The muse of trouville

The muse of trouville

By Victoria Best

"In 1979, aged 65, the iconic French writer Marguerite Duras was exhausted, creatively emptied out and drinking herself to death. For many months, the only thing that had sustained her was writing fragments of letters to an imagined addressee, perhaps as notes to be turned into an epistolary novel but mostly because she needed a confidante and would have to create one if he didn’t exist....."

Cet Amour-La

As the world is turning upside down and the big countries occupy small ones and Iranian protesters attacking British Embassy, in protest against new sanctions imposed by London and Washington, I'm watching movies about love to get strength and ease the pain of violent realities.

Cet Amour-La is a timeless story of the love affair between Marguerite Duras, the major French literary figure and Yan Adrea, her much younger muse and apprentice whose unique love inspired and tormented her heart and mind and burst into affluent creativity.


Cet Amour-La is directed and adapted from Yann Andrea's novel Cet Amour by Josée Dayan, with brilliant acting of Jeanne Moreau and Aymeric Demarigny.

My Name is Inanna in Chinese language

Poster of My Name is Inanna

See some clips of my One Woman play My Name is Inanna in China production. The play was translated into Chinese and directed by Xiaoqing Hu for "Wind, Horse and Cow" Theatre Festival and acted by Qi Shaoyuan.

In Chinese language, there is an idiom which says: “ Wind, Horse and Cow are thousand miles apart". This fringe festival encouraged uniquely different theatrical voices and provided a platform for theatre artists to display their creativity. This year’s theme was “Understanding of Space”.
My Name is Inanna was performed in Trojan Theatre from November 2 thru 6.



See some pictures here.
Read information about my play in Chinese language.

More information...
All the pictures and video clips courtesy of my great friend Hossein Khandan. With deepest appreciation to you Hossein: Thank you

A Man and A Woman

A Man and A Woman, one of the beautiful movies made in 1966 by Claude Lelouch. starred Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimée, music by Francis Lai.

Watch a scene in the car.

Scott Olsen

Scott Olsen Interviewed After Release From Hospital.

Capri c'est fini

Capri c'est fini by Hervé Villard, the French singer.

In 2005, in his autobiography The Soul alone, Vilard mentions Marguerite Duras : "She wrote me several letters and told me that Capri c'est fini was the most beautiful love song for her ". In 1992 Duras referred to this song in her novel , Yann Andrea Steiner :

"Yes. One day it will happen. One day you will regret it abominable that you describe of "unbearable", that is to say what has been attempted by you and me the summer 80, for rain and wind .
Sometimes it is in the sea when the beach is empty, at dusk. After the departure of colonial children. All over the sands suddenly she screams that it's over Capri. What was the city of our first love but now it's over. FINISHED.
It's terrible all at once. Terrible. Each time to cry, to flee, to die because Capri turned to the land, to the neglect of love. "


Here is the Lyrics

Nous n'irons plus jamais, où tu m'as dit je t'aime,
Nous n'irons plus jamais, tu viens de décider;
Nous n'irons plus jamais, ce soir s'est plus la peine,
Nous n'irons plus jamais, comme les autres années.

Capri, c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.
Capri, c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.

Nous n'irons plus jamais, où tu m'as dit je t'aime,
Nous n'irons plus jamais, comme les autres années;
Parfois je voudrais bien, te dire recommençons,
Mais je perds le courage, sachant tu diras non.

http://www.6lyrics.com/capri_c_est_fini1-lyrics-herve_vilard.aspx

Capri, c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.
Capri, c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.

Nous n'irons plus jamais, mais je me souviendrais,
Du premier rendez-vous, que tu m'avais donné,
Nous n'irons plus jamais, comme les autres années,
Nous n'irons plus jamais, plus jamais, plus jamais.

Capri, c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.
Capri, oh c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, oh c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.

Oh Capri, oh c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.
Oh Capri, oh c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.

Translation:

CAPRI IS OVER

We will never stay where you said I love you,
We will never stay, you have to decide;
We will never stay that night was the trouble,
We will never stay, like other years.

Capri is finished, and that it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.
Capri is finished, and that it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.

We will never stay where you said I love you,
We will never stay, like the other years;
sometimes I'd like, tell you start again,
but I lose the courage, knowing you will say no.

Capri is finished, and that it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.
Capri is finished, and that it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.

We will never stay, but I would remember,
the first date that you gave me,
We will never stay, like other years,
We will never stay again, never, never again.

Capri is finished, and that it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.
Capri, oh it's over, and say it was the city of my first love.
Capri, oh it's over, I do not think I would return one day.

Capri Oh, oh it's over, and say it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.
Capri Oh, oh it's over, and say it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.

Fallujah

The story of Fallujah
"Seven years after the U.S. invasion of Fallujah, there are reports of an alarming rise in the rates of birth defects and cancer. But the crisis, and its possible connection to weapons deployed by the United States during the war, remains woefully under-examined...."

