| Hours & Information | Locations | Departments | Friends of the Library | Foundation |
|
|
San Bernardino Public Library 555 West 6th Street 909.381.8201 | ||||
|
|
Catalogs at Other CA Libraries Children's Events Teen Events San Bernardino Pioneers Historical Treasures of San Bernardino Magazine, Health Articles Civil Service Tests Databases Typing Practice and Computer Skills Virtual Library Policies and Rules |
Living Section of the San Bernardino SUN August 14, 2005 Issue 
L'Affaire by Diane Johnson Dutton, 2003 
Culture Clash at the Heart of L'Affaire Fans of Diane Johnson's " Le Divorce" would find her latest, "L'Affaire" somewhat tepid in comparison. Nevertheless, "L'Affaire" is an engaging story that the author uses to highlight the cultural differences and clashes between the French and the Americans, the Americans and the English and the English and the French. She does that with an elegant hand and sly irony. Amy Hawkins is an intelligent, educated, pragmatic, blond and pretty - in that distinctly American healthy and wholesome way - twentysomething American woman who has made millions through the sale of a dot.com company she and some friends from college had started. She intends to use her new money to acquire culture. She also wants to establish a mutual aid society foundation, a la Prince Kropotkin. While in high school Amy had been introduced to the little known in America "Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution" by Prince Kropotkin. The extensive research and facts cited in the book had convinced her of the importance of mutual aid in society. Kropotkin (1842 -1921) was a Russian price of the most exalted lineage as well as the leading anarchist of his times. He advocated life in a communal society without rulers and called that "anarchist communism." Of his numerous works, "Mutual Aid" is perhaps the most important because it proves wrong Darwin's theories of "the survival of the fittest." Kropotkin illustrates very convincingly that people (and animals) depend on each other for survival and that mutual aid and cooperation are responsible for social progress. This idea appeals to Amy's altruistic character. But before she can do something about it, she feels that she should become more cultivated, more knowledgeable and sophisticated. She goes off to France to soak up what is reputedly, the ultimate culture. While her apartment in Paris is being prepared, she goes to one of the most exclusive ski resorts where she takes skiing lessons to improve her skiing and cooking lessons from the great chef presiding at the exclusive hotel. The hotel swarms with distinguished English, French and Eurotrash guests. An avalanche kills some people and puts in a coma two hotel guests - an important Englishman with property in France and in England and his young American wife. According to the doctors, the husband is brain dead but the wife will recover. In spite of his meanness to his children, lovers and wives during his lifetime, they all come together at his deathbed. A drama of hypocritical concern for him and hidden desires for his estate begins to develop. With her thoughts of mutual aid and desire to put her vast nouveau riche fortune to help humankind, Amy is in the thick of it. Simultaneously with this drama there is an investigation into the cause of the avalanche. Everyone is convinced that it was caused by American jets Secretly, Amy begins to realize that she may have been the actual cause of it. She becomes all too poignantly aware of the similarities between her and the vision of Joan of Arc in armor the young American wife had seen just before she was swallowed up by the avalanche and fell into a coma. Meanwhile the French news spins out of control with analysis of the vision of Joan of Arc. When asked on CNN if it is significant that Joan of Arc appeared to an American, the leading French television intellectual Emile, replies: "That her victim was English is perfectly consistent with tradition. The devil is known to take the form of the godly. What could be more suitable for Jeanne to do to the English and their avatars, the Americans, than to remove them?" It is through a series of conversations at which statements and ideas like this are exchanged, that we see how pompous and ridiculous are the many opinions the French, the Americans and the English have of themselves and of each other. It is those witty conversations that make "L'Affaire" entertaining. The author manages to show us that every culture has misconceptions about itself and that the three countries quibbling for cultural supremacy have both, flawed and sound cultural characteristics. Underlying the affaire of the avalanche are all the other affairs - sexual entanglements which the French approach with artistic élan, the British with pragmatism and the Americans with righteous rationale. Ophelia Georgiev Roop Library Director San Bernardino Public Library |
| ©2008 SBPL.org | Book Reviews · Art Gallery · FAQ · Board of Trustees · Library News · City Website |