439.66.1
The Virtues
Suddenly, Antoinette was struck by a kind of illumination. Since Y is a word on its own in French, couldn’t she count it as a second word, this one reading vertically, and since the Y would land on a word-counts-double square, wasn’t it worth four times 10 points? These additional 20 points would bring her total to 124, which was not bad at all. That clinched it.
440.28.2
A Couple’s Life
The quality of inferences depends on the clarity of the message being communicated.
441.48.10
Inferences
The Cripple immediately saw the potential of the word dialyse. He also followed the point count, which Antoinette conducted out loud. He expected her to end at 104, and could not understand why she returned to the Y for more.
“Y is a word, isn’t it. It’s my vertical word. An’ it counts double, so dat comes to 104 plus 20.”
The Cripple had never heard anything like it.
“Vertical!?”
Antoinette repeated her explanation. The Cripple did not agree.
“Can’t be a vertical word, der’s nuttin above or below it!”
“Dat don’t matter, ’tis vertical all de same, on account of Y is a word.”
The Cripple shook his head, at a complete loss.
442.28.3
A Couple’s Life
André Comte-Sponville’s A Short Treatise on the Great Virtues does appear however in the category of “Philosophy” in “La Bibliothèque idéale des sciences humaines (The Ideal Library of the Social Sciences),” a special issue in 2003 of Sciences humaines, a French journal of the social sciences. The other disciplines included in the Social Sciences are anthropology, psychology, psychoanalysis, education, linguistics, communications, sociology, ethology, prehistory, history, geography, political science, economy, and philosophy, according to the table of contents of this particular journal.
443.66.2
The Virtues
“I’m not riding around wid our kids in a van dat advertises Le Babar. Like it or not, children and a bar just don’t go together. It seems immoral.”
It was as though Terry had never heard the word.
“Immoral. You mean, like . . . indecent?”
But Carmen was not to be distracted.
“Not only dat, but ’twould be like we were workin’ all de time. We couldn’t be just our little family, out fer a picnic on a Sunday or sometin’, widout everybody an’ his uncle knowin’ who we are. It identifies us.
. . .
“Are you sure we’ve got to put an ad on it to be deductin’ it on our taxes?”
As a matter of fact, Terry wasn’t sure.
“I’ll check wid de accountant.”
“We aren’t already deductin’ our car?”
“Naw, she’s too old. She’s not wurt enough.”
. . .
“We can only be usin’ a part of de cost o’ gas. An repairs. An’ dat’s only if we keep de receipts. Which me brudders at de garage aren’t too good at givin’.”
444.27.7
New Car
“The Ideal Library of the Social Sciences” lists 545 books, 518 of them belonging to 14 of the disciplines named above, which it will do no harm to list once again here, still in the same order they are named in the special issue of the Sciences humaines journal: anthropology, psychology, psychoanalysis, education, linguistics, communications, sociology, ethology, prehistory, history, geography, political science, economy, and philosophy. To complete this list of complete works are added a number of essays dealing with related issues on life and society. This category includes 27 titles.
445.61.1
Social Sciences
The Cripple had run out of arguments. He’d never thought of the Y as a word in relation to Scrabble, and he’d certainly never heard of anyone counting score the way Antoinette was proposing to do.
“In dat case, we could be doin’ de same ting wid de letter a?
Antoinette had not thought of the letter a:
“Dat’s true! Dat gives me anudder point, makes 125.”
Antoinette and The Cripple both ran through the alphabet in their heads, but found no other letter that makes a word on its own.
“Hmmm . . .”
It wasn’t the 21 points that bothered The Cripple; it was the principle of the thing. He took the time to scan the rules of the game printed on the cover of the box, but, alas, there was nothing there to rule out counting the Y or the A as words. On the contrary, he was beginning to suspect that a strong debater would have little trouble in defending Antoinette’s cause.
“Well, I just don’t know. One ting’s fer sure, I never did see anyting like dis ’ere before now.”
In the English version of Scrabble, because Q and Z are the only letters worth 10 points, and neither is a word on its own, as is the Y in French, Antoinette’s feat would have been impossible. On the other hand, if she were to produce the word muzjiks (a Russian peasant), laying the Z down on the letter counts double square, she would score 128 points, 129 if she were allowed to count the I as a word in the vertical.
446.28.4
A Couple’s Life
Unbeknownst to her, Ludmilla had also lodged Jacques Brel in Terry’s singing heart, especially the lines But why me? Why now? Why so soon? Where to go? that Terry would belt out from time to time when his heart filled up to overflowing. Especially since he loved the way Brel pronounced that strange line Where to go? with a distinctly Acadian accent: “Yoù aller?” Clearly, Acadia had Belgian roots . . .
447.1.10
Chansons
Since Lisa-M. spent many an evening at home practising her flute, Carmen and Josse knew they could always call on her in an emergency, which is what they were facing tonight, the Babar being short of arms and legs to serve the customers.
“Wot’s goin’ on ’ere?”
“Der’s a whole lot of folks all of a sudden an’ Jeannine couldn’t stay. She ’ad to go an’ have ’er bikini line done.”
