Allais.... luia!

Tonight at the Gallery of the Entrepot the voice of SNCF Simone Herault together with Alexandre Lachaux read some texts and quotes by Alphonse Allais (1884 - 1905). Allais wrote for various magazines, among others Le Chat Noir, and is known as a humorist who wrote fables, funny sentences and holorimes.

I had a bit of difficulty in understanding what a holorime is in the first place, but here is a definition from Wikipedia:

"Holorime (or holorhyme) is a form of rhyme in which the rhyme encompasses an entire line or phrase. A holorime may be a couplet or short poem made up entirely of homophonous verses."

This is one of the examples that was read aloud tonight:

Par le bois du djinn, où s'entasse de l'effroi,

Parle, bois du gin, ou cent tasses de lait froid.

Translation:

By the woods of the djinn, where fear abounds,

Talk, drink gin, or a hundred cups of cold milk.

Some of his citations are somewhat easier to understand:

             C'est curieux comme l'argent aide à supporter la pauvreté.

Translation: "It is curious how money makes it easier to stand poverty."

Or this one:

             Je ne comprends pas les Anglais! Tandis qu'en France nous donnons à nos rues des noms de victoires:    Wagram, Austerlitz... là-bas, on leur colle des noms de défaites: Trafalgar Square, Waterloo Place...

Translation: "I don't understand the English! Whereas in France we give our streets the names of victories: Wagram, Austerlitz... over there they give them the names of defeats: Trafalgar Square, Waterloo Place..." 

I admit that it still demands quite some concentraton for me to follow somebody reading in French, but after nearly 10 years in France I begin to understand, so there is still hope that one day I can attend a lecture without leaving with a headache!

During the reading I was enjoying the colourful paintings by Yosh exhibited in the gallery.