Occasions

Posted on December 16, 2006 by Francois Lachance

Simone, Louisette and Julia afix their initials to the Commonwealth edition of the forward to Mastering the Art of French Cooking and thus above those signature elements can be read:

This is a book for the servantless cook who can be unconcerned on occasion with budgets, waistlines, timetables, children’s meals, or anything else which might interfere with the enjoyment of producing something wonderful to eat.

Beautifully hedged: on occasion, not always. Children’s meals, not children. Might interfere. All under the sign of unconcernedness.

And so for day 2
16.12.2006

Posted in Food Writing, Introductions | Tagged | 1 Comment

Cannibalize

Posted on December 15, 2006 by Francois Lachance

Lowell Gallagher concludes the introduction to the Medusa’s Gaze thus

The shape of that [casuistry’s] career, I believe, effectively rewrites the premises governing the eventual manifestations of the discourse of conscience in the literary culture of the eighteenth century, at a time when casuistry, if it no longer commanded the kind of prestige (and infamy) it had once known as an independent discourse, nonetheless continued, cannibalized by other discourses, to exert its power — a fate, one might argue particularly fitting to casuistry.

I turn from my reading to recall poet Bronwen Wallace who is the first person I recall using the term cannibalize in relation to the creation of verbal artefacts. It has been a while since I read Signs of the Former Tenant or The Stubborn Particulars of Grace. What would I find there now?

And so for day 1
15.12.2006

Posted in Introductions | Tagged | 1 Comment