tension, suspense, and intensity. The way it is shot is very nervous, and numerous short sequences also gradually make you nervous. Very quickly you'll start asking yourself what's coming next... What's coming next ?
The plot is well constructed, for - and that's really interesting - The Hurt Locker is not a true war movie. I have the impression that it's more like a drama set in the context of a war, in this case the war in Iraq. The characters, despite being soldiers, are also very human, very touching, for their mission is about to end, and none of them wants to die just a few days before going back home.
The main character, James Will, is very complex. At first sight you would say he's just a cow-boy, a man who doesn't care about his life and about the lives of his men. But you discover very quickly that there's more than that. He systematically puts himself in a situation of great danger, by trying to deactivate a bomb that could explode and kill him instantly. But why does he do that ? He could die everyday, and each day he starts again, as if there were no past and no future.
Actually, James Will is a junkie. But not a junkie craving for a fix of heroin, no, he's a junkie who wants his daily shot of adrenalin. And the best way for him to get it is to deactivate bombs in Iraq. As he says to his baby boy in the film, "very quickly there will be less and less things you'll like to do. And for your daddy there's only one."
In a nutshell, The Hurt Locker is a very good movie, and a very good surprise. It is full of tension and suspense from the beginning to the end, but it's also filled with humanity and moments of weakness. I think the fact that the director is a woman is the reason why it is more touching. I think it's easier for her to communicate feelings than it would be for a man, who would have done a basic war-movie. This one is pretty cool and very interesting.

Matthieu Vatry

DJ Fresh (AnglophoniZ n°1)

2009-10-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

I was told to do my review on a recently released record. The important word being "recently" . So I said yes, no problem. Thing is, I thought it would have been easier. I thought there would have been at least one good record to review. But no, seems like there is not. So I looked back in 2006, a long time ago, I must say, and chose Escape From Planet Monday by DJ Fresh. Because everyone hates Monday. I guess. By the way, even if the record got released in 2006, it is something new to me. So maybe we can call it a day ?
Anyway. DJ Fresh is a " UK-based drum and bass artist, and one of the principal members of Bad Company ", says Wikipedia. So the word is said, drum and bass. For those of you who do not know what drum and bass is, Escape From Planet Monday is probably what you need. A cool and simple record to listen to, and, hopefully, to enjoy. As I did. As I still do. Let me explain you why.
First, you will start by being "Nervous". No worry, this won't last. When you listen to a record - I mean, a whole record - for the first time, you have to be prepared, because you are about to enter into a brand new world, a new dimension. Especially with that kind of music. But what I am talking about is beyond words, actually. It is about pure feelings of happiness and joy, sensations, indescribable things. Things you have to listen to if you really want to escape. Not only from planet Monday, but also from planet Earth. Because that is where Fresh is taking you: elsewhere.
The great thing about the songs on this record is the "power" they have. I'll explain. While listening to "The Immortal", "Submarines" or "Throw", I had the sensation of living once again things I lived months ago. Do you see what I mean ? The impression of being sent back in the past, of escaping the present time. That is what I really like on this record. If you add the fact that nearly all of the songs are great (for instance "Babylon Rising", "Closer", "All That Jazz", "The Pink Panther" ) and that some impressive featurings appear on the record ( DJ Shadow, Pendulum ), what do you obtain ? A pretty good record, the perfect thing to escape, not only from Monday, as I said, but simply for escaping. That record is definitely worth your time.

