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Stupa

In Buddhism, a stupa (स्तूप, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as śarīra – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation.

Circumambulation, or pradakhshina, has been an important ritual and devotional practice in Buddhism since the earliest times, and stupas always have a pradakhshina path around them. The original South Asian form is a large solid dome above a tholobate, or drum, with vertical sides, which usually sits on a square base. There is no access to the inside of the structure. In large stupas, there may be walkways for circumambulation on top of the base as well as on the ground below it. Large stupas have, or had, vedikā railings outside the path around the base, often highly decorated with sculpture, especially at the torana gateways, of which there are usually four. At the top of the dome is a thin vertical element, with one or more horizontal discs spreading from it. These were chatras, symbolic umbrellas, and have not survived, if not restored. The Great Stupa at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, is the most famous and best-preserved early stupa in India.

Apart from very large stupas, designed to attract pilgrims, there were large numbers of smaller stupas in a whole range of sizes, which typically had much taller drums, relative to the height of the dome. Small votive stupas paid for by pilgrims might be less than a metre high, and laid out in rows by the hundred, as at Ratnagiri, Odisha, India.

As Buddhism spread, other forms were used for the same purposes, and the chortens of Tibetan Buddhism and pagodas of East Asian Buddhism are some of these. In Southeast Asia, various rather different elongated shapes of dome evolved, leading to high, thin spires. A related architectural term is a chaitya, which is a prayer hall or temple containing a stupa.

Description and history

Stupas may have originated as pre-Buddhist tumuli in which śramaṇas were buried in a seated position, called caitya.

In early Buddhist inscriptions in India, stupa and caitya appear to be almost interchangeable, though caitya has a broader meaning, and unlike stupa does not define an architectural form. In pre-Buddhist India, caitya was a term for a shrine, sanctuary, or holy place in the landscape, generally outdoors, inhabited by, or sacred to, a particular deity. In the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, near the end of his life, the Buddha remarks to Ananda how beautiful are the various caitya around Vaishali. In later times and in other countries, cetiya/caitya implies the presence of important relics. Both words have forms prefixed by maha for "great", "large", or "important", but scholars find the difference between a mahastupa and a stupa, or mahacetiya and cetiya, hard to pin down.

Some authors have suggested that stupas were derived from a wider cultural tradition from the Mediterranean to the Ganges Valley and can be related to the conical mounds on circular bases from the 8th century BCE that are found in Phrygia (tomb of Midas, 8th c. BCE), Lydia (tomb of Alyattes, 6th c. BCE), or in Phoenicia (tombs of Amrit, 5th c. BCE). Some authors suggest stupas emerged from megalithic mound burials with chambers, which likely represent proto-stupas.

Archaeologists in India have observed that a number of early Buddhist stupas or burials are found in the vicinity of much older, pre-historic burials, including megalithic burial sites. This includes sites associated with the Indus Valley Civilization, where broken Indus-era pottery was incorporated into later Buddhist burials. Scholars have noted structural and functional features of the stupa (including its general mound shape and the practice of surrounding stupas with a stone, relic chamber, or wooden railing) with both pre-Mauryan-era cairn and pre-historic megalithic "round mound" burials with chambers found in India, which likely represent a "proto-stupa". In Dholavira, an archeological site associated with the Indus Valley Civilization, there are several large and high "hemispherical monuments" of tumulus with brick-masonry found with burial chambers inside. Among them, Tumulus-1 and Tumulus-2 mounds were excavated. They consist of a deep and wide rock-cut chamber, surrounded on the ground by a massive circular mud-brick structure made in two tiers, and filled in and topped with earth to form a domical shape. There is also evidence of plastering on the exterior of Tumulus-1, bearing a 10- mm-thick plaster of pinkish-white clay over brick masonry. These forms of hemispherical monuments or tumulus of brick-masonry with similar layouts may have been inspirations for later stupas. Some stupas not believed to have been looted have been found empty when excavated, as have some pre-historic cairn sites, and animal bones are suspected to have occasionally been deposited at both types of sites.

Mounds for the relics of the Buddha (5th century BCE)

Religious buildings in the form of the Buddhist stupa, a dome-shaped structure, started to be used in India as commemorative monuments associated with storing sacred relics of the Buddha. After his parinirvana, Buddha's remains were cremated and the ashes divided and buried under eight mounds, with two further mounds encasing the urn and the embers.

According to some early Buddhist sources, the Buddha himself had suggested this treatment, and when asked what a stupa was, had demonstrated the basic design: he folded his robe on the ground, placed his begging bowl upside down on it, with his staff above that.

The relics of the Buddha were spread between eight stupas, in Rajagriha, Vaishali, Kapilavastu, Allakappa, Ramagrama, Pava, Kushinagar, and Vethapida. The Piprahwa stupa also seems to have been one of the first to be built. Lars Fogelin has stated that the Vaishali and Nigali Sagar stupas are likely the earliest archaeologically known stupas.

Guard rails—consisting of posts, crossbars, and a coping—became a feature of safety surrounding a stupa. The Buddha had left instructions about how to pay homage to the stupas: "And whoever lays wreaths or puts sweet perfumes and colours there with a devout heart, will reap benefits for a long time". This practice would lead to the decoration of the stupas with stone sculptures of flower garlands in the Classical period.

Expansion under Ashoka (250 BCE)

According to Buddhist tradition, Emperor Ashoka (rule: 273–232 BCE) recovered the relics of the Buddha from the earlier stupas (except from the Ramagrama stupa), and erected 84,000 stupas to distribute the relics across India. In effect, many stupas are thought to date originally from the time of Ashoka, such as Sanchi or Kesariya, where he also erected pillars with his inscriptions, and possibly Bharhut, Amaravati, or Dharmarajika. Ashoka also established the Pillars of Ashoka throughout his realm, generally next to Buddhist stupas.

The first known appearance of the word "stupa" is from an inscribed dedication by Ashoka on the Nigali Sagar pillar (spelled in Pali in the Brahmi script as 𑀣𑀼𑀩𑁂 thube ).

Decorated stupas (from 125 BCE)
Stupas were soon to be richly decorated with sculptural reliefs, following the first attempts at Sanchi Stupa No.2 (125 BCE). Full-fledged sculptural decorations and scenes of the life of the Buddha would soon follow at Bharhut (115 BCE), Bodh Gaya (60 BCE), Mathura (125–60 BCE), again at Sanchi for the elevation of the toranas (1st century BCE/CE), and then Amaravati (1st–2nd century CE). The decorative embellishment of stupas also underwent considerable development in the northwest, in the area of Gandhara, with instances such as the Butkara Stupa ("monumentalized" with Hellenistic decorative elements from the 2nd century BCE) or the Loriyan Tangai stupas (2nd century CE).

