Two of a kind…

A few months ago, in the beginning of October 2011, we had a new addition in camp! Sarikoki the eland had been quite lonely up here in the hills, and although he sometimes hung out with the zebras when they visited the garden they left and he remained… spending far too much time in the workshop. Then, one day, some  of the elders apporached us; they had found a baby eland and wondered if we would like to have it?

Of course we said yes!   …but I have to admit I was concerned – Sarikoki had behaved rather agressively towards other orphants in the past such as a zebra and a buffalo. However, I had noticed his different attitude towards Ariel the bushbuck, so I just crossed my fingers and… got not only suprised but very happily so!!!

Sarikoki and Embe with the new baby eland in front of our house

Sarikoki and Baby, both orphaned, bonded fast! Now at least they have eachother… It was amazing to discover how they instinctively knew they were of the same kind even though they never have been part of a herd.

Talking of which… As you might know, I live on a Safaricamp in the wild so there are already quite a few animals around… to which we have added a few:

Two dogs, Embe and Kidogo has been here almost from the start 9 years ago:

With Ric & the dogs on the terracce of Nyati wearing my favourite “Out of Africa” style of hat – very comfortable for eyes and skin!

The dogs are of the local Maasai breed;  playful, kind and always ready for games and fun - and fierce with baboons! Visitors just love them and children especially has been known to profess when asked about which of the animals they have seen so far they liked the most: “…The dogs…”

Then the cats came, Snapper first… Snapper then went on to produce Kitamu and a few other beauties now living good lives in Maasai and Kiisi villages;). I have to admit I have a special soft spot for this one, though: she is a rather interesting cat as her mother, living far away from other villages mated with a wildcat so she is halfbreed…

Quality time in the studio recliner, Kitamu in front, Snapper in the background.

But it is not the mix, it is the resulting character which amazes me. The mix leads to some interesting things, such as her catching and eating snakes, huge spiders and bugs! Not to mention climbing Acacia trees in total disrespect of their fearful spines… climbing down with her head first reveals her wild genes… She also like walking on the top of the roof of our house… While mummy just sits and watch and wonder! And yet she never acts in agressive ways, she is always attentive, affectionate and secure.

 

Kitamu in action mode

Well, enough of that, it was Baby and Sarikoki I was about to tell you about!

The development has been very good. They always hang out together, never go far from eachother, Sarikoki taking the lead (in fact his name, Sarikoki, means “The one who leads” in Maa). Eating, resting, exploring… and interacting with all of us here at camp, biped, fourped, four or twowheeled, the sky sets the limit.

Sarikoki and Baby in the garden resting in the shadow of a Pepper tree (Schinus treblintifolius) in the mid-day heat.

Baby has, as you can see, grown a quite a lot since october!

It seems almost to good to be true, as elands are known to be extremely skittish so… is it all tell and no show?

Well, as they say, a picture say more than a thousand words so here is one from this morning:

Embe and Baby by the sundowner bench in my garden.

And that should about say it all, is it not… except I guess, with my philosophical streak, there is one.

We, as humans, behaving in a relaxed and accomodating way around animals, can help species accepting and getting to know eachother even though they from Natures side would be sworn enemies as hunter and prey. They need to be given sufficiently space, food and attention to accept eachother as part of a group.

Hmmm… having said that, still working on how to include the vegetable part of living life to the community feeling, though…

In the meanwhile fences just have to do the job…

Sacrificing to protect… Sarikoki checking out Jackson building a fence around my Silk Floss trees  grown from seeds collected in the Nairobi Arboretum… Jackson is a rather tall  fellow, so, yes, Sarikoki IS rather huge by now… glad he is friendly most of the time!

Have a lovely day! Mine  has been!

An eventful summer…

This summer was the first time in many years to hold a painting exhibition in Norway.

 

Gallery Flood is situated on an island just outside the city of Sandefjord. Just130 km southwest of the capital Oslo it is reached by exellent roads with great views of the ocean along the way and is a very popular holiday destination.

…overcast morning down by the Fjord: water is cool but immensely fresh, if you find the guts, an early morning bath leaves you feel refreshed – and brave! like nothing else…

Featuring the almost obligatory breathtaking views over the ocean and fjords it also happens to be next door to where I have spent quality time in the past on holidays as well as on other occasions as my aunt lives next door.

the gallery in the preparation phase as I am trying to work out the best ways to hang my things in harmony with the craftwork already there.

