Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Popping up out of the Ether

It's almost three months since my last post. Apologies first of all to those who have left comments that have received no reply. And secondly thanks to those who have continued to direct internet traffic towards Connaissances, especially Clare Dudman who has left a very kind comment about this blog during an interview with Mark Thwaite at the Book Depository web site.

My "Adieu" from Paris was a cryptic one, not saying where I was going, whether I would be back to blog again some day. To be honest, I was not sure about the future. I didn't know whether it would feel right to blog on Connaissances from my new home in Norway. Connaissances is so much about France, French poetry, French way of life. What sense would there be in continuing a French blog from Norway?

On the other hand, with all the past three months of moving chaos, Connaissances seems to beckon me back with a pleasant familiarity, a promise to provide a sense of continuity of thought, of camraderie, of common interest which, I somehow feel, an enforced move to colder climes should not be allowed to undermine. Connaissances has become a place where people who know me can find me whenever they want, can see what I am thinking about and can join the conversation in my head. That is the important thing, and not where I happen to be hanging my hat.

So there will be no new blog entitled: "Snakker du Norske?", "The Trolls are Rising", "Moonlight on a Mountain Lake" or even "Granitic Eddas". Norway will certainly find its way onto this blog's menu, but it will not be the main course.

And on the same note, I'll also be continuing some of my other Paris activities, such as the editing of Upstairs at Duroc magazine, since this has become an equally important part of my writing life. I'm still going to continue translating French poetry as well, at least until I can get my head around Norwegian...

6 comments:

Clare Dudman said...

Ah, I thought it must be Norway! Very glad to see you back, Jonathan!

Jonathan Wonham said...

Thanks Clare. I'm only back in a very tentative way at the moment as my connection is very tenuous, sneaking through the wireless ether. I'm trying to get properly connected, but it's a hair-tugging activity here in Norway.

Joe Milutis said...

coincidentally, I am reading on Norwegian immigrants. they know a thing or two about the vast blank spaces of the middle US:
http://www.amazon.com/Giants-Earth-Prairie-Perennial-Classics/dp/0060931930

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Jonathan - if only tenuously. Hope to see you more substantially soon!

Lucy said...

So pleased when your light came on!

I thought probably Norway but New Zealand was a possibility too, as also having fjords, and there was a reference to beaches...

Where- and whatever you blog, I'll always enjoy visiting.

(I rather like 'Granitic Eddas' myself...)

Jonathan Wonham said...

Hi Joe, I've never heard of this book. It does sound rather good. I'm looking forward to discovering some Norwegian writers, so will keep my eye open for Rolvaag.

Dick, you surely will find something more substantial soon...

And Lucy, thank you, it's nice to be missed. We have some lovely beaches quite near us where we live in Stavanger. There is a very long sandy one at Sola, near the airport. Norway actually had a 2 month long heat wave this summer and we had a couple of days lying on the beach while the children paddled in the sea.