Development in Gandhara (3rd century BCE–5th century CE)

The stupa underwent major evolutions in the area of Gandhara. Since Buddhism spread to Central Asia, China, and ultimately Korea and Japan through Gandhara, the stylistic evolution of the Gandharan stupa was very influential in the later development of the stupa (and related artistic or architectural forms) in these areas. The Gandhara stupa followed several steps, generally moving towards more and more elevation and addition of decorative elements, leading eventually to the development of the pagoda tower. The main stupa types are, in chronological order:

 * 1) The Dharmarajika Stupa, with a near-Indian design of a semi-hemispheric stupa almost directly on the ground surface, probably dated to the 3rd century BCE. Similar stupas are the Butkara Stupa, the Manikyala stupa, or the Chakpat stupa.
 * 2) The Saidu Sharif Stupa, pillared and quincunxial, with a flight of stairs to a dome elevated on a square platform. Many Gandhara miniatures represent this type (1st century CE).
 * 3) The Loriyan Tangai stupa, with an elongated shape and many narrative reliefs, in many ways the classic Gandharan stupa (2nd century CE).
 * 4) The near-pyramidal Jaulian stupa (2nd century CE).
 * 5) The cruciform type, as in the Bhamala Stupa, with flights of stairs in the four cardinal directions (4th century CE).
 * 6) The towering design of the second Kanishka Stupa (4th–5th century CE).

Origin of the pyramidal temple
It is thought that the temple in the shape of a truncated pyramid may have derived from the design of the stepped stupas that developed in Gandhara. The Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya is one such example, formed of a succession of steps with niches containing Buddha images, alternating with Greco-Roman pillars. The structure is crowned by the shape of a hemispherical stupa topped by finials, forming a logical elongation of the stepped Gandharan stupas such as those seen in Jaulian.

Although the current structure of the Mahabdhodi Temple dates to the Gupta period (5th century CE), the "Plaque of Mahabhodi Temple", discovered in Kumrahar and dated to 150–200 CE, based on its dated Kharoshthi inscriptions and combined finds of Huvishka coins, suggests that the pyramidal structure already existed in the 2nd century CE. This is confirmed by archaeological excavations in Bodh Gaya.

This truncated pyramid design also marked the evolution from the aniconic stupa dedicated to the cult of relics, to the iconic temple with multiple images of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. This design was influential in the development of later Hindu temples.

Asian stupas

Stupa architecture was adopted in Southeast and East Asia, where it became prominent as a Buddhist monument used for enshrining sacred relics. The Indian gateway arches, torana, reached East Asia with the spread of Buddhism. Some scholars hold that torii derives from the torana gates at the Buddhist historic site of Sanchi (3rd century BCE–11th century CE). In Tibet, the stupa became the chorten, and the pagoda in East Asia. The pagoda has varied forms that also include bell-shaped and pyramidal styles. In the Western context, there is no clear distinction between a stupa and a pagoda. In general, however, "stupa" is the term used for a Buddhist structure in India or Southeast Asia, while "pagoda" refers to a building in East Asia that can be entered and that may be used for secular purposes. However, use of the term varies by region. For example, stupas in Burma tend to be referred to as "pagodas".

Stupas were built in Sri Lanka soon after Devanampiya Tissa of Anuradhapura converted to Buddhism. The first was the Thuparamaya. Later, many more were built over the years, including the Jetavanaramaya in Anuradhapura.

Development of the pagoda
The Asian words for pagoda (tā in Chinese, t'ap in Korean, tháp in Vietnamese, tō in Japanese) are all thought to derive from the Pali word for stupa, thupa, with the Sanskrit pronunciation being stupa. In particular the type of the tower-like stupa, the last stage of Gandharan stupa development, visible in the second Kanishka Stupa (4th century), is thought to be the precursor of the tower stupas in Turkestan and the Chinese pagodas such as Songyue Pagoda (523 CE).

Notable stupas

The earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of Buddhist stupas dates to the late 4th century BCE. Some of the oldest known examples of stupas are found in Vaishali, Kushinagar, Piprahwa, Ramgram, Sanchi, Sarnath, Amaravati, and Bharhut.

With the top of its spire reaching 120.45 m in height, Phra Pathommachedi in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand is the tallest extant stupa in the world. The Swat Valley hosts a well-preserved stupa at Shingardar near Ghalegay; another stupa is located near Barikot and Dharmarajika-Taxila in Pakistan. In Sri Lanka, the ancient city of Anuradhapura includes some of the tallest, most ancient, and best-preserved stupas in the world, such as Ruwanwelisaya.

The most elaborate stupa is the 8th-century Borobudur monument in Java, Indonesia. The upper rounded terrace, with rows of bell-shaped stupas, contain Buddha images symbolizing Arūpajhāna, the sphere of formlessness. The main stupa itself is empty, symbolizing complete perfection of enlightenment. The main stupa is the crown part of the monument, while the base is a pyramidal structure elaborated with galleries adorned with bas-relief scenes derived from Buddhist texts and depicting the life of Gautama Buddha. Borobudur's unique and significant architecture has been acknowledged by UNESCO as the largest Buddhist monument in the world. It is also the world's largest Buddhist temple as well as one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world.

A Jain stupa was excavated at Mathura in the 19th century.

The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, is one of the largest stupas in the world.

European stupas
The Benalmádena Stupa is the tallest stupa in Europe. It is 33 m high and was inaugurated on 5 October 2003, the final project of Buddhist master Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche. Lopon Tsechu built his first stupa at Karma Guen near Málaga, in 1994, a symbol of peace and prosperity for Spain. He went on to build 16 more stupas in Europe before his death in 2003.

A stupa was built on the ground of the Kalachakra Kalapa Centre in southwest Styria, Austria, between 2000 and 2002.

A stupa based on the bell-shaped stupas at Borobudur is located at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, near Hemel Hempstead, in the UK.

Types of stupas

Built for a variety of reasons, Buddhist stupas are classified, based on form and function, into five types:
 * Relic stupa, in which the relics or remains of the Buddha, his disciples, and lay saints are interred
 * Object stupa, in which the items interred are objects that belonged to the Buddha or his disciples, such as a begging bowls or robes, or important Buddhist scriptures.
 * Commemorative stupa, built to commemorate events in the lives of Buddha or his disciples
 * Symbolic stupa, to symbolise aspects of Buddhist theology. For example, Borobudur is considered to be the symbol of "the Three Worlds (dhatu) and the spiritual stages (bhumi) in a Mahayana bodhisattva's character".
 * Votive stupa, constructed to commemorate visits or to gain spiritual benefits, usually at the site of prominent stupas that are regularly visited.

Symbolism

"The shape of the stupa represents the Buddha, crowned and sitting in meditation posture on a lion throne. His crown is the top of the spire; his head is the square at the spire's base; his body is the vase shape; his legs are the four steps of the lower terrace; and the base is his throne."