Matthieu Vatry

Tim Burton (AnglophoniZ n°1)

2009-10-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

He had been promising us a brand new version of Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland for ages, he has finally done it: it is now official, Tim Burton, with the complicity of his acolytes Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham Carter, has just finished the shooting of the movie and is now going to transfer it into 3-D. Many of his fans have grown more and more curious about this film, knowing that the adapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory could only but direct another masterpiece: and they will certainly not be disappointed by the first exclusive images that have been recently published on the Internet. "It has been Burtonized" declares producer Richard Zanuck. The characters are the same, the spirit of the book has been perfectly respected, but never has a director presented the whole story in this kind of visually surreal fashion that has become Tim Burton's trademark. "The story is obviously a classic with iconic images and ideas and thoughts" he says "but with all the movie versions, well, I've just never seen one that really had any impact to me. It's always just a series of weird events. Every character is strange and she's just kind of wandering through all of the encounters as just a sort of observer. The goal is to try to make it an engaging movie where you get some of the psychology and kind of bring a freshness but also keep the classic nature of 'Alice.'"* During his career, Burton has always successfully switched from genre to genre: from gore, horror and comedy horror ( Mars attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, Beetlejuice ), to comedy drama and fantasy ( Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), without forgetting animation fantasy ( Corpse Bride, Nightmare before Christmas ), and his masterly attempt to musical ( Sweeney Todd ). What is Burton's secret ? In the recent history of the film industry, very few people have succeeded in creating something so original. Tim Burton is not only an outstanding director, he is first and foremost an artist for whom the aesthetics of a movie clearly prevails over the story. He has this capacity of making us laugh about death ( Beetlejuice ), of captivating our attention within the very first seconds of his movies, of attracting us into his world, full of mystery and darkness, haunted by witches, giants, dwarves and other unknown creatures, such as the Oumpa Loumpas. So, after two everlasting years, Tim Burton is finally to present us his own version of Alice in Wonderland on March 24, 2010...But did you really believe that Burton would remain leisured ? No, Burton has many other projects, as for example the production of a remake of one of his first short movies, Frankenweenie (release scheduled for 2011), or the adaptation, with Johnny Depp (you do not change a winning team) of Dark Shadows, an American series relating the story of the vampire Barnabas Collins. Big Tim is coming back....be prepared!

Laura Waldvogel

George Washington (AnglophoniZ n°1)

2009-10-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

This year, for the first time in History, an African American has become President of the United States. Barack Obama is indeed the 44th President to hold office in the White House and can be sure to get his name deeply carved in his country’s History as “the first one”, just like George Washington, who was the very first President of the United States.

George Washington was first destined to a career as a planter, but he applied in 1752 to Virginia’s militia, which was then under the command of Robert Dinwiddie. The latter sent him in 1754, at the beginning of the French and Indian war (later on encompassed in the world wide Seven Years’ War), to fight against the French in the so-called “Battle of Fort Necessity”, during which Washington’s troops were defeated. He then helped General Braddock in an attempt to capture the French Fort Dusquesne and here again the British were defeated whereas Washington managed to distinguish himself when Braddock was killed during the battle. At this point, he earned the nickname of “Hero of the Monongahela”, and this established his fame for a long time.

After the Seven Years’ War, George Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, and got back to his former activity as a planter in Mount Vernon. In fact, his marriage and his deeds during the French and Indian war awarded him land, so that he could greatly diversify his business. Yet little by little, as the situation between Britain and its colonies were getting more
tensed, Washington began to feel involved in political life but first from aloof only; he was against the policy of taxation imposed by the British Government on the colonies in order to compensate the immense debt accumulated during the Seven Years’ War. In 1769 he proposed together with George Mason to boycott all English goods until the various Acts imposing abusive taxation on the colonies were repealed. When the British Government passed the so-called “Intolerable Acts” in 1774, things took a radical change in course and Washington was soon selected to seat as a delegate in the First Continental Congress. George Washington got more and more involved in the critical political and revolutionary situation of the colonies. In 1775, during the Second Continental Congress, he firmly expressed his will to get in the war against Britain and was even given
the command of the Continental Army – the army created at the time to fight against the British troops. He showed courage and determination, cared for his troops and had a sense of responsibility. These qualities were not only praised in the colonies but even in the British Government, which greatly admired this strong and deep character full of the values they were also hoping, or rather wishing, for their own generals and commanders to have.

