Travel jitters

 

[Paris roofs*]

Travelling to an unknown location is exciting, at least for some people. The prospect of encountering a new culture, hearing a foreign language, tasting local foods and seeing unique places breaks up the metro, boulot, dodo routine, enriches the mind and even creates a purpose for working so hard on a day-to-day basis. However, this unknown also creates a certain anxiety, differing by person, whether it involves food, language, loss of orientation or any other familiar aspect in life. I personally have experienced these jitters in the past. Moreover, I am experiencing them right now as I am about to travel to a SFT (the French translators association) conference in Angers and then to Paris to see my family. I find myself a bit nervous about what I will encounter when I leave the airport despite the fact that I am quite familiar with France.

I begin by saying that these pre-trip nerves did not stop me from travelling and enjoying my travel experiences. When I and my wife flew to Budapest, I was troubled by the fact that I did not know a single word in Hungarian and could not pronounce it when if I heard it. Hungarian is not a Latin-based language and has a rather peculiar rhythm. In fact, I could not nor did not try to speak any Hungarian but found it quite easy to read the signs and attain essential information. My trip to Poland for a legal language conference created much more emotional ambiguity due to the close geographical connection to the Holocaust. The trip was indeed emotionally challenging but enriching as I learned how complex the connection between past and present is. For more thoughts, see this post. In both cases, I enjoyed the discovery, each in a different way.

My upcoming trip to France has created a different type of worry. To explain, I am half-French (my mother), lived in France for a short time in my 20’s and speak nearly fluent French, one of the languages from which I translate. I even have family there. A minor worry for me is entering a more formal society after more than 30 years of living in a “direct” country. Thus, I am a bit nervous about making some social faux-pas that are not as excusable for a person of my age (as compared to when I was younger). However, my greater fear is the potential disappointment on what I will see in Paris. To explain, I lived in that city some 40 years ago and last visited some 14 years ago. Neither I nor the city are same. You can say that we have evolved or, possibly, devolved. Thus, our upcoming meeting will much more similar a first date than a reunion. I confess that this uncertainty makes me a bit nervous.

Still, as Doris Day sang so wonderfully, che sara, sara. Whatever the case, it will be nice to see my cousins, stroll through a European city, enjoy the food, appreciate the lifestyle and, as I did some 40 years ago, let my American self  laugh at the French while my French side enjoys every bit of the experience. Even if I am not fond of how the city has changed, it is, to paraphrase Shakespeare, better to have seen and been a bit disappointed than never to have travelled at all. I accept travel jitters as an essential part of discovering the world. Of course, I will report how justified or unjustified my fears were when I return. The only thing to fear is fear itself?

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Tales of the unexpected (results of taxation)

 

[clay tax collector figure*]

What do Irish traditional houses, California avocados and Hungarian sausages have in common? They are all the unintended results of government tax policy. While those tax laws are long off the books, their impact is still visible.

[Irish traditional stone cabin]

A traveler in the countryside of Ireland immediately notices that the traditional cottages have tall doors and very few windows. While such a layout may be logical in terms of insulation, i.e., keeping in the heat during the cold winter, the actual reason is far more fiscal, specifically to avoid the heavy English tax on houses with more than six windows. The Irish referred to this levee as the “typhus tax” as the lack of air circulation created ideal conditions for the disease. This strange result demonstrates that what is convenient for the tax collector is not always beneficial for the taxpayer even beyond the financial element.

[avocados]

California is a major player in the world food production market, producing just about everything, including rice. Avocados are a more recent significant addition, dating from around 1970. The state now provides the vast majority of US domestic production, almost 140 thousand tons. While the tree does produce commercial amounts quickly and the product has a high commercial value, the actual trigger for the massive investment in this fruit was US income tax policy. Apparently, there was a closing of a loophole in the federal tax code for citrus and almond orchards, which had allowed the rich to avoid paying taxes for many years. Instead, in compensation, for seven years, from 1970 to 1976, the congress made it very worthwhile to invest in avocados. The government has long since eliminated this tax break but avocados have gone from being exotic to common. They are an example of a fruit of the IRS’s labor.

[Hungarian sausage with cabbage]

Finally, Hungary has hundreds of types of sausage, ranging in size, taste and spiciness. However, most of them are made from pork, not beef. Pork is often the preferred meat in counties where the land is insufficient or does not support cattle. In Hungary, the cause of this preference is actually tax, notably that not imposed by the Ottomans when they ruled the country from 1541-1699. As Muslims, they did not eat pork. Consequently, they did not tax pork, rendering it the least inexpensive meat. Even today, the tax is relatively low, at 5%. This preference shows that the belief that taxing a forbidden item is to recognize it and therefore encourage it is apparently incorrect.