Five purified elements
Although not described in any Tibetan text on stupa symbolism, the stupa may represent the five purified elements, according to Buddhism:
 * The square base represents Earth.
 * The hemispherical dome/vase represents water.
 * The conical spire represents fire.
 * The upper lotus parasol and the crescent moon represent air.
 * The sun and the dissolving point represent wisdom.

Construction
To build a stupa, Dharma transmission and ceremonies known to a Buddhist teacher are necessary. The type of stupa to be constructed in a certain area is decided together with the teacher assisting in the construction. Sometimes the type chosen is directly connected with events that have taken place in the area.

Treasury
All stupas contain a treasury filled with various objects. Small clay votive offerings called tsatsas in Tibetan fill most of the treasury. The creation of the tsatsas is itself a ceremony. Mantras written on paper are made into thin rolls and put into small clay stupas. One layer of tsatsas is placed in the treasury, and the empty space between them is filled with dry sand. On the thus-created new surface, another layer of tsatsas is made, and so on, until the entire space of the treasury is full.

The number of tsatsas required to completely fill the treasury depends on its size and the size of the tsatsa. For example, the Kalachakra stupa in southern Spain contains approximately 14,000 tsatsas.

Jewellery and other "precious" objects are also placed in the treasury. It is not necessary that they be expensive, since it is the symbolic value that is important, not the market price. It is believed that the more objects are placed in the stupa, the stronger its energy.

Tree of Life
An important element in every stupa is the "Tree of Life". This is a wooden pole covered with gems and thousands of mantras; it is placed in the central channel of the stupa. It is positioned during a ceremony or initiation, where the participants hold colorful ribbons connected to the Tree of Life. Together, the participants make their most positive and powerful wishes, which are stored in the Tree of Life. In this way, the stupa is charged and starts to function.

Benefits
Building a stupa is considered extremely beneficial, leaving very positive karmic imprints in the mind. Future benefits from this action are said to result in fortunate rebirths. Fortunate worldly benefits also result, such as being born into a rich family, having a beautiful body, a nice voice, bringing joy to others, and having a long and happy life in which one's wishes are quickly fulfilled. On the absolute level, one will also be able to quickly reach enlightenment, the goal of Buddhism.

Destroying a stupa, on the other hand, is considered an extremely negative deed, similar to murder. Such an action is said to create massive negative karmic imprints, leading to serious future problems. It is said this action leaves the mind in a state of paranoia after death has occurred, leading to unfortunate rebirths.

Tibetan stupas

Stupas in Tibet and Tibetan-influenced regions of the Himalayas, such as Bhutan, are usually called "chorten" in English, reflecting the term in the Tibetan language. There are eight different shapes of chortens in Tibetan Buddhism, each referring to a major event in the Buddha's life. Chortens are often made as a set, placed in a row. The Tibetan set differs slightly (by two events) from the Indian set of Eight Great Events in the Life of Buddha.

Lotus Blossom Stupa
Also known as "Stupa of Heaped Lotuses", or "Birth of the Sugata Stupa", this stupa refers to the birth of Gautama Buddha. "At birth Buddha took seven steps in each of the four directions" (east, south, west, and north). In each direction, lotuses sprang up, symbolizing the brahmaviharas: love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. The base of this stupa is circular and has four steps, and it is decorated with lotus-petal designs. Occasionally, seven heaped lotus steps are constructed. These refer to the seven first steps of the Buddha.

Enlightenment Stupa

Also known as the "Stupa of the Conquest of Mara", this stupa symbolizes the 35-year-old Buddha's attainment of enlightenment under the bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, where he conquered worldly temptations and attacks, manifesting in the form of Mara.

Stupa of Many Doors
This stupa is also known as the "Stupa of Many Gates". After reaching enlightenment, the Buddha taught his first students in a deer park near Sarnath. The series of doors on each side of the steps represents the first teachings: the Four Noble Truths, the Six Pāramitās, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the Twelve Nidānas.

Stupa of Descent from the God Realm
At 42 years of age, Buddha spent a summer retreat in the Tuṣita Heaven, where his mother had taken rebirth. In order to repay her kindness, he taught the dharma to her rebirth. Local inhabitants built a stupa in Sankassa in order to commemorate this event. This type of stupa is characterized by having a central projection at each side, containing a triple ladder, or steps.

Stupa of Great Miracles
Also known as the "Stupa of Conquest of the Tirthikas", this stupa refers to various miracles performed by the Buddha when he was 50 years old. Legend claims that he overpowered maras and heretics by engaging them in intellectual arguments and also by performing miracles. This stupa was raised by the Lichavi kingdom to commemorate the event.

Stupa of Reconciliation
This stupa commemorates the Buddha's resolution of a dispute among the sangha. A stupa in this design was built in the kingdom of Magadha, where the reconciliation occurred. It has four octagonal steps with equal sides.

Stupa of Complete Victory
This stupa commemorates Buddha's successful prolonging of his life by three months. It has only three steps, which are circular and unadorned.

Stupa of Nirvana
This stupa refers to the parinirvana, or death of the Buddha, when he was 80 years old. It symbolizes his complete absorption into the highest state of mind. It is bell-shaped and usually unornamented.

Kalachakra stupa
A ninth kind of stupa exists, the Kalachakra stupa. Its symbolism is not connected to events in the Buddha's life but instead to the symbolism of the Kalachakra Tantra, created to protect against negative energies.

title: Stupa


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Don Estelle

Don Estelle (22 May 1933 – 2 August 2003) was an English actor and singer, best known as Gunner "Lofty" Sugden in It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

Early life
Born Ronald Edwards in Crumpsall, Manchester (historically part of Lancashire), he was brought up in a house on Russell Street in the area. During the Second World War, at the age of eight, he was evacuated to Darwen, Lancashire to escape the Manchester Blitz. It was there he found his voice as a boy soprano at the local Holy Trinity Parish Church, and on returning home after the war, he continued singing at St Mary's Church, Crumpsall. He later joined a charity group, the Manchester Kentucky Minstrels, and with them, performed "Granada" in the 1954 talent show What Makes a Star? at BBC Radio's northern studios in Manchester.

Career
Estelle gained experience by singing one song 12 times a week in the show The Backyard Kids at the Hulme Hippodrome in Manchester. He met the actor Windsor Davies in 1962 at the Garrick Theatre in London and the two men formed an act which toured theatres and clubs for four years. Estelle had small roles in Dad's Army (playing a Pickfords removals man in one 1969, episode and an ARP warden called Gerald in three more in 1970). He eventually gained the role of Gunner "Lofty" Sugden in the sitcom, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, which was first broadcast in January 1974 and ran until September 1981 reuniting him with Davies whose sergeant major character often mocked Lofty in the storylines. The character was given the ironic nickname of Lofty because of Estelle's 4 ft stature.

Estelle had a powerful tenor voice, and had a number-one hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1975 with a semi-comic version of "Whispering Grass", followed by a cover of "Paper Doll" which reached number 41, and a top ten LP, Sing Lofty (1976), all three recorded with Windsor Davies. Estelle also acted in the films Not Now, Comrade (1976) and A Private Function (1984), in addition to Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) alongside Melvyn Hayes, who also appeared in It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

In the first series of The League of Gentlemen, he made brief appearances in two episodes as Little Don, the keeper of the Roundabout Zoo, a zoo on a traffic island. In 2001, he appeared in an episode of Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting as Little Don of the East End Art Mafia.

In his autobiography, Sing Lofty: Thoughts Of A Gemini (1999), Estelle was extremely bitter about modern-day entertainment producers describing them as being "tight-crutched, white-trousered morons". According to his obituary in The Independent, "in recent years Estelle cut a slightly sorry figure, dressed in his 'Lofty' outfit, setting out a stall of his tapes and singing to passers-by in shopping centres." He appeared as a "dirty old man" in the promotional video for The Sun Page Three Girl Jo Hicks's single "Yakety Sax" in 2001 (based on the theme from The Benny Hill Show). Estelle produced a duo recording with Sir Cyril Smith, by then the former MP for Rochdale. The six-track CD, which included "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine", was available by mail-order in 1999.

Final years
Estelle briefly moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, where he spent countless hours working with jazz/blues pianist Malcolm Bishop. According to Bishop,, "Lofty was clearly looking for someone to pass the figurative baton on to. He was extremely generous with time, his resources, and a shortbread that he loved made for him by a local friend. On the evening before Don returned to the UK I sat with him in his living room until after 4 am as he so passionately encouraged and advised me in my own career. Even though we had discussed business for after his return to New Zealand, part way through the evening I realised this would be the last time I would see my friend."

Beyond reuniting with family and friends, the reasons for Estelle's UK visit were twofold. The BBC was filming a documentary on the history of British comedy and had requested interviews. He also needed a liver transplant, but he became too weak for doctors to operate. Estelle returned to the UK weeks before his death. He died in Rochdale Infirmary on 2 August 2003, and was buried in Rochdale with the oversized pith helmet he wore as Gunner "Lofty" Sugden. He was survived by his second wife, Elizabeth.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Don Estelle


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Camilla Collett

Jacobine Camilla Collett (née Wergeland; 23 January 1813 – 6 March 1895) was a Norwegian writer, often referred to as the first Norwegian feminist. She was also the younger sister of Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland, and is recognized as being one of the first contributors to realism in Norwegian literature. Her younger brother was Major General Joseph Frantz Oscar Wergeland. She became an honorary member of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights when the association was founded in 1884.

Life
Camilla was born in Kristiansand, Norway, the daughter of Nicolai Wergeland, a noted theologian, politician, and composer in his time, and Alette née Thaulow. Her brother, was the writer Henrik Wergeland. When Camilla was four, her family moved to Eidsvoll, where her father was made parish priest. Camilla grew up in a literary family, and she became a young diarist, in part because she found life in Eidsvoll dull. She spent most of her teenage years at a finishing school in Christiansfeld in Denmark.

During a visit to Kristiania she met and fell in love with the poet Johan Sebastian Welhaven, who was also her brother Henrik's literary nemesis. Relations between the three were complicated and in time became legendary in Norwegian Romanticism. Collett was philosophically aligned with the Welhaven side of the debate, and her relationship with her brother may have been uneasy for some time. But there are indications that Camilla carried some resentment toward her father and brother over their opposition to her relationship with Welhaven. She also suffered from health problems during, and in the summer of 1834 her father took her to Paris to regain strength and recover her health.

In any event, her relationship with Welhaven eventually ended, and in 1841 she married Peter Jonas Collett, a prominent politician, literary critic, and member of the Intelligenspartiet (the Intelligence party). It was by all accounts a marriage born out of love and he was a supportive and understanding husband with whom Camilla could discuss any topic. She started writing for publication after she married Collett.

Her most famous work is her only novel, Amtmandens Døtre (The District Governor's Daughters) which was published anonymously in two separate parts in 1854 and 1855. The book is considered one of the first political and social realism novels in Norway and deals with the difficulties of being a woman in a patriarchical society in general and forced marriages specifically. It is believed that her personal experiences in life, specifically her relationship with Welhaven, influenced the book. After this book, she wrote very little fiction, but did continue to write essays, polemics, and her memoirs.

Her literary models included female writers such as Rahel Varnhagen and George Sand, as well as Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Theodor Mundt. Her style represented a departure from her contemporaries, in that she preferred a more casual, natural tone.

In 1851, after ten years of marriage, her husband died suddenly. This left Camilla to raise four young sons. She was forced to sell her house and never managed to buy a new one again. Her three eldest sons were sent to be raised by relatives. She struggled with personal financial problems for the rest of her life. She died in Kristiania (Oslo) on 6 March 1895.

Writing style and influences
Collett was raised in a house that admired the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which would be a major influence on both Collett and her brother, Nicolai. At the beginning of writing Amtmandens Døtre, she found inspiration from George Sand, though she felt Sand's ideas were too radical. In the novel, she discusses how young women and girls are deprived of training and education that will encourage them better life success, but she does not argue that women should pursue life and success independent of being married. Collett suggests that for the four daughters, marriage based on love and respect is the ultimate opportunity for a successful life. The book is considered to be "sharply critical" of the concepts of forced marriage and marriage that takes place for the sake of social conventions and popularity. She supports the idea of romantic love, and the freedom of women to make their own relationship choice(s), through personal emancipation.

The older Collett got, the more radical her own views became, becoming increasingly polemic. She supported social and political change to further women's roles in society, and the articles that she published were published anonymously, but eventually published in a book of collected works. A stigma was attached to the idea of a woman writing the content and sharing the ideas she shared publicly, and this affected her career and her emotional state. Collett channeled this frustration into her writing, where she often examined that stigma. After the writing of Amtmandens Døtre, she focused largely on reviews and essays about literature, many of which solidified Collett as the first feminist literary critic in Norway. In these essays and opinion pieces, she declared the need for a new image for women and discarded the idea of women being reticent, and self-sacrificing in their lives.

Her work was cited by her contemporaries such as Henrik Ibsen.

title: Camilla Collett


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Gaston, Duke of Orléans

Monsieur Gaston, Duke of Orléans (Gaston Jean Baptiste; 24 April 1608 – 2 February 1660), was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his second wife, Marie de' Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a Fils de France. He later acquired the title Duke of Orléans, by which he was generally known during his adulthood. As the eldest surviving brother of King Louis XIII, he was known at court by the traditional honorific Monsieur.

Early life
Gaston Jean Baptiste was born at the Palace of Fontainebleau on 24 April 1608 and at birth was given the title of Duke of Anjou. As a child, he was raised under the supervision of the royal governess Françoise de Montglat. In 1626, at the time of his marriage to the young Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier, he received in appanage (with their respective titles) the duchies of Orléans and Chartres, and the county of Blois. He had nominal command of the army which besieged La Rochelle in 1628, having already entered upon a course of political intrigue that would occupy the remainder of his life. He was the heir presumptive to the throne of France from the death of his brother Monsieur d'Orléans in 1611 until the birth of his elder brother's first son in 1638.

On two occasions, he had to leave France for conspiring against the government of his brother and his Prime Minister Cardinal Richelieu. After waging an unsuccessful war in Languedoc leading to the Battle of Castelnaudary in 1632, he took refuge in Flanders. Reconciled with his brother Louis XIII, he plotted against Richelieu in 1635, fled from the country again, and then submitted to the King and the Cardinal.

Soon afterwards, the same process repeated itself. Orléans conspired with the marquis de Cinq-Mars to attempt Richelieu's assassination, and then deserted his unfortunate accomplice (1642). In 1643, upon the death of Louis XIII, Gaston became lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and fought against Spain on the northern frontiers of France. He was created duc d'Alençon in 1646. During the wars of the Fronde (1648–1653), he demonstrated no particular loyalty to the crown and passed with great facility from one side to the other.

Marriages
Gaston first married on 6 August 1626, at Nantes to Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier, daughter and heiress of Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier. They had a daughter, Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier (29 May 1627 – 5 April 1693), called Mademoiselle de Montpensier, but later being best known as the Grande Mademoiselle.

Marie de Bourbon died six days after giving birth (4 June 1627), leaving her daughter the last of the line of the Montpensier line of the House of Bourbon.

While taking refuge from the wrath of Cardinal Richelieu in Lorraine, Gaston fell in love at first sight with Marguerite of Lorraine, the sister of Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine. But as France and Lorraine were then enemies, he was refused the king's permission to marry a sister of its duke. Nonetheless, Gaston fled again to Lorraine and, in a secret ceremony in the presence of her family at Nancy during the night of 2 – 3 January 1632, Gaston took the princess Marguerite as his wife. Because he had not obtained the prior permission of his elder brother, the king – one of his many acts of defiance – the couple could not appear at the French court and the marriage was kept secret.

But in November of that year, Henri II, Duke of Montmorency, on his way to the scaffold, betrayed Gaston, his former co-conspirator, and Louis XIII and Richelieu learnt of the elopement. The king had his brother's marriage declared null and void by the Parlement of Paris in September 1634 and, despite the protest of Pope Urban VIII, the Assembly of the French clergy held in September 1635 that a prince du sang could enter matrimony only with permission of the king – consistent with French sovereignty and custom. Although Marguerite and Gaston had re-celebrated their marriage before the Archbishop of Malines, a French emissary persuaded the Pope not to protest the matter publicly, and Gaston formally accepted the annulment of his marriage. It was not until Louis XIII was on his deathbed in May 1643 that he accepted his brother's plea for forgiveness and authorized his marriage to Marguerite, whereupon the couple undertook nuptials for the third time in July 1643 before the Archbishop of Paris at Meudon, and the Duke and Duchess of Orléans were finally received at court.

By right of her marriage, Marguerite became known as Madame at court. After the death of his mother in 1642, Gaston was bequeathed the Luxembourg Palace, which became the couple's Parisian residence under the name Palais Orléans once they were restored to royal favour. They also sojourned at the Château de Blois, in the Loire Valley, where their first child was born in 1645.

Marguerite and Gaston d'Orléans had five children, of whom three daughters survived into adulthood:
 * Marguerite Louise d'Orléans (28 July 1645 – 17 September 1721) married Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and had issue-but line died out.
 * Élisabeth Marguerite d'Orléans (26 December 1646 – 17 March 1696) married Louis Joseph of Lorraine, Duke of Guise and had issue-but line died out.
 * Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans (13 October 1648 – 14 January 1664) married Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy but died childless.
 * Jean Gaston d'Orléans, Duke of Valois (17 August 1650 – 10 August 1652) died in infancy.
 * Marie Anne d'Orléans (9 November 1652 – 17 August 1656) died in infancy.

Gaston had an illegitimate daughter by Marie Porcher:
 * Marie bâtarde d'Orléans (1 January 1631, Paris – ?).

He also had an illegitimate son by Louise-Roger de La Marbelière:
 * Louis bâtard d'Orléans, chevalier de Charny, (13 January 1638, Joué les Tours – 1692, Spain), later General under the service of Spain.

Later life
After the death of Gaston's brother Louis XIII in 1643, his nephew Philippe, brother of the new king Louis XIV, became the new Monsieur. To differentiate the older Monsieur from the younger, Gaston, the uncle, was called Le Grand Monsieur and Philippe, the nephew, was called Le Petit Monsieur.

After the Fronde, Gaston was exiled by Cardinal Mazarin to Blois in 1652, and remained there until his death. All of his Orléans titles then went to his nephew, now the only Monsieur.

title: Gaston, Duke of Orléans


text:
Manfred Eigen

Manfred Eigen (9 May 1927 – 6 February 2019) was a German biophysical chemist who won the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on measuring fast chemical reactions.

Eigen's research helped solve major problems in physical chemistry and aided in the understanding of chemical processes that occur in living organisms.

In later years, he explored the biochemical roots of life and evolution. He worked to install a multidisciplinary program at the Max Planck Institute to study the underpinnings of life at the molecular level. His work was hailed for creating a new scientific and technological discipline: evolutionary biotechnology.

Education and early life
Eigen was born on 9 May 1927 in Bochum, the son of Ernst and Hedwig (Feld) Eigen, a chamber musician. As a child he developed a deep passion for music, and studied piano.

World War II interrupted his formal education. At age fifteen he was drafted into service in a German antiaircraft unit. He was captured by the Soviets toward the end of the war. He managed to escape (he said later that escape was relatively easy), and walked hundreds of miles across defeated Germany, arriving in Göttingen in 1945. He lacked the necessary documentation for acceptance to university, but was admitted after he demonstrated his knowledge in an exam. He entered the university's first postwar class.

Eigen desired to study physics, but since returning soldiers who were enrolled previously received priority, he enrolled in Geophysics. He earned an undergraduate degree and began graduate study in natural sciences. One of his advisors was Werner Heisenberg, the noted proponent of the uncertainty principle. He received his doctorate in 1951.

Career and research
Eigen received his Ph.D. at the University of Göttingen in 1951 under supervision of Arnold Eucken. In 1964 he presented the results of his research at a meeting of the Faraday Society in London. His findings demonstrated for the first time that it was possible to determine the rates of chemical reactions that occurred during time intervals as brief as a nanosecond.

Beginning in 1953 Eigen worked at the Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry in Göttingen, becoming its director in 1964 and joining it with the Max Planck Institute for Spectroscopy to become the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. He was an honorary professor of the Braunschweig University of Technology. From 1982 to 1993, Eigen was president of the German National Merit Foundation. Eigen was a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

In 1967, Eigen was awarded, along with Ronald George Wreyford Norrish and George Porter, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. They were cited for their studies of extremely fast chemical reactions induced in response to very short pulses of energy.

In addition, Eigen's name is linked with the theory of quasispecies, the error threshold, error catastrophe, Eigen's paradox, and the chemical hypercycle, the cyclic linkage of reaction cycles as an explanation for the self-organization of prebiotic systems, which he described with Peter Schuster in 1977.

Eigen founded two biotechnology companies, Evotec and Direvo.

In 1981, Eigen became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.

Eigen was a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences even though he was an atheist. He died on 6 February 2019 at the age of 91.

Personal life
Eigen was married to Elfriede Müller. The union produced two children, a boy and a girl. He later married Ruthild Winkler-Oswatitsch, a longtime scientific partner.

Honours and awards
Eigen won numerous awards for his research including:
 * Otto Hahn Prize (1962)
 * Elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1964)
 * Elected a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (1966)
 * Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1967), shared with Ronald George Wreyford Norrish and George Porter, for his studies on the kinetics of extremely fast running chemical reactions with relaxation methods
 * Elected a member of the American Philosophical Society (1968)
 * Member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (now the Russian Academy of Sciences) (1976)
 * Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1973
 * Pour le Mérite (1973)
 * Faraday Lectureship Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1977
 * Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
 * Lower Saxony State Prize for Science (1980)
 * Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (1992)
 * Helmholtz Medal (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994)
 * Max Planck Research Award (1994), jointly with Rudolf Rigler of the Karolinska Institute
 * Honorary member of the Ruhr University Bochum (2001)
 * Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute of Human Virology in Baltimore (2005)
 * Wilhelm Exner Medal (2011)
 * Wilhelm Exner Medal (2011)

Honorary doctorates
He received 15 honorary doctorates.

 * Honorary Professor, Technical University of Braunschweig (1965)
 * Honorary doctorate from Harvard University (1966)
 * Honorary doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis (1966)
 * Honorary doctorate from the University of Chicago (1966)
 * Honorary doctorate from the University of Nottingham (1968)
 * Honorary Professor, University of Göttingen (1971)
 * Honorary doctorate from Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1973)
 * Honorary doctorate from the University of Hull (1976)
 * Honorary doctorate from the University of Bristol (1978)
 * Honorary doctorate from the University of Debrecen (1982)
 * Honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge (1982)
 * Honorary doctorate from Technical University of Munich (1983)
 * Honorary doctorate from the University of Bielefeld (1985)
 * Honorary doctorate from Utah State University (1990)
 * Honorary doctorate from the University of Alicante (1990)
 * Honorary doctorate from the University of Coimbra, Portugal (2007)
 * Honorary Degree, Scripps Institute of Research (2011)

title: Manfred Eigen


text:
Expatriate

An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their country of citizenship.

The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and other individuals who have chosen to live outside their native country.

The International Organization for Migration of the United Nations defines the term as 'a person who voluntarily renounces his or her nationality'. Historically, it also referred to exiles.

Etymology
The word expatriate comes from the Latin term ex out of and the Greek term patria native country, fatherland.

Semantics
Dictionary definitions for the current meaning of the word include:

 * Expatriate:
 * 'A person who lives outside their native country' (Oxford), or
 * 'living in a foreign land' (Webster's).

These definitions contrast with those of other words with the same meaning, such as:
 * Migrant:
 * 'A person who moves from one place to another in order to find work or better living conditions' (Oxford), or
 * 'one that migrates: such as a person who moves regularly in order to find work especially in harvesting crops' (Webster's);
 * or
 * Immigrant
 * 'A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country' (Oxford), or
 * 'one that immigrates: such as a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence (Webster's).

The varying use of these terms for different groups of foreigners can be seen as implying nuances about wealth, intended length of stay, perceived motives for moving, nationality, and even race. This has caused controversy, with some commentators asserting that the traditional use of the word "expat" has had racist connotations.

An older usage of the word expatriate referred to an exile. Alternatively, when used as a verbal noun, expatriation can mean the act of someone renouncing allegiance to their native country, as in the preamble to the United States Expatriation Act of 1868 which states: 'the right of expatriation is a natural and inherent right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'.

Some neologisms have been coined, including:
 * dispatriate, an expatriate who intentionally distances themselves from their nation of origin;
 * flexpatriate, an employee who often travels internationally for business (see "Business expatriates" below);
 * inpatriate, an employee sent from a foreign subsidiary to work in the country where a company has its headquarters;
 * rex-pat, a repeat expatriate, often someone who has chosen to return to a foreign country after completing a work assignment;
 * sexpat, an expatriate with a goal for a short term or long term sexual relationships (expatriate + sex tourist).

The term "expatriate" is sometimes misspelled as "ex-patriot", which author Anu Garg has characterised as an example of an eggcorn.

In Canada someone who resides in a different province on a temporary basis while continuing to hold their home province's residency is colloquially called an "interprovincial expat" as opposed to an "interprovincial migrant" who changes their residency and usually is intending to move permanently. For example British Columbia and Alberta allow each others residents to attend post secondary in the other province while retaining their home province's residency.

Types of expat community
In the 19th century, travel became easier by way of steamship or train. People could more readily choose to live for several years in a foreign country, or be sent there by employers. The table below aims to show significant examples of expatriate communities which have developed since that time:

During the 1930s, Nazi Germany revoked the citizenship of many opponents, such as Albert Einstein, Oskar Maria Graf, Willy Brandt and Thomas Mann, often expatriating entire families.

Students who study in another country are not referred to as expatriates.

Worldwide distribution of expats
The number of expatriates in the world is difficult to determine, since there is no governmental census. Market research company Finaccord estimated the number to be 66.2 million in 2017.

In 2013, the United Nations estimated that 232 million people, or 3.2% of the world population, lived outside their home country.

As of 2019, according to the United Nations, the number of international migrants globally reached an estimated 272 million, or 3.5% of the world population.

Business expatriates

Some multinational corporations send employees to foreign countries to work in branch offices or subsidiaries. Expatriate employees allow a parent company to more closely control its foreign subsidiaries. They can also improve global coordination.

A 2007 study found the key drivers for expatriates to pursue international careers were: breadth of responsibilities, nature of the international environment (risk and challenge), high levels of autonomy of international posts, and cultural differences (rethinking old ways).

However, expatriate professionals and independent expatriate hires are often more expensive than local employees. Expatriate salaries are usually augmented with allowances to compensate for a higher cost of living or hardships associated with a foreign posting. Other expenses may need to be paid, such as health care, housing, or fees at an international school. There is also the cost of moving a family and their belongings. Another problem can be government restrictions in the foreign country.

Spouses may have trouble adjusting due to culture shock, loss of their usual social network, interruptions to their own career, and helping children cope with a new school. These are chief reasons given for foreign assignments ending early. However, a spouse can also act as a source of support for an expatriate professional. Families with children help to bridge the language and culture aspect of the host and home country, while the spouse plays a critical role in balancing the families integration into the culture. Some corporations have begun to include spouses earlier when making decisions about a foreign posting, and offer coaching or adjustment training before a family departs. Research suggests that tailoring pre-departure cross-cultural training and its specific relevance positively influence the fulfilment of expectations in expatriates' adjustment. According to the 2012 Global Relocation Trends Survey Report, 88 per cent of spouses resist a proposed move. The most common reasons for refusing an assignment are family concerns and the spouse's career.

Expatriate failure is a term which has been coined for an employee returning prematurely to their home country, or resigning. About 7% of expatriates return early, but this figure does not include those who perform poorly while on assignment or resign entirely from a company. When asked the cost of a premature expatriate's return, a survey of 57 multinational companies reported an average cost of about US$225,000.

Reasons and motivations for expatriation
People move abroad for many different reasons. An understanding of what makes people move is the first step in the expatriation process. People could be ‘pushed’ away as a reaction to specific socio-economic or political conditions in the home country, or ‘pulled’ towards a destination country because of better work opportunities/conditions. The ‘pull’ can also include personal preferences, such as climate, a better quality of life, or the fact that family/friends are living there.

For some people, moving abroad is a conscious, thoroughly planned decision, while for others it could be a ‘spur of the moment’, spontaneous decision. This decision, of course, is influenced by the individual's geographic, socioeconomic and political environment; as well as their personal circumstances. The motivation for moving (or staying) abroad also gets adjusted with the different life changes the person experiences – for example, if they get married, have children, etc. Also, different personalities (or personality types) have diverse reactions to the challenges of adjusting to a host-country culture; and these reactions affect their motivations to continue (or not) living abroad.

In this era of international competition, it is important for companies, as well as for countries, to understand what is that motivates people to move to another country to work. Understanding expatriates' motivations for international mobility allows organisations to tailor work packages to match expatriates' expectations in order to attract and/or retain skilled workers from abroad.

Recent trends
Trends in recent years among business expatriates have included:
 * Reluctance by employees to accept foreign assignments, due to spouses also having a career.
 * Reluctance by multinational corporations to sponsor overseas assignments, due to increased sensitivity both to costs and to local cultures. It is common for an expat to cost at least three times more than a comparable local employee.
 * Short-term assignments becoming more common. These are assignments of several months to a year which rarely require the expatriate family to move. They can include specific projects, technology transfer, or problem-solving tasks. In 2008, nearly two-thirds of international assignments consisted of long-term assignments (greater than one year, typically three years). In 2014, that number fell to just over half.
 * Self-initiated expatriation, where individuals themselves arrange a contract to work overseas, rather than being sent by a parent company to a subsidiary.  An 'SIE' typically does not require as big a compensation package as does a traditional business expatriate. Also, spouses of SIEs are less reluctant to interrupt their own careers, at a time when dual-career issues are arguably shrinking the pool of willing expatriates.
 * Local companies in emerging markets hiring Western managers directly.
 * Commuter assignments which involve employees living in one country but travelling to another for work. This usually occurs on a weekly or biweekly rotation, with weekends spent at home.
 * Flexpatriates, international business travellers who take a plethora of short trips to locations around the globe for negotiations, meetings, training and conferences. These assignments are usually of several weeks duration each. Their irregular nature can cause stress within a family.
 * Consulting firm Mercer reported in 2017 that women made up only 14 per cent of the expatriate workforce globally.

The Munich-based paid expatriate networking platform InterNations conducts a survey of expat opinions and trends on regular basis.

Academic research
There has been an increase in scholarly research into the field in recent years. For instance, Emerald Group Publishing in 2013 launched The Journal of Global Mobility: The home of expatriate management research.

S.K Canhilal and R.G. Shemueli suggest that successful expatriation is driven by a combination of individual, organizational, and context-related factors. Of these factors, the most significant have been outlined as: cross-cultural competences, spousal support, motivational questions, time of assignment, emotional competences, previous international experience, language fluency, social relational skills, cultural differences, and organizational recruitment and selection process.

Fiction
Expatriate milieus have been the setting of many novels and short stories, often written by authors who spent years living abroad. The following is a list of notable works and authors, by approximate date of publication.

18th century : Persian Letters (French: Lettres persanes) is a literary work, published in 1721, by Montesquieu, relating the experiences of two fictional Persian noblemen, Usbek and Rica, who spend several years in France under Louis XIV and the Regency and who correspond with their respective friends staying at home.

19th century: American author Henry James moved to Europe as a young man and many of his novels, such as The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Ambassadors (1903), and The Wings of the Dove (1902), dealt with relationships between the New World and the Old. From the 1890s to 1920s, Polish-born Joseph Conrad wrote a string of English-language novels drawing on his seagoing experiences in farflung colonies, including Heart of Darkness (1899), Lord Jim (1900) and Nostromo (1904).

1900s/1910s: German-American writer Herman George Scheffauer was active from 1900 to 1925. English writer W. Somerset Maugham, a former spy, set many short stories and novels overseas, such as The Moon and Sixpence (1919) in which an English stockbroker flees to Tahiti to become an artist, and The Razor's Edge (1944) in which a traumatised American pilot seeks meaning in France and India. Ford Madox Ford used spa towns in Europe as the setting for his novel The Good Soldier (1915) about an American couple, a British couple, and their infidelities. 1920s: A Passage to India (1924), one of the best-known books by E.M. Forster, is set against the backdrop of the independence movement in India. Ernest Hemingway portrayed American men in peril abroad, beginning with his debut novel, The Sun Also Rises (1926).

1930s: Graham Greene was a keen traveller and another former spy, and from the 1930s to 1980s many of his novels and short stories dealt with Englishmen struggling to cope in exotic foreign places. Tender is the Night (1934), the last complete novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was about a glamorous American couple unravelling in the South of France. George Orwell drew heavily on his own experiences as a colonial policeman for his novel Burmese Days (1934). Evelyn Waugh satirised foreign correspondents in Scoop (1938).

1940s: From the mid-1940s to the 1990s, American-born Paul Bowles set many short stories and novels in his adopted home of Morocco, including The Sheltering Sky (1949). Malcolm Lowry in Under the Volcano (1947) told the tale of an alcoholic British consul in Mexico on the Day of the Dead.

1950s: From the 1950s to the 1990s, American author Patricia Highsmith set many of her psychological thrillers abroad, including The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955). James Baldwin's novel Giovanni's Room (1956) was about an American man having an affair in Paris with an Italian bartender. Anthony Burgess worked as a teacher in Malaya and made it the setting of The Malayan Trilogy (1956-1959). The Alexandria Quartet (1957-1960) was the best-known work of Lawrence Durrell, who was born in India to British parents and lived overseas for most of his life.

1960s: English writer Paul Scott is best known for The Raj Quartet (1965-1975) dealing with the final years of the British Empire in India. John le Carré made use of overseas settings for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) and many of his subsequent novels about British spies.

1970s: In The Year of Living Dangerously (1978), Christopher Koch portrayed the lead-up to a 1965 coup in Indonesia through the eyes of an Australian journalist and a British diplomat. A Cry in the Jungle Bar (1979) by Robert Drewe portrayed an Australian out of his depth while working for the UN in South-East Asia.

1990s: In both Cocaine Nights (1996) and Super-Cannes (2000), J. G. Ballard's English protagonists uncover dark secrets in luxurious gated communities in the South of France.

2000s: Platform (2001) was French author Michel Houellebecq's novel of European sex tourists in Thailand. Prague (2002) was a debut novel by Arthur Phillips which dealt with Americans and Canadians in Hungary towards the end of the Cold War. Shantaram (2003) was a bestselling novel by Gregory David Roberts about an Australian criminal who flees to India.

2010s: American novelist Chris Pavone has set several thrillers overseas since his debut The Expats (2012). Janice Y. K. Lee in The Expatriates (2016) and the miniseries deals with Americans in Hong Kong. Tom Rachman in his debut novel The Imperfectionists (2010) wrote of journalists working for an English-language newspaper in Rome.

Memoirs
Memoirs of expatriate life can be considered a form of travel literature with an extended stay in the host country. Some of the more notable examples are listed here in order of their publication date, and recount experiences of roughly the same decade unless noted otherwise.

Medieval: In The Travels of Marco Polo (c. 1300), Rustichello da Pisa recounted the tales of Italian merchant Marco Polo about journeying the Silk Road to China.

1930s-1960s: In the first half of Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), George Orwell described a life of low-paid squalor while working in the kitchens of Parisian restaurants. In The America That I Have Seen (1949), Egyptian Islamist Sayyid Qutb denounced the United States after studying there. In My Family and Other Animals (1956) and its sequels, Gerald Durrell described growing up as the budding naturalist in an eccentric English family on the Greek island of Corfu during the late 1930s. In As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969), Laurie Lee told of busking and tramping in his youth across 1930s Spain.

1970s-1990s: In It's Me, Eddie (1979), Eduard Limonov discusses his time as a Soviet expatriate living in New York City in the 1970s, including his poor work experiences, political disillusionment, and sexual experiences. In Letters from Hollywood (1986), Michael Moorcock corresponded with a friend about the life of an English writer in Los Angeles. In A Year in Provence (1989), Peter Mayle and his English family adapt to life in Southern France while renovating an old farmhouse. In Notes from a Small Island (1995), American writer Bill Bryson described a farewell tour of Britain.

2000s: In A Year in the Merde (2004) English bachelor Stephen Clarke recounted comic escapades while working in Paris. In Eat, Pray, Love (2006), divorced American Elizabeth Gilbert searched for meaning in Italy, India and Indonesia. In the early chapters of Miracles of Life (2008), J. G. Ballard told of his childhood and early adolescence in Shanghai during the 1930s and 1940s.

Film
Films about expatriates often deal with issues of culture shock. They include dramas, comedies, thrillers, action/adventure films and romances. Examples, grouped by host country, include:

• Argentina: Happy Together

• Austria: Before Sunrise, The Third Man.

• Belize: The Mosquito Coast.

• Cambodia: City of Ghosts.

• China: Iron and Silk, The Painted Veil, Seven Years in Tibet, Lucy..

• France: An American in Paris, Charade, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Good Year, Killing Zoe, Midnight in Paris, The Moderns, Ninotchka, To Catch a Thief, Breathless.

• Hong Kong: Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, The World of Suzie Wong, Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong.

• India: Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Carry On Up the Khyber, Outsourced, A Passage to India.

• Indonesia: The Year of Living Dangerously.

• Italy: Three Coins in the Fountain, Under the Tuscan Sun.

• Japan: Lost in Translation, Mr. Baseball.

• Kenya: Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion, Born Free,Out of Africa.

• Mexico: Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

• Morocco: Casablanca, Naked Lunch, The Sheltering Sky.

• Peru: Secret of the Incas.

• Saudi Arabia: A Hologram for the King.

• Spain: Barcelona, Sexy Beast, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

• Thailand: The Beach, The King and I

• Uganda: The Last King of Scotland.

• United Kingdom: The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, Straw Dogs.

• United States: Borat, Coming to America, Crocodile Dundee, How To Lose Friends And Alienate People, Leningrad Cowboys Go America.

• Vietnam: The Quiet American (1958) and (2002).

• Unnamed/various: Eat Pray Love; The Ugly American; The Wages of Fear, Lost Horizon (1937) and (1973).

Television
Reality television has dealt with overseas real estate (House Hunters International and A Place in the Sun), wealthy Russians in London (Meet the Russians), British expat couples (No Going Back) and mismanaged restaurants (Ramsay's Costa del Nightmares).

The final decades of the British Raj have been portrayed in dramas (The Jewel in the Crown and Indian Summers). Diplomats on a foreign posting have been the basis for drama (Embassy), documentary (The Embassy) and comedy (Ambassadors). British writers in Hollywood have been the subject of comedy (Episodes). Other settings include British doctors in contemporary India (The Good Karma Hospital) and a series of British detectives posted to an idyllic Caribbean island (Death in Paradise).

title: Expatriate


text:
Uttaradit province

Uttaradit (อุตรดิตถ์, ; Northern Thai:) is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (changwat). It lies in upper northern Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from south clockwise) Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Phrae and Nan. To the east it borders Xaignabouli of Laos. Uttaradit is 488 km north of Bangkok, and 238 km southeast of Chiang Mai.

History
Uttaradit means the "port of the north" or "northern landing", as it was formerly a trade center on the Nan River.

In the Sukhothai era several city states (Mueang) subject to the king were in the area of the modern province. Mueang Fang was in modern-day Mueang Uttaradit district, Mueang