The Recruit by Honore de Balzac – the glorious author of Pere Goriot https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/10/one-of-uncontroversial-masterpieces.html one of the Top 100 Books of All Time - 9 out of 10

 

The Recruit by Honore de Balzac – the glorious author of Pere Goriot https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/10/one-of-uncontroversial-masterpieces.html one of the Top 100 Books of All Time

 

9 out of 10

 

I have two macaws, which you can see on my Facebook page, the blog – the link is up there, though that one is for a written note, and the boys are visible in the videos that can be found on the same spot, if anybody is interested – and one of them is called…Balzac, while the other was named Puccini, with the hope that they will talk and sing

 

However, I call and shout at Balzac every day, and that is because of the admiration for the fabulous author – his La Comedie Humaine https://realini.blogspot.com/2019/04/eugenie-grandet-by-honore-de-balzac-97.html is a massive chef d’oeuvre, with thousands of pages to delight, enchant the readers, for months

Alas, it is not always with respect that I say Balzac, but this is because my bird is mischievous, to say the least, whenever he sees a shadow, a sparrow, he starts screaming like there is no tomorrow, and these animals communicate across miles of jungle, so you can see how my brain is suffering frequent commotions…

 

Come to think of it, it is not my fault that this note (and the others) is not relevant, inspired, and it looks like it will meander off topic, so you should leave this page, it is all because of the circumstances, I always write with these fellows in the background, and now, Puccini is agitated, going to take a swim, in the cage

They are free to get out, the door is open, in fact, we would normally be out in the garden, where there is a big aviary, only it rained a lot today, the sun has just come out, but there is a wind, the place is in shadow by now, and besides, ‘I am a river to my people’ https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/lawrence-of-arabia-written-by-robert.html

 

The last is a line from Lawrence of Arabia, one of the best five movies ever made, and it is said by Anthony Quinn, who is a sheik in the film, and Lawrence aka majestic Peter O’Toole is asking about Aqaba, using a ruse to entice the leader to come along with his troops, and thus ‘I am a river to my people’

Which is meant to indicate munificence, magnanimity, when the fact was that the interests were more complex, it was also a desire for gold, money, to take loot, but dignity, honor is foremost, and I use that to boast that I am also generous, and I stay indoors, with all that sunshine, to satisfy the ‘readers’, anxious to see what I say about The Recruit

When not trying to be funny, I know that this is futile, and it is in the standard closing, where the quote about the mountains that have knocked each other and produced a lousy mouse is inserted, because all this scribbling does not really get out more than just a silly game, an exercise for the mind, for writing helps

 

The tale of The Recruit takes place in 1793, thus we are in the period after the beginning of The French Revolution of 1789, with all the fabulous benefits and changes, progress, liberty, equality and fraternity, the famous slogan, but unfortunately, it was not all Wine and Roses https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/days-of-wine-and-roses-written-by-jp.html

On the contrary, there was a bloodbath, the king, queen, nobles have been executed, beheaded in fact, and innocent people suffered a terrible fate, based on suspicion, the excessive zeal, heinous character of many revolutionaries, the chaos, revenge, Danton is himself a victim of that mass revolt, the lust for violence

 

Robespierre https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/04/robespierre-by-romain-rolland.html?q=danton is the hero and leader for some time, and there is an effort to fight back…this is where The Recruit comes into the picture, Madame de Dey lives in Normandy, and she is very worried, nay, desperate to save her only son

He is taking part in the royalist campaign to eject the hoi polloi, and restore the monarchy – as we know, a convulsive period would follow, Napoleon would first lead the revolutionary army, but then got trapped in the complex that has his name (supposedly, the ones that are short, or feel underprivileged would try to over compensate)

 

The opposite of that would be The Harding Effect, no, sorry, not the opposite, but related to tall people – they do not feel the need to push it, or not as a rule, it relates to how others see them – explained in the psychology classic Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/blink-power-of-thinking-without.html?q=danton

The Recruit is in fact not the son expected by his mother, Madame de Dey receives a message from the royalist, informing her that he had been captured, but expects to be home soon, and she tries to do the best she can for his anticipated arrival, getting a rabbit, in those awful circumstances, with all the Regime of Terror

 

She will use a lie, backed by the doctor, who also has royalist inclinations, saying that she was ill, and the skin of the animal can be used as a cure – that is what the physician recommended, allegedly, I mean he does say it helps, but he is just going along with nonsense, there is no scientific basis for that – the prosecutor is suspicious though

Nonetheless, the end is tragic – you have had a spoiler alert, and indeed, I do not expect a crowd to be reaching this far, most likely, there is no one to read this – and the mother is elated briefly, thinking the son has come, but it is just a Recruit, she dies that night, and the young man is shot dead, at about the same time…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”