Having had favourable receptions on my work in Kenya I should have been totally at ease by expanding my circles but it is alway the way, I guess, that every time one enters something new there is this slight anxiety. So, being slightly nervous about the reception of my work in my native setting this gallery gave the best possible frame as a good combination of something new, something well known… bringing the past and the present together.

me slightly nervous but trying not to let it show, however, the clasping hands let it all away, isnt it…!

I came to Norway a few days before, visiting friends and family and taking photos to share with you here on this blog both from the famous Vigeland Sculpture park but also from the Botanical gardens of Oslo as they recently had a new addition I wanted to take a closer look at. 

This lovely addition is a garden created with the specific purpose of giving people with Alzheimers desease a sense of belonging and rememberance as it contains “oldfashioned” plants and features from gardens in the Eastern part of Norway.

The idea is that they can come here, sit on a bench and reconnect with memories from a distant past,  and to give them a sense of stability through recognition of something familiar.

I think this is a lovely idea. By making the estethical pleasures of the gardens made for beauty and relaxation vivid in the mind through the eye, the touch and the olifactory senses one can connect to deeper levels of self and otherness.

It is always nice to have a quiet bite at the cafe…

Then: Preparing for departure “down south” next day I cycled downwards through Oslo City Center to buy my train ticket and check the departure times. Then back home past the Government quarters to avoid getting stuck in the tramlines next to the Catherdal and then zigzakking up to Frogner via the castle and its lovely park.

Learning that the train tunnels in central part of Oslo was under reconstruction and it would be a complicated journey with buses etc., I chose to ride my bike with my paitings rolled up and my gear on my back to Lysaker - the nearest station open – the next day.

 taking a break at Lysakerkilen - my fabulous foldable bike is a new love!

I started early, passed through Vigelandsparken and took these images of people having fun posing as the sculptures, strolling about, enjoying the weather…

 

It was the morning of the 22nd of June 2011.

And little did I know that the world, for us, would change dramatically that day.

I tried to write about this earlier. Somehow my computer crashed and the blogpost disappeared. Having other things coming up; travels to Italy, Marocco, England… death of a loved one… health issues…  I never musted the force to write as I felt I had to deal with this post before anything else. and the time was just not right. Whatever came out too raw, somehow, or it felt too platonic merging the loss and sadness with the happiness and joy of the wonderful experiences that also had been part of this last months so I kept postphoning it. until now.

As I came back to the house after bringing my paintings to the gallery and setting myself up for stretching them we settled in front of the television to watch the news.

There had been a terrorist attack. First a bomb. then shootings. Filled with dread and sadness I remembered passing by the exact spot at the exact time the bomb had gone off the previous day. My thoughts went out to people I know working in the area. were they ok? no answer on the phone. then the details came. the children enjoying companionship and happiness gunned down. it was too much to take in. I was devastated. and in doubt: should we cancel the show? would it be disrespectful?

the gallerist and I talked and thought and decided; we will go on. but on a smaller scale.

I am happy we did that.

Between 150 and 200 people showed up for the opening. And they continued to come. They wanted to talk, they said; we do not want to be stopped by this. life must go on. perhaps we have become complacent, perhaps we have become spoiled. we must open our hearts and mind and embrace life, embrace eachother, grow closer.

it was magical. it changed something in me listening to these people reflecting on themselves in such an open way. At the opening I tried to give an impression of what life in Africa is like and got quite engaged, it seems… (btw the painting in the background is from Langebybukta, based on a sketch I made the previous year…) and I tried to tell the tale of how the strong togetherness in our local Maasai Community is working and how important it is for them to have foras where all aspect of a problem or an idea is discussed at length regardless of your position until an agreement is reached.

the next weekday I went to Oslo. Being very Norwegian, not wanting to pry, not wanting to be in the way for the investigations, still wanting to pay my respect and face the facts I silently made my way downtown.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I came closer to the Cathredal. Even before I saw the hundreds of thousands of flowers I could feel, tangibly, an atmosphere of silent togetherness and strength.

