Free for WICE members! Come with us on a captivating journey where literature and history intertwine to offer a uniquely vivid perspective on France's past. You’ll plunge into a vibrant tapestry of pivotal events, cultural shifts, and influential figures…while falling under the spell of some of France’s best historical novelists. And then the discussion begins!
Our meetings take place in French so you'll enhance your understanding of the past while simultaneously improving your French reading, comprehension, and speaking skills in a friendly convivial group.
Group facilitator: Claudia Oudet, French teacher, editor, and translator, will offer linguistic help and literary/historical insights. (Please note: Claudia will be unable to join us on 20 November.)
We'll meet in person at Le Nelson's Café, 16 rue Coquillière, 75001
- Métro : Lignes 1/4/7/11/14 RER A/B/D Châtelet Les Halles
- Bus : 74 – 85 : Louvre – Etienne Marcel / Bourse du commerce
Préparez-vous à discuter:
Les Rois maudits, tome 7: Quand un roi perd la France
Dans ce septième et dernier volume des Rois maudits, c'est le règne de Jean II qui est retracé. L'Histoire a surnommé ce roi Jean le Bon, mais ce monarque fut, en fait, aussi vaniteux et cruel qu'indécis et incapable. À l'époque la France est en crise: les clans et les factions se disputent le pays, l'Angleterre revendique le royaume, les impôts sont écrasants, la peste fait des ravages et le roi accumule les erreurs. On suit, à travers le récit d'un haut personnage de ce temps l'évolution du règne. Une épopée malheureuse et sanglante qui va mener le roi au désastre de la bataille de Poitiers, où il sera fait prisonnier des Anglais.
Come prepared to discuss:
The Accursed Kings volume 6, When a King Loses France
This seventh and final volume of The Accursed Kings recounts the reign of John II. History has nicknamed this king John the Good, but in fact, this monarch was as vain and cruel as he was indecisive and incompetent. At the time, France was in crisis: clans and factions were fighting over the country, England was laying claim to the kingdom, taxes were crushing, the plague was wreaking havoc, and the king was making mistake after mistake. Through the account of a prominent figure of the time, we follow the evolution of the reign. It was an unfortunate and bloody epic that would lead the king to disaster at the Battle of Poitiers, where he was taken prisoner by the English.
