POÈME + LANGUES
Un brunch parisien en anglais, en flamand, en français, en gestes et en appétit — jusqu’à cette forme d’aisance qui n’exigeait aucune traduction.
LECTURE PAR L’AUTEUR
Lu par A.F. King dans la version anglaise originale.
PARIS
The map begins with Paris generally. Replace the query with the restaurant name or address when the location is reconstructed.
Ajoutez les coordonnées exactes à la constante streetViewLocation lorsque le lieu précis sera connu.
TRIP MATERIAL
Personal photographs can keep the page rooted in the actual trip rather than a generic Paris aesthetic.
/media/brasserie-of-babel/paris-trip-1.jpgA personal image from the trip or neighborhood.
/media/brasserie-of-babel/paris-trip-2.jpgA second image associated with the meal, route, or day.
THE MEAL
An actual menu, receipt, restaurant photograph, or reconstructed menu fragment would give the poem’s food-language play a material object.
/media/brasserie-of-babel/restaurant-menu.jpgUse an actual menu, receipt, or reconstructed period-appropriate artifact.
Add the restaurant name, date, remembered dishes, and any uncertainty about whether the surviving menu is the exact one or a later version.
WHO COULD DO WHAT?
Edit these cards to reflect the actual linguistic abilities of the two people and the French-language environment around them.
LANGUAGE SAMPLES
Short samples can help readers hear why partial mutual comprehension is different from simply saying that two people spoke different languages.
THE TITLE'S OLDER STORY
/media/brasserie-of-babel/tower-of-babel.jpgUse appropriately licensed art, public-domain material, or an original visual.
Add a short explanation of the Babel allusion and how the poem shrinks the grand myth of linguistic division into one comic, intimate brunch.
DISCUSSION DES LECTEURS
Les commentaires des lecteurs apparaîtront ici lorsque l’espace de discussion sera activé.