Every country has had its own style of taxation weirdness. Some of the results were temporary and disappeared upon cancellation of that policy. Others have impacted a nation long after the knowledge of the law disappeared from people’s memories.  In any case, the results of taxation policy can be very surprising.

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All pictures via Pixabay

Hungarian obituary? – A Review of Sandor Marai’s "Metamorphoses of a Marriage"

 

[Bourgeois couple*]

It is not often we read a book that triggers reflections and expands our understanding of very basic but not simple matters. Such books cannot nor should be read quickly as the content is not easily digestible however worthy it may be. In fact, I took me a year to finish Metamorphoses of a Marriage (I read an excellent translation into  French by Georges Kassai and Zeno Bianu but it also has been translated into English). The pleasure in savoring this book was that it reminded me of so many different books, it is a unique recital in itself and its essence is universal both in terms of time and geography. It ultimately expands the understanding of one’s own attitudes and actions.

The story takes place in Hungary from pre-World War I to post World War II and centers around the two marriages of a grand bourgeois, the son of a very rich industrialist, to first a bourgeois and then a peasant woman, with a mysterious writer in the shadows. In terms of a structure, the leading characters tell their story individually, thus creating a three-dimensional picture of the entire saga. As the story takes place during a long and dynamic period in Hungarian history, outside events influence the drama and provide an illuminating picture of the changes in Hungary during the 20^th century.  The writer also introduces a discussion of the role of literature and writers in the modern world. Therefore, as its basic level, it is a story of two failed marriages in Hungary.

When reading it, I kept on being reminded of the works of many different writers but with important differences. It reflected the flow of historical events over people’s lives as in Tolstoy’s War and Peace but Marai almost minimizes the importance of those events. The book had a similar structure to Oscar Lewis’ Children of Sanchez but none of the characters were ultimately villainized. A reader of classic Soviet realism would immediately identify the angry proletariat and evil capitalist but the characters explicitly reject those stereotypes in words and actions. It shares some of the Emile Zola’s determinism (Germinal) but the characters are not slaves to their instincts. The book shows the internal psychological drama of the characters, as Henry James did in Portrait of a Lady, but ultimately that drama is not the prime focus of this book nor are the class morays portrayed in a manner similar to Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice. Thus, Metamorphoses of Marriage encompasses a wide variety of perspectives in creating its panoramic view.

It also succeeds in expanding its relevance beyond a historical Hungarian romance. First of all, despite all the words spoken by and about them, the characters remain somehow distant and unremarkable. We know that they live in Budapest but you could meet similar characters in Paris, London or New York. They do not seem quintessentially Hungarian. Furthermore, their actions and attitudes are not deterministically defined by their class. Each character adopts an attitude towards the values of their childhood, bordering from open rebellion to full blind acceptance, and develops as these attitudes encounter changing realities. In other words, the characters choose their destiny at all times while remaining consistent to their class values. Finally, in my view, the concept of love itself goes through so many permutations that it eventually loses most of its relevance to the story. Thus, the book treats the issue of love and marriage in all of its complexity regardless of nation and time.

For that reason, Metamorphoses of Marriage is so thought provoking, creating questions about the most fundamental aspects of any relationship. Any person that has married someone from another social or national group has encountered puzzling cultural gaps in behavioral expectations and attitudes. Likewise, these mixed marriages often involve largely successful adopting of the new social rules in order to fit in and get along. At the same time, certain basic values acquired in childhood color our perspective on this new identity, both positively and negatively. “Foreigners” try to take what is beneficial from the other and retain what is comfortable from their childhood. As these characters do, we become hybrid in our relations. However, no matter how assimilated we become in a new culture, we still “smell” as we did in the nursery, a child of our environment to one degree or another. This book made me aware of this hybridization and its impact on myself and others.

I will not say that Metamorphoses of a Marriage is an easy book to read. Nor will I say that all of its elements interested me. However, I can say that it creates a deeper perspective on love, marriage and human behavior, including how they change and don’t change as circumstances evolve. Deepening our understanding of those processes can only educate us and make us more accepting of others and ourselves. Thus, I recommend this book not only because of its fascinating story but also for its penetration of the evolving human soul.

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