Littérature Français Actuelle

"Finalement, ce qui constitue l'ossature de l'existence, ce n'est ni la famille, ni la carrière, ni ce que d'autres diront ou penseront de vous, mais quelques instants de cette nature, soulevés par une lévitation plus sereine encore que celle de l'amour, et que la vie nous distribue avec une parcimonie à la mesure de notre faible coeur."

Nicolas Bouvier, L'Usage du Monde

(Loosely translated as: In the end, the very bones of existence are not family, a career, or what others say or think of you, but the few instances of this nature when you are lifted up by a levitation that is more serene than that which you feel when you are in love... I'm still trying to work out what the last part means or how it could be translated.. if anyone knows, post a comment).


Littérature Français Actuelle is probably my favorite class I'm taking here. I still hate analyzing literature, but my prof has a way of lecturing where everything she says is interesting, whereas I usually feel that literary analysis is extremely dull.


Today we were studying an excerpt from L'Usage du Monde by Bouvier. We are working right now on the theme ''Le Voyage'' in the excerpts my prof chooses for us. Bouvier apparently traveled a lot, and traveled slowly, over land, on foot. 


I know a couple of people who take life slowly and are present in every moment. I really admire that. I agree with the idea of the slow voyage: travelling on foot, meeting people, being open to spontaneity and getting lost in the journey. However, I tend to be somewhat of a control freak, so I get anxious when I don't have a plan. 


Most people feel like they don't have the time to take a slow voyage. Time is a luxury. I can't help feeling that time is a burden. I don't hear many people complain about having too much time. Sometimes I feel like I'm being crushed under the weight of the hugeness of every moment. 


To return to Bouvier's quote though, he's talking about the exquisite moments that happen during one's travels. I don't think these moments are confined to people who are travelling though. It seems to me that if a person is living a certain way, even in their hometown, they can capture a few moments of ecstasy. Travelling just seems like a short cut. For some, anyway.