Once the independence was gained in 1783, with the Treaty of Paris, Washington retreated to Mont Vernon and made a bit of exploration to the Western frontier in 1784 before being called to Philadelphia in 1787 to preside over the Constitutional Convention. However, though he willingly accepted the presidency, he did not take much part in the debates that were slowly drawing a Constitution for the country because everyone already knew at the time who would be the one to get the presidency of the newly created United States : George Washington himself, who was elected unanimously in 1789". He was the first President of the New United States of America; he was “the first one”.

Jean-Georges Plaz

Australia (AnglophoniZ n°1)

2009-10-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

The first inhabitants of Australia were the Aboriginal people, who probably migrated to the continent at least 50,000 years ago and occupied most of it by 30,000 years ago. And, although Australia was not known to the Western world, it did exist in late medieval European logic and mythology: A great Southland, or Terra Australis, was thought necessary to balance the weight of the Northern landmasses of Europe and Asia. The European exploration of Australia took indeed more than three centuries to be completed; so, what is often considered the oldest continent, geologically speaking, was therefore the last to be discovered and colonized by Europeans. Even if many countries (Spain, the Netherlands) had already landed on the Australian shores, the first to explore it was Britain, though it did not explore it fully until the 19th century: Matthew Flinders was indeed the first to circumnavigate the continent from 1801 to 1803. Australia quickly appeared to be a remote and unattractive land for European settlement. However, with the loss of its American colonies in 1783, Britain no longer had a convenient place to send its criminals, and Australia was a suitably distant and terrifying alternative destination for transportation. More than 150,000 convicts were sent to Australia before the British government officially abolished transportation to all of the Eastern colonies in 1852. Approximately 20 percent of the convicts were women, and about one-third were Irish. Many had been repeatedly convicted of petty crimes and many of the women had been prostitutes. The majority of convicts worked as assigned laborers and could earn wages for work done on their own time. Some accumulated substantial wealth and a few founded prominent colonial families.
The establishment of the first convict settlement in 1788 at Port-Jackson, which is present-day Sydney, also marked the beginning of conflicts with the Aboriginal people: a first series of skirmishes took place in 1790 (the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars), but
the most devastating one opposed the colonists and the Aboriginal population of Tasmania in 1807. "The Black War", as it is termed, caused the death of a major part of the aboriginal population of Tasmania.

Laura Waldvogel

Moon Palace by Paul Auster (AnglophoniZ n°1)

2009-10-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

In his novel, Paul Auster makes us follow the wandering, the fate and the quest for identity of a young American, Marco Stanley Fogg. And that’s why, for me, Moon Palace is first and foremost a book that deals with travel, both literally and figuratively. Indeed, as soon as the name of the main character is revealed to us, we realize how important a role the notion of travelling will have in the book. For “Marco” reminds us of the western explorer Marco Polo, while “Stanley” makes us think of the reporter Henry Morton Stanley, who found Dr David Livingstone in Africa. And as for the last name “Fogg”, it is clearly a reference to Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days. On top of that, Marco is actually making a trip that leads him from Manhattan, to the plains of the American West, to the Pacific coast, and even to Asia in a way, thanks to his love affair with Kitty Wu.

But, as you’ve probably guessed, the notion of travel goes far beyond a mere trip through the US. Along the book, Marco really undertakes a personal introspection, an interior journey that will put him on the tracks of his own
identity, but also of his past, which he thought he had managed to bury once and for all. In parallel to this symbolical travel, we also follow Marco as he travels down the social ladder. In that way, his destiny could be regarded as an inverted rags-to-riches story, in which our anti-hero progressively sinks into homelessness and solitude.

I can hear you object that it’s just another cliché novel about the self-discovery of a young man through the ghosts of his past. Not when Paul Auster is the one telling it would be my answer. He manages to create a story that could appear unbelievable at first sight, but he does it in such a poetic and artful way that we really want to believe him.
But at the same time, he keeps his distance as an author, so much so that Marco appears as the only maker of his fate, the only writer of the manuscript of his life. And if you’re still sceptical about the beauty of this book, I would just tell you that “one should not underestimate the power of books” (Paul Auster, The Brooklyn Follies).

Ghizlaine Beroud