Throw it Away

To ease the pain of losing, "A" suggested I should listen to "Throw it Away" by Abbey Lincoln
Throw it Away

I think about the life I live
A figure made of clay
And think about the things I lost
The things I gave away

And when I'm in a certain mood
I search the house and look
One night I found these magic words
In a magic book

Throw it away
Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
Each and every day

And keep your hand wide open
Let the sun shine through
'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you

There's a hand to rock the cradle
And a hand to help us stand
With a gentle kind of motion
As it moves across the land

And the hand's unclenched and open
Gifts of life and love it brings
So keep your hand wide open
If you're needing anything

Throw it away
Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
Each and every day

And keep your hand wide open
Let the sun shine through
'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you

Throw it away
Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
Each and every day

And keep your hand wide open
Let the sun shine through
'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you

'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you
You can never ever lose a thing
If it belongs to you

You can never ever lose a thing
If it belongs to you
You can never ever lose a thing
If it belongs to you

Lost

I lost two years of my life in Redline train on Saturday evening around 6: PM! My writings! The original copies of my diaries, 30 pages re-writing, one article, a book review and many notes and poems-- all unpublished! Lost and Found office was closed on weekends! No one was around to take the lost items, only the exhausted conductors in their dark, isolated cubes...
I called today no one has turned them in yet! A CTA personnel said: “IF you're LUCKY, you'll find them!”

I feel something in me is dead!

One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

My Name is Inanna in China

In production of My Name is Inanna, Qi Shaoyuan 祁劭媛 stars as Inanna.
The play is directed and translated into Chinese by Xiaoqing Hu.
Pictures courtesy of Hossein Khandan

Inanna:....in 82, I couldn’t gaze into the eyes of the police guards or the interrogators…because I was blindfolded…covered from top to toes…my mouth was the only part of my body which was exposed!



- Fuck you!
- Excuse me?
- Fuck you bitch! I’m going to report you for insulting the customer!
- I’m sorry!
- You’ll be fired in two days. I buy the most expensive creams for around my eyes from this store and you…What’s your name?



Inanna: I’m in love…I’m in love…I’m in love…

Inanna:... Mirrors all around me…I look at myself on one of them…I don’t know who this woman is! Who is this plastic woman who is staring at me?

A lonely tree

Young and stimulus
Like a tree
She extended her branches for an embrace
To share her richly breasts
And wild laughter
Now,
Aged and wise,
She looks at you passing by without remembering
her lips reciting poetry to you
And dancing with you
To the end of Fall season.

Joan of Arc looking through the window

A few days ago, when the weather was KIND and pleasant, on my way to go to work, I looked from the bus window at sharp yellow, red and fuschia mums flowers in baskets, arranged on the sidewalks, under dazzling bright Chicago sun.

Zealous and in awe of beauty of the moment, I felt an ecstatic near death experience… I yearned eagerly for the last embrace…and the warmth of touching hands… Like Joan of Arc going through fire, I tenderly whispered “I’m tired of the war”…I'm tired of...

Joan of Arc is interrogated by the Cardinal of Winchester in her prison (1824) by Paul Delaroche (1797-1856)

technique of ecstasy

Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the belief that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds.

Earthquake and a dream

Last night, in midnight, I was having a nightmare about a horrible earthquake. The earth suddenly split apart like a wounded body hit by a shrapnel. I was clenching into two children’s hands beside me. And other people were in the other side of the valley, separated from me!

Horrified I opened my eyes. My bedroom was shaking rapidly. I knew it’s an earthquake and it’s going to rumble for a while. The sound of rattling wood…and muttering of my computer made me perplexed! Muted and motionless I looked at the ceiling…I could hear what earth was saying to me…I just found out that in the same time there was an earthquake in Oklahoma City.

Cat Duet

Cat Duet
Another version of Rossini's duetto

General Strike in Oakland

Watch this Video Report from Streets of Oakland: First General Strike in City Since 1946 Shuts Down Major Port... Democracy Now

Not to forget, not to forgive, but to understand

Courtesy of "Cartooning in conflict"

Listen to a great conversation in Worldview WBEZ. "Jewish Israeli Robi Damelin and Palestinian Seham Abu-Awwad have both lost close family members to the conflict. Together, Robi and Seham tell us about their involvement in a group dedicated to sharing the common humanity between warring factions in Israel and Palestine. They also talk to us about Cartooning in Conflict, a new exhibit of editorial cartoons that explores the absurdities of the Israeli-Palistinian conflict and the potential for peace. It opens in Chicago this weekend."

No War on Iran!!

Today!
The National Iranian American Council is deeply concerned that the “Iran Threat Reduction Act,” as passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee today, will make Americans less safe and will hurt the Iranian people – not the regime – by making sanctions even more indiscriminate.“Iran Threat Reduction Act” is passed!!

Yesterday!
Don't Punish the Iranian People, Say No to Broad Sanctions.

Under current Iran sanctions, if you send money to family in Iran, you could go to jail. If you travel by plane in Iran, you are putting your life at risk—over 1,000 people have died in plane crashes in Iran over the past decade...

My Name is Inanna in Beijing, China

My play My Name is Inanna is being produced in Beijing, China, as a part of a fringe festival in Beijing, China called “Wind-Horse-Cow” from November 2nd to 6 at Trojan Theatre.
Director: Xiaoqing Hu
In Chinese idiom, there is a saying that “wind, horse and cow are thousand miles apart". This fringe festival encourages uniquely different theatrical voices and provides a platform for theatre artists to display. This year’s theme is “Understanding of Space”.

The main character Inanna, retrieved from the historical texts, the Sumerian goddess of love, justice and civilization, is a modern Middle Eastern woman who is in search of identity, justice and freedom.