Oxford, Paris, and other things

 That will be absolutely a mess, more following my crazy thoughts... 'Tu ne connais pas Nevers, tu n'est jamais allée a Nevers!" Here is the beginning of a very famous French novel by Marguerite Duras: Nevers mon amour... Not quite. The title is 'Hiroshima mon amour'. But Nevers is in the novel... Not quite in a great light, the female protagonist was arrested and did time in Nevers just after the war as she had a relationship with a German soldier. So I'm a bit surprised to see that a street got Duras' name and she's considered a friend of the city! (But maybe she did stuff I do not know about) There is another literary reference, a bit far-stretched maybe... Madame de Lafayette's portrait of the Prince de Clèves in La princesse de Clèves. The Prince de Clèves, a man of honour, became Duc de Nevers by accident after the death of his brother. It is said Madame de Lafayette took him as model in her novel, one of the first in France.  If we go further...

  Burgundy in Paris                                                You taught me how to cut it                                  first the skin         silk paper that was (but not long enough to roll a cigarette with) a game of chess with the knife                 deep in squares            then across                  mind your thumb with the blade                     ...

 At last, after months and months refining the Ethics forms, I have obtained permission from the University to interview Wantage and surrounding villages residents.  The VDM Vale & Downland Museum Wantage has just advertised the project in their social media. The local library has also agreed to show the poster about the project.  So here we go! And here is the poster. Looking forward to listening to all the wonderful stories residents will tell me! So if you are interest, contact me at l.desligneres@surrey.ac.uk