Watching Josse pop the caps on six bottles of beer at once, Lisa-M. thought how lucky the employees of the Babar were to be able to take time off for the most frivolous reasons. Dropping the bottle opener, Josse added:
“She’s in such a state, it’s beyond understandin’. It’s her first time goin’ down sowt, I didn’t want to say nuttin’.”
Customers were pouring into the bar. Lisa-M. rolled up her sleeves.
“Der’s sometin’ goin’ on fer sure! I gotta find out wot.”
As she spoke, Lisa-M. spotted Pierre and Antoine, and went over to make enquiries.
“What? You don’t know? We’re celebratin’ Hektor Haché-Haché’s one hundredth letter to the editor of L’Acadie nouvelle. Bones is comin’ to play an’ all!”
Lisa-M. came back to tell Josse what the fuss was about.
“Dat’s wicked! When we opened up de place, dat’s how we wanted tings to be! A real place fer folks.”
448.18.1
A Place for Everyone
Ethology is probably the least known of the social sciences. This discipline, which studies the behaviour of animals in their natural environment, often reveals troubling similarities between animals and humans.
449.61.2
Social Sciences
Terry had decided The Cripple was an excentric the first time he set foot in the latter’s home.
“One of de walls is covered in Polaroids of Scrabble. Every skitch shows a different game wid different words.
“Game?”
Terry had used the English word game.
“Jeu,” he corrected himself. “Right off I’d say der was hundreds. A body can read de words if you gets up close enough.”
Carmen liked the idea.
“Ee says every . . . game . . . ee’s ever played is der. Every time ee plays, he snaps a picture.”
“Who, Dad?”
Ever since he’d been part of a film shoot, Étienne had taken an interest in cameras.
“De fellow who moved in down de hall. De Cripple.”
Carmen jumped:
“Don’t call him dat, my God!”
“He tol’ me ’imself I’s to call ’im dat!”
Carmen was stunned.
“Ee says dat’s more like his real name den de one his folks gave ’im, Arturin LeBreton. I seen it on ’is credit card.”
Étienne was beginning to want to know more.
“Wot does ee play at, Dad?”
“Scrabble. It’s a game wid letters.”
450.16.1
The Cripple
Love — beautifully defined as an excellence by Comte-Sponville — tops all the other virtues. Between politeness — classified by Comte-Sponville more as a value than a virtue — and love, 16 other virtues are scrutinized in order to unravel true from false, and to reveal how really difficult they are to attain. Loyalty is the second rung on the ladder. The penultimate virtue, just below love, is humour.
451.66.3
The Virtues
Lisa-M. was working hard at the Babar, but not unhappily, since the crowd was more stimulating that exhausting. The packed room was in fine spirits, thanks to the grab bag of humorous observations that Robert Melanson had gleaned from a whole gamut of human follies that Hektor Haché-Haché had taken the time and trouble to bring to the attention of the readers of L’Évangéline and L’Acadie nouvelle over the years.
“I never been dis happy to fill in dan I am tonight. I loves it when it gets shockin’ crazy like dis.”
Josse too was enjoying herself:
“Don’t I knows it? Pete? One Alpine, two Coronas, one Sleeman Cream an’ tree Moose Dry.”
Lisa-M. was waiting to give her order as well:
“Don’t know ’bout yours, but mine’re bending elbows like de devil.”
“Dat’s how it always is come pay day. An’ it’s early yet!”
“I’ll be buyin’ dat sweater I seen at Champlain Place dis afternoon.”
452.18.2
A Place for Everyone
La Bibliothèque idéale lists four works each by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, a.k.a. Molière, and William Shakespeare. From Molière the collection suggests his play Tartuffe in the category of “Theatre,” along with The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Learned Ladies, and The Imaginary Invalid in the “Laughter” section. From Shakespeare, the book retains the Sonnets in “English Literature,” Midsummer Night’s Dream under the category of “The Fantastic and Marvellous”, Hamlet in “Theatre,” and Richard III in “Politics.” Are the French more prone to laughter than the English?
453.48.11
Inferences
So The Cripple finally declared:
“Alright den. If dat’s de way it is, den dat’s de way it is.”
Antoinette wrote her score down in a fresh column, on the specially designed Scrabble score sheet.
“Yer tellin’ me I’m de first body to tink of it?”
The Cripple found this difficult to imagine, but:
“Looks dat way . . .”
He sighed deeply the way one might do after a great effort, hoping perhaps to close the surprising if minor incident.
“Now, let’s just see wot I can do wid dis, den.”
454.28.5
A Couple’s Life
Most of the works included in “The Ideal Library of the Social Sciences” are by single authors, but there are several collaborations. In addition, although the majority of authors have only one book listed, several have two, but only six have three. The six are Bloch, Freud, Habermas, Ricoeur, Sartre, and Schumpeter. Bourdieu, Braconnier, Katz, Lazerfeld, Levy, Passeron, and Sperber also have three books listed but, in each of these cases, two of the works mentioned are collaborations.
455.61.3
Social Sciences
A few days later, Terry had learned more:
“I saw De Cripple today . . .”
“Gawd, I can’t get used to dat name.”
“I asked ’im if he knew how many Polaroids ee had up on his wall.”
. . .
“Der’s 1,346.”
“Dat’s a whole bunch. Who does ee play wid, den?”
“His wife, I suppose.”
. . .
“His goal is to get up to 1,728.”
“On account of?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to ask ’im, but ee was in de middle of explainin’ sometin’ and by de time ee was done I guess I forgot.”
Étienne came in grumbling and wrapped himself around his mother’s legs:
“When’re we gonna eat, Mum? I’m hungry . . .”
“In a bit. Do you want a slice of apple?”
As the boy didn’t reply, Carmen concluded that he didn’t really know what he wanted. She held him close, stroking him tenderly, and took up the conversation.
“Wot does ee plan to do after dat? Stop playin’, or just stop snappin’ pictures?”
“Who? De Cripple?”
Carmen sighed to hear Étienne call him that. Terry answered his son’s question:
“Right. I saw ’im again today. Ee was wantin’ some books.”
“Ee reads a lot, eh?”
“Looks dat way.”
“I wanna be readin’ too.”
Terry bent down to pick Étienne up and toss him up in the air a few times.
“I believe it, you wanna read! An’ you know wot? I can’t wait ’till you’re reading, too. On account of I wanna sell you some books. Wee books and great big ones, dem dat cost an armful and dose dat aren’t so dear, an’ books wid pictures, an’ books wid photographs, an’ books wid just words, an’ big tick dictionaries in French, English, Chinese, African . . .”
Carmen didn’t like the idea that a father would exploit his son.
“At a good price, I hope!”
“Business is business, eh, Étienne? You tell yer mudder . . .”
Étienne roared with laughter as he spun in the air. He’d completely forgotten his hunger.
456.16.2
The Cripple
Between politeness and loyalty on the one hand, and humour and love on the other, Comte-Sponville explores 14 virtues in the following order: prudence, temperance, courage, justice, generosity, compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, humility, simplicity, tolerance, purity, genteleness, and good will.
457.66.4
The Virtues
Alice Léger was up in arms:
“Might as well say we’s de ones dat’re payin’ fer de international reputation of Statistics Canada!”
“International?”
“We’s pretty much de best in de world . . .”
“Pretty much?”
“An’ on account of we’s mostly women, de bosses tink we don’t mind. Dey don’t give a fig dat we’s workin’ all hours, evenin’s an’ weekends — on account of you doesn’t do dem interviews when you please, you gots to do ’em when dey wants you to.”
“An’ are you dat badly paid, den?”
“Less den eleven dollars an hour.”
458.22.11
Overheard Conversations
. . .
“Gettin’ bit by dogs an’ all!”
But what are virtues? Moral values acquired by humans over time, transmitted by culture and corresponding to a propensity to do good? More or less, yes.
459.66.9
The Virtues
Terry opened the envelope, glanced a
t the amount of the cheque. Satisfied, he folded the whole thing and stuffed it into the back pocket of his jeans.
“Dad!”
Marianne, who had just spotted him, came running.
“Well, if it isn’t me little goose!”
In the arms of her dad, Marianne finally got to see the macaroni collages the children had been making on a large table all afternoon.
“An’ where’s Étienne got to, den?”
Until today, Étienne had always been first to greet him.
“Let’s go an’ find Étienne . . .”
Terry wandered from one room to another, nodding a greeting from time to time. Finally, he spotted Étienne in the backyard, playing shooter marbles with some other boys. Something about the situation reassured him. Coming closer, he overheard a bit of their conversation, spattered with English.
“My dad’s a pipefitter.”
“Mine’s a janitor.”
“Me, ’tis my mudder who’s a janitor.”
“Me, my mudder calls de bingo.”
“How about you den?”
Étienne was ready, nonchalante.
“My dad’s got a store o’ books, an’ my mudder’s a Babartender.”
460.26.12
The Movie
Works by and other characteristics of the six writers who each authored three titles in “The Ideal Library of the Social Sciences”: Marc Bloch (1886–1944), historian of medieval France, twice mentioned under history (The Royal Touch: Monarchy and Miracles in France and England, French Rural History), one essay (Strange Defeat, a memoir written in 1940); Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), Austrian, founder of psychoanalysis, twice mentioned under psychoanalysis (The Interpretation of Dreams, Cinq psychanalyses [Five Case Histories]), one essay (Civilization and Its Discontents); Jürgen Habermas (1929– ), German sociologist, twice mentioned under philosophy (The Theory of Communicative Action, Technology and Science as Ideology), once mentioned under communication (The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: an Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society); Paul Ricoeur (1913–2005), French philosopher, twice mentioned under philosophy (Oneself as Another, Time and Narrative), once mentioned under history (Memory, History, and Forgetting); Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980), French philosopher, writer and critic, twice mentioned under philosophy (Existentialism is a Humanism, Being and Nothingness: An Essay in Phenomenological Ontology), one essay (Anti-Semite and Jew); Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950), Austrian economist, three times mentioned in economy (Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, History of Economic Analysis, Business Cycles: A Theoretical, Historical and Statistical Analysis of the Capitalist Process).
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