It was as if the normal sounds of a busy city had gotten mufled, somehow. There they were. thousands of them. families with small children. young people and old. all composed. talking, not in hushed but silent and clear voices. standing. feeling. thinking. masses of flowers and greetings, stopping here, reading there. walking through the pathways made. most had flowers, some cards, some flags. and pictures. drawings. it was as time itself had come to a standstill. and I fell in love with my country again, with the strength, with the difference it can do to dare to be silent together, to allow the immensity of what was truly a national tragedy come forward not in loudness and cries of revenge but in a silent intimacy. that touched my heart in a deeper and more lasting way than any outcry would have made. Is it not always so? that silence looms larger than words? when true strength is manifested, is it not so that it does so calmly? that the terror came from within, did that not also show that we had not been present enough? not caring enough? that we needed to rethink?

To be together in silence is a very intimate act. To experience gently move around in a crowd who all move deliberately, consciously, knowingly, respectfully, is, in a way, to experience love on its deepest level.

these people did not belong to some specific group that had made it a point of showing up as a political standpoint. they had not been through years and years of training in empathy and lovingkindness. they were no hardheaders present there to criticize. to condemn. to demand. the point was simple. These everyday people were there to be there. to show that they cared. to feel together and to show by the act of coming there and to participate in silent respectful moving around bringing their most precious ones – their children – that they could be counted on. it was like a dance! magic! It showed, and they wanted to show, that they had their hearts intact, their minds set to overcome and to understand the tragedy. and to continue to live their lives with love and kindness.

Impressingly profound. the very act of being there as individuals, as families and as friends, completely unorganized, yet capable of this great… gentleness. and I, by myself, I walked around in this, I watched and thought and then, when the moment felt right, left for the other things that was on my agenda that day. but it did not leave me. and it never will. and that is exactly how it should be.

perhaps it is time to move on, now.

Challenges

Well, I had hoped to be able to post some wonderful pictures from my giant gladioluses, irises and other wonderful flowers that were about to come into bloom when I had a suprise visit from a group of baboons that tore up every single one of the bulbs... s i g h... also they took a swing in the hibiscus (that did not go very well either), snapped a few branches of the wild camphor and managed to get into the studio where they thank heavens strangely decided not to tear anything apart (they normally does that just for the fun of it). That visit was followed by a group of elephants that helped themselves to some of the larger aloes that also was about to go into bloom, and probably either dikdiks (a small antelope) or hares and white tailed mongoose (which also comes into the house to drink water and feed on insecrts attracted to the kerosene lamps on the terrace) have almost completely browsed down my new bougainvilleas... and all the nasturtiums... Needless to say I am not too amused... but such is life when wanting a garden and living in the wild, one just have to keep on trying - what survives, survives...

A I am not particularily fond of baboons I painted a BIG snake on the wall in the back garden (that gave me some satisfaction!) so I hope the remaining plants will be left alone during my stay in Norway for my summer exhibition...

Bluffalo “Bigear” Bull

I find that in order to get a painting going in a way that works for me during the process it is useful to have experienced the subject matter myself so that I can tell a story. Sometimes they are a bit silly, perhaps, but it is a fun way to work with colours and shapes - and this is one of those. Meet Bluffalo “Bigear” bull… acrylic on canvas 100x70 cm, it is the story of this large elderly African Buffalo that often come to graze in my garden… as you can see, his ears are very large and kind of pointed – the buffaloes are rather smelly, and their eyesight is not all that developed, so they use their hearing a lot to detect dangers…

I normally talk to the animals that come around to get them to know me and recognize that I am not of any danger – the “normal” animal behaviour – and, so, when Bluffalo is around the house now, mostly after dark (which is also why he is blue) he does not run away any longer but stand still, albeit on a distance, gazing in my direction and holding his ears out in a particular way perhaps as he recognize the sound of my voice as something familiar and not connected to any immediate danger…

The triangular leaves are from the Mollus Treblintifolius – the pepper tree – which is in abundance around the camp (the tree trunk belonging to it is what gives shade to the entrance to my studio) and the hill behind him is the view in front of our house, in which we often see elephants, impalas, waterbucks, zebras and the larger herd of buffalo that Bluffalo often hangs out with when he is tired of being alone… ah, the freedom of artistic expression is wonderful!

...addition: just as I finished writing this post I heard some noises from the part of my garden behind my studio, and there he was! did he feel someone was talking about him?

