The Plays
Fetes de la Nuit [sample]
by Charles L. Mee
16. The Intellectual's Press Conference
many reporters asking questions of Barbesco
(trying to get the great man's attention) M. Barbesco....
(trying to get the great man's attention) M. Barbesco....
Monsieur Barbesco: Do you believe in love?
Of course. It's the only thing one can believe in.
(trying to get the great man's attention) M. Barbesco....
(trying to get the great man's attention) M. Barbesco....
Do French and Americans have the same idea of love?
You can't compare the two.
American women dominate their men.
French women do not--yet.
Who is more moral? An unfaithful woman or a man who deserts her?
The woman.
Is there a difference between eroticism and love?
No. Not much.
Eroticism is a form of love.
And love is a form of eroticism.
Does the woman have a role in today's society?
If she is charming, well-dressed, and wears dark glasses.
How many men can a woman love in a lifetime?
(with the fingers of his hand he shows
5+5+5+5+2+3+5--and then says:
More than that.
What is important?
Two things are important.
For men it's women.
For women, money.
Why do you write only about love?
Because
love
love begins a discourse
with anxiety
remorse
longing
connivance
dependency
embarassment
drama
brutality
identification
unknowability
jealousy
langour
vengefulness
monstrousness
cruelty
insomnia
crying
gossip
loneliness
tenderness
isolation
truth
the will to possess
lying
remembrance
suicide
ravishment
because
in love
we come to know what it is to be a human being
what it is to be human today
because
if we humans see who we are in our relationships with others--
in all our relationships--erotic, poetic, political, economic,
still the way we know one another most intimately and deeply
how we are when we are free
and how we are unable to be free
it is in our love for one another.
And so, if we are to know what it is to be human
we know that best when know how we are in love
what sort of species we have become in our time
by what sort of love we've become capable of.
Is this true of peoples
as well as individuals?
Of course.
Is Paris the city of eternal love?
Is Berlin?
What is your greatest ambition?
To become capable of a great love
and then to die.
Thank you, M. Barbesco.
Thank you.
Thank you, M. Barbesco.
Not at all.
