Meades on France

[french frank]

a Wiltshire boy...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Meades

I see "He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1968." Not in Paris, then?

[aeolium]

I thought he had grown up in Worcestershire, as I recall a programme by him in which he went round that county (places like Bewdley) with recollections of spending time there with his father, or am I misremembering this?

[Lateralthinking1]

I don't know. Wiki says he was born in Salisbury and educated in Taunton.

He pronounces "xenophobe" so that it rhymes with "robe" and "xenophobic" as in "Bob" ic.

(How would the French pronounce "xenophobe"? Like Bob?)

[vinteuil]

I thought he had grown up in Worcestershire, as I recall a programme by him in which he went round that county (places like Bewdley) with recollections of spending time there with his father, or am I misremembering this?

... certainly his programme abt Salisbury / Salisbury cathedral was delivered as of one who was brung up there....

I may have misremembered, but I have half a thought that his pa was a travelling salesman, and young Jonathan accompanied him on his jaunts.

Rather like the young Ruskin, whose pa was in the port and sherry trade, and who took little John Ruskin on his travels, which included many of the great houses of Britain, enabling the youngster to have first-hand sightings of some of the finest works of art, fuelling his subsequent career...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

he blogs on HuffPo

[Chris Newman]

Our Jonathan came from Salisbury. He is still seen around the town on occasions. In fact his rather shocking novel Pompey much describes his upbringing in Britford Lane on the south side of the city.

[Nick Armstrong]

I was struck by 'calumnize' - marked as 'obsolete' by the OED. Why not 'calumniate'? And an unusual context for 'bucolic'.

I imagine one gets used to the style. It came over to me as a 60-minute (if I'd kept watching) silent film with a droning, opinionated voiceover added. I was watching the one about American culture.

Minority of one, but never afraid to pipe up in dissent, that's moi!

Watched the first part of the first one today, and absolutely loved it. So brilliant to get an idiosyncratic compendium of interconnected fact and observation, presented with verve and irony.

[french frank]

(How would the French pronounce "xenophobe"? Like Bob?)

More or less. But a hypothetical 'xénophobique' would be (lightly) stressed on the final syllable, certainly not on the -ob- (adjective in French is also 'xénophobe').

[Lateralthinking1]

More or less. But a hypothetical 'xénophobique' would be (lightly) stressed on the final syllable, certainly not on the -ob- (adjective in French is also 'xénophobe').

Thank you. I feel that in this case he might have been confused, thinking about French pronunciation when saying an English word.

Funnily enough, I don't think I could cope with one of his novels. Overly peculiar and far too bleak.

[Mr Pee]

I've seen two out of the three so, reserving final judgement: I think Meades's language is too dense for television and maybe even for radio. There is a continuous stream of aphorisms and simple sentences, and the normal flow of journalistic prose is (obviously deliberately) eschewed. Nonetheless, these programmes are much better than a lot of the pap broadcast as audio-visual wallpaper.

Couldn't agree more. I haven't a clue what he's on about most of the time. There's no doubt the programmes are a cut above much of the stuff on the BBC in some respects, but I find Meades' obtuse language and tortuous similes unbearably pretentious.

[vinteuil]

I haven't a clue what he's on about most of the time. / ... /

What does this tell us, if anything, about:

1.) Jonathan Meades

2.) Mr Pee

Candidates are advised not on any account to write on both sides of the paper at once.

[Mr Pee]

What does this tell us, if anything, about:

1.) Jonathan Meades

2.) Mr Pee

Candidates are advised not to write on both sides of the paper at the same time.

Very droll, Vinteuil, very droll.

I think, at the risk of sounding immodest, that it tells us I am at least honest about my lack of intellect. Either that, or I am not easily taken in by a load of pretentious waffle masquerading as profound thought.

[vinteuil]

1.) I think, at the risk of sounding immodest, that it tells us I am at least honest about my lack of intellect.

2.) I am not easily taken in by a load of pretentious waffle masquerading as profound thought.

Candidates should attempt to address only one of the alternatives.

[kernelbogey]

[...]Meades' obtuse language and tortuous similes unbearably pretentious.[...]

"Pretentious, moi?" (Miss Piggy)

[Nick Armstrong]

Candidates should attempt to address only one of the alternatives.

Either way, I am finding it refreshing to be given information, ideas, connections which are more complex and stimulating than the normal oversimplified, patronising pap that is delivered too often on TV these days.

I enjoyed Clive James's take on the subject in the Daily Telegraph:

"I mustn’t bang on too often about Jonathan Meades on France (BBC Four), although it became evident that this would be a landmark series from the moment that Meades began to speak. Far from discussing French history with any experts on French history, Meades discusses the whole vast, intricately ramified subject with himself.

This self-sufficiency leaves him plenty of room to employ language at a high level: quite the most attractively written commentary I have heard on television in years. As Meades dominates the shot like a close-up of an eloquent gargoyle that has broken loose from its cathedral, his dizzy powers of articulation remind you that the baroque, at its best, always had the Renaissance inside it: a discovery, not just a refinement.

“Concupiscent popes with chancels full of nephews.” Meades’s use of words is as kinky and eclectic as one of those French rooflines he is always warning us against, but underneath the floridity there are firmly held moral principles. Treating the subject of the French female professor of gender studies who started her career as a terrorist (score: killed four, maimed 40) he evoked her and those like her in a single sentence “There are countless instances of the scum rising to the top.”