“I’d be happy to take one, if you still have enough”, I said to our student. “Please do, Monsieur,” he replied, handing me something which resembled a business card and which he had been distributing to passersby. “The Black Count?” I asked. “He looks like a dashing person.” Yes, continued my young interlocutor, adding: the heroic figure on the card had once inspired Alexandre Dumas to write the The Count of Monte Cristo.
The Black Count was the title of a book that told the story of this man. And if I wanted to learn more about him, our student explained, pointing towards the northeastern corner of the cafeteria, we were very lucky to have the author with us that day and I could ask him in person any question I wished. “How exciting,” I exclaimed, thanking the young Fall Festival volunteer and making my way to the far side of the stands, where I was delighted to see a half-meter version of the business card, several stacks of hardcover manuscripts bearing the same impressive picture and two of our parents talking with critically acclaimed writer, Tom Reiss.
The influence of the father
With great passion, Mr. Reiss was shedding light on the life of his protagonist, who it turns out was the father of Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, and as our student had mentioned, The Count of Monte Cristo. The man whose tale Tom Reiss recounts died when his celebrated son was only four years old, but remained a vital source of inspiration for the latter’s wonderful fiction forever more.
To quote from the book’s inside jacket: “Born to a black slave mother and a fugitive white French noblemen in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), Alex Dumas was sold into bondage, but made his way to Paris, where he was schooled as a sword-fighting member of the French aristocracy. When the Revolution broke out, he joined the army at the lowest rank-yet quickly rose, through a series of legendary feats, to command more than 50,000 men…” To find out what happens, I can only encourage you to do what I myself aim to do as well: to read the hugely praised Black Count as soon as possible!
Readers are like astronomers, dancers and farmers…
For it is reading about which I wish to share a thought with you today. Following a fascinating conversation with Mr. Reiss, and with a copy of The Black Count under my arm, I met many different people amid the cheerful hustle and bustle last Saturday afternoon who asked me about the volume I had just purchased, not necessarily because they were familiar with the text, but because they simply loved to read. Was the book something I had found at the Festival? What was it about? Was it true we could talk to the author?
There was the prospect of being swept away by a riveting story, of course, which underpinned this enthusiasm. Yet more notably, there was the chance to learn about the collective human narrative that also sparked such interest. I was touched by the comment one person made about how little we know about the world around us, how reading helps us to seek and sometimes even to find meaning in the mystery of our existence. What the Argentinian writer Alberto Manguel once wrote in his book The History of Reading came to mind: “The readers of books nurture a skill which marks us all…The astronomer who reads a map of stars long gone…the dancer who reads the instructions of the choreographer…the farmer who reads in the sky the weather to come-all share with the reader of books the art of decoding and translating signs.” How important the experience of reading is indeed, I thought. And how deeply attuned our community is to that importance too!
Nb. On behalf of us all, please allow me to thank parent Co-Chairs Maly Courtaigne and Delphine Keegan, Director of Events, Marysella Castillo, and Manager of Events, Merav Davis, as well as the innumerable students, alumni, faculty, staff and parents who gave of their time and energy to decorate the school, conduct workshops, serve refreshments and in countless other ways ensure our 2012 Fall Festival would be the exceptional success it was.
Sincere gratitude, too, to the many restaurants which supported our tasting soirée on Friday and to the many vendors who were present on Saturday. And special thanks to author Tom Reiss, rare book specialist Bill Hall and the many volunteers at the French-language book stand for so cultivating our shared love of reading this past week-end!
About the Author :
Sean Lynch was Head of School at the Lycée Français de New York from 2011 to 2018, after having spent 15 years at another French bilingual school outside of Paris: the Lycée International de St. Germain-en-Laye. Holding both French and American nationalities, educated in France (Sciences Po Paris) and the United States (Yale), and as the proud husband of a French-American spouse and father of two French-American daughters, Sean Lynch has spent his entire professional and personal life at the junction between the languages, cultures and educational systems of France and the United States. In addition to being passionate about education, he loves everything related to the mountains, particularly the Parc National du Mercantour.