Without Lifting A Finger

Almost every summer we take a "family" vacation. This summer the three graces and I did a full circle (though it felt like a magic triangle): We flew into Seattle and drove directly to Vancouver; from Vancouver we took the BC ferry to Victoria; and from Victoria we took another ferry (the Coho) back to Washington State (it landed in Port Angeles) and Seattle. Being an early riser, reader, and coffee drinker (I'd say connoisseur but that's too highfalutin for what I am), I woke early and hiked to the nearest Starbucks (I'm really a Peetnik but Starbucks' Americano and rasberry thumbprint scone were adequate subs for my "usual"). Reading: In Vancouver I knocked off Peter Handke's little Don Juan: His Own Version (not IMHO vintage Handke but still a good read); and between Victoria and Seattle (I actually finished it on the plane coming home) I thoroughly enjoyed the signature style (a book title in every line) of Herta Muller in her  Passport ....

Of course Handke changes the one sentence to "I want to be a person like somebody else was once." * From Robert S. Perinbanayagam Language, Signs, & Selves (pp. 2 - 3): 

I have written about Balzac's "Unknown Masterpiece" some time ago, in the context of Handke's Slow Homecoming . http://withoutliftingafinger.blogspot.com/2011/05/handkes-slow-homecoming-and-balzac.html * Only recently have I asked myself: Was this Balzac story related to a French film I saw years ago: La Belle Noiseuse ? Apparently the answer is Yes (see link below). Though the film is an updated (and I'm sure modified) version of the Balzac story, the artist's name is the same: Frenhofer.   http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2007/cteq/belle-noiseuse-2/ * Of course the film has the additional advantage of showcasing the always-lovely (clothes on, clothes off) Emmanuelle Beart. 

From Part II: The Lesson of Mont Sainte-Victoire : I sat near them, reading Balzac's story "The Unknown Masterpiece," about Frenhofer, the unsuccessful painter, with whose longing for a perfect and therefore real picture Cezanne identified himself, and discovered that French culture had become the home I had always longed for. Of course this sent me running to read Balzac's story (I have a ton of Balzac on Kindle but have yet to read anything but this story).  A short and ok story which not only Cezanne but apparently Picasso identified with (see http://web.org.uk/picasso/balzac.html ).