Nature into Art – or, how to create a Living Paradise on Earth…

Gardens have always held a special attraction for people: nearly all great civilizations have embraced gardens, although their forms and purposes have differed, as it has differed through different epochs in time within the same cultural circles. The walled garden of mediaeval times, to take one example, was seen as analogous to The Garden of Eden: it embeds the idea of a garden as a sacred, private place where safety could be found. For many of us, that idea is still with us: it is a place for contemplation, for contact with Nature, for extraordinary pleasures of aesthetical (and culinary!) pleasures.

-Apple tree in blossom in the Village of Giverny

One main reason for wanting to visit Paris this spring was to have the possibility to visit the Impressionist painters Claude Monet’s (1840-1926) famous garden in Giverny. An hours ride with train from Paris “Gare Saint Lazare” take you to Vernon, from which there is a short bus ride or a 3km walk through an idyllic rural landscape.

A typical house in Giverny Village

A poor artist widower with two small children, living together with Alice Hoschede and her six children, he swore when he received yet another eviction notice for unpaid rent in the early spring of 1883 that he would set out on foot following the river Seine and not return until he had found a place they could stay, hopefully for the rest of their lives.

 (historical photo)

It was May, and the apple orchards in Normandie were filled with blooms: the fields with wild poppies, forget-me-nots and myriads of other wilds flowers. A true painter’s paradise!

Crab apple tree in glorious springtime bloom

Monet came past an abandoned cider farm – Le Pressoir – and its pink stucco façade, green shutters, trees in full bloom and an impressive alley leading up to the front door gave promises of a charming bohemian-burgeouise life. The surrounding fields, the river nearby and its large garden promised access to inspiring and fascinating painting subjects.

 

Monets house in Giverny as it is seen today.

Making his enquiries he was allowed to rent the property, and later to buy it. He was 43 years old, and fate would have it that he was to spend exactly the next 43 remaining years of his life there, painting, gardening, and living a harmonious family life with Alice and their total of 8 children…

 (Historical photo)

Having this place as a secure retreat at last allowed him to create that special world from where he would send out in the world paintings that would reflect not just a paradisiacal garden, but even more, reflections of a State of Mind.

The house in Close Normand who was a constant painting subject, and his later addition, The Water Garden from which he found the inspiration for his large Water Lily Series that still captivate us.

Why do we love Monet and his paintings so much, still today? Perhaps he was one who truly searched, and found, like so many of us who adore his work, that to create a garden is to invite into one’s life many lifetimes of pleasures for the benefit of the Soul, Mind and Body.

Flowers in all colours make your heart sing with joy!

Needless to say this was a wonderful and inspiring experience, and as my own project moves along I will post something about my own sucesses and failures – an arch leading to my studio entrance is already in place, Gladiolous have been put in the ground and are starting to get their heads up, climbing Roses have been planted together with Hibiscus and White Oleander and something blue that I did not really get the name… More Bougainvilleas along the arches are in place and various elements that hopefully will stop the elephants and buffaloes to create a total havoc absolutely every time they come by have been put in place (a windchimer so far being the best remedy together with sturdy bush fences… but that is for later! No go gardening some more… when to paint in all this??? well… even Monet had that problem but he did certainly manage after a while, so it is just to once again find inspiration not only in the approach to painting, nature and colours per se, but also in the dedicated work in the artistic field during a long and happy life.

 

-The famous “japanese style” in the water garden

Thank you for reading!

For Monets garden as well as paintings see the website: http://giverny.org/monet/welcome.htm

And, ah, for those of you living in or visiting Japan: The Japanese Emperor visited Monet in his garden: He had a japanese gardener helping him finding rare plants, and there is a garden in Kitagawa-mura reconstructed by mr. Gerard Van Der Kemp as a Milennium project along the same principles as Giveny to be visited: More info is in this link:  htpp://www.vernon-visite.org/rgb3/monet_garden_kitagawa.htm

-You are still in our thoughts and hearts and prayers…

Animals and emotions

Finally home in the bush from an intense and very interesting visit stretching over several weeks to Paris and Northern Italy: The first impressions I would like to share from this journey is about a little gem of a museum called La Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature: that is, the museum of hunting and nature. www.chassenature.org

Located in a beautiful mansion in the fashionable Marais - where we stayed, of course;) - this museum is an intentionally strange museum, which the readers of my earlier post will know is just my thing;)

illustration of point: a stuffed? fox in a vintage chair? Well, Hello there!! jumped of course a little bit just as planned by the exhibitors!

And what about these creatures: Grrrrr… ooops! Not this is not what one would expect to find in a living room, is it?

And here, facing the Grey European Wolf – on parquetted imported hardwood floor floating with Persian carpets we find the Stunning and Dignified Stag…

It is an amazing job the taxidermists have done on these creatures… and the approach behind the display is stunning: The Wolf and the Stag facing each other in a Very Posh salon… Both animals are positioned in front of large tapestries depicting allegorical hunting scenes - can you see the stag in the 15th C tapestry directly behind it? and with corresponding paintings on the walls and a very comfy seating area in the middle of the room it gives you the peace and quiet and space to read the very good descriptions on separate information leaflets leaving you with a very properly rendered historical and philosophical context for the images we see around us.

I just loved this place.

Created as an offspring of the foundation “Fondation de la Chasse et de la Nature” in 1964 by the famuos conservationist and industrialist couple Francois and Jaqueline Sommer it had a twofold aim: one to support and inspire ethical hunting that respects the balance in nature and secondly to show the vast collection of hunted related artworks and objects the couple had collected.

The collection is enriched with loans from many other nature and art-related institutions as well as embellished with modern pieces. Together the mix create an eclectic, intelligent and humourous combination that want you to stay on and on reading, exploring, feeling, thinking…. The contrast to the elegant surroundings of the mansion, The Hotel de Guenegaud (app. 1650, attributed to the architect Francois Mansart) which, at the beginning of the project was in a sorry state of disrepair, is intentional: the restoration project had as a goal to “recreate” the decor of a typical eighteenth-century collector and wow how it does that well. Being a “work in progress” so to speak it is not a fixed set of displays – rather, the institution strive to embrace recent and truly up to date and contemporary ideas related to both art, philospohy and conservation within a genuine historical context, and it is therefore able to show the relevance of history as well as remining us about the neverending possibility for freshness in an istitutional approach that should get the juices flowing for anyone related to the public sphere:) (Hear! Hear!)

Let us look at this typical “Trophy” room. It is kinda scary, but also impressive…I had to allow it to sink in for awhile before embracing it. I would, for instance, like to point your attention to the VERY contemporary ceiling treatment – just one of those quirky touches that leaves us – or at least me! with an impression of freshness to this collection that would otherwise have felt both stuffy and depressive given the fact that all these animals have lost their lives due to the personal eagerness to show off importance and social status through mastering the life and death of other living beings, holding them captivated even after their death… But that is all done oh so long time ago and it IS remarcably done so lets put the current politically correct moral aspect aside for now to allow us to indulge in the visual experience of the place: Personally I would have liked the ceiling frescoe to have been a little more coherent designwise as I feel venerance towards these creatures even in their aftermath and it is to hope that another artist with less of a degree of distance to the subject matter surrounding him will be given the task in the future to mirror the collection in a less visually confrontational way. (Me, for instance;)!) Equally, or even more impressive is the display of artefacts connected to the hunting

this image show one of many different original dog collars used in hunting – the spikes is to prevent the dog from being killed by suffocation by wolves: they were also wearing heavily quilted vests made out of horse hair to protect them from the razor-sharp tusks of the Boar…. Wow!

The collection shows the part hunting has played in civilization– mostly Western - but it also higlights the evolution of the status of wild animals in the human mind – always a fascinating subject. From the ancient veneration of Predators as animals to be feared as well as respected, to the veneration of the Wild Boar as the Ultimate hunting Subject only for the Experienced Craftsman to dare going after (the favourite object of hunt for the Roman Goddess Diane), the hierarcy of animals in the mind of people shifted quite abruptly with the advent of Christianity. The Wolf, especially, was seen as Evil incarnated due to its preying of lambs, the image of Christ, and no means however cruel and lowly was allowed in its persecution. On the opposite end, the Stag, with its antlers falling off and growing back was seen as equivalent to the resurrection of Christ, and its 10 points the equivalent of the 10 Commandments and therefore the hunting of this animal took on Very Dignified proportions … which we can see in the care, dilligence and artistic wonders the hunting tools were shaped.

Later development, particularily the advent of Humanism, moved animals away in Western conception from being Creatures of Divine making (albeit underlying Mans dominance) to pure Utilitarian consideration. The usefulness of the Domestic animals came to the forefront, with the Dog as its most useful, lojal and therefore Dignified of Creatures.

Jeff Koons contemporaty Terrier sculpture in porcelaine on marble top table with 17 century fox hunting trumpet in front next to it, 18th century hunting hound portrait on the wall in the background.

The historical descriptions given on the information leaflets together with the actual displays of genuine historical artefacts was an eye opener to me. I am reasonably well read in European Intellectual history as well as in Philosophy (apologize already now for a later rambling indulgence); I think I have mentioned somewhere that did one semester studying Classical Mythology in Rome pairing it with art history and literature -Classical as well as Baroque to get a better grasp of allegorical representations of Mythological subjects in writing, architecture and Arts- but coming from a rather Barbarian country, who – thanx heavens – (and sorry if I offend someone!) –have kept their love and closeness to the wilderness somewhat intact - never really have had the opportunity before now to see this amazing wealth of artifacts combined with the scientific understanding juxtaposed and contextualized in the historical setting – and place! - in the way they manage to do here (Rome is WONDERFUL, but it is, after all, the city where the Vatican is placed… so they do not overdo the Scientific approach to things, do they, competing for positions at the Papal Court … sorry again…))

Allow me to take one example that for me helped to put things into context and grabbed my attention.

Have a look at this painting. It seems a bit oversweet and kinda… kitchy, no? I walked by giving it no special attention, but as I grabbed one of the forementioned explanation sheets and put myself comfortable to read (yes, I did spend about 5-6 hours there, and I DID read it all…) I nearly jumped out of my comfy sofa to get a closer look (and take this photo)

J. B Oudryas “Bitch feeding her pups” 1753

This image, Ladies and Gentlemen, however overly… posed? we might find it now, is one of the very first painting of an animal showing emotions. It is a genuine response to the new sensitivety towards animals, and a true expression of a release from symbolic prepresentations of the world. Amazing, isn’t it?! Of course, what caused this shift in sensibility was a complex process strenghtened by the creation of the public sphere and the informed reader through Gutenbergs printing press and later newspapers; the growth of a middle class, the shift from drinks to alcoholic to non alcoholic beverages etc etc through the coffee houses that we all know almost by heart and ad infinitum and so forth and of course the great shift in economical prosperity that made Individualism a way of life possible for a vastly larger number of people than anytime possible in the History and the Colonializations etc etc (sorry if I am lecturing just my head is full of these things so …) all this made some very important aspects of Renee Descartes (1596-1650) philosophy being met with a public outcry (you know, the Cogito ergo sum which severs the bond to religious worldviews and unravel the Authoritarian hegemony to knowledge etc etc which opens up for a total Materialism etc etc… sorry again but is is important to keep these aspects somewhere in the back of the mind to get things right here).

Descartes wrote that animals could not feel suffering. His writings have been used / and someplace still are / as a justification to use animals in testing. Now, this might be my own mistake, but somehow it has evaded me through the reading until now that this postulate was objected against so strongly already in his contemporary time – and for sure this is the first time I see it mentioned and oh so well illustrated - from dog owners!!

Now these obviously Bourgeouise readers who equally obviously belonged to the fashionable circle of “modernist” subscription readers of his writings came to protest very loudly and publicly when he denied that animals could feel suffering. They were attentive to canine behaviour and they found in their pets and hunting companions an acute ability to express feelings and emotions that shook the foundation of a worldview that placed Men above Nature.

And so it was that the New Modern Man - and Woman – found themselves not only accompanied by feeling beasts and companions worthy of respect and loving care: but also the sexes found themselves in company of fellow human beings with whom they could share feelings, thoughts and emotions on a scale and in depth never before being experienced – but that is a subject which will have to wait. Let me just mention already now that this development has been the subject of a whole range of books including one,especially, of 43 books and hundreds if not thousands of articles written by the now forgotten writer and literature critic Hjalmar Elster Christensen (1869-1925) – my Great Grandfather on the maternal side -on the evolution of Human Emotions through the Enlightenment age (his dissertation was on the writings of Flaubert).

Until now I did not get it. Your Humble Writer has diligently worked her way through most of his writings, but due to lack of proper insight in the French side of things (and he was VERY much into continental philosophy and literature) I could not get hold of the flavour of it, so to speak. It is a little bit better now, but there is still a LOT of work to be done to get it right.

Perhaps it will be possible to frame my dissertation on Individualism at one point after some more reading and ramblings after all? that would be nice….

thank you for reading! Now go gardening of which I will post something about later;)