FRANCE, LUXEMBOURG, AND SWITZERLAND

Here, for your reading pleasure, we present expert information about France, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. We've started with a very brief history of French poetry, followed by surveys of the oh-so-linguistically-complicated Luxembourg and Switzerland. Then you'll find the beginnings of a discussion about national identity in the poems and in the anthology, which we hope to continue in class. Last but not least, we've posted two poems by Bruno Grégoire, for several reasons: we think it would be fun to have a more focused discussion of a poem or two; we found the poems to be among our favorites in the anthology so far; and, the poems embody a lot of specific anxiety of identity that correspond with our questions about the section as a whole. Hope you enjoy!

And, of course, useful phrases:

German:
I am going to beat you to death: Ich gehe zu schlagen Sie zu Tode.
My hovercraft is full of eels: Mein Luftkissenfahrzeug ist voller Aale.

French:
I am going to beat you to death: Je vais te cassé la goule.
My hovercraft is full of eels: Mon aéroglisseur est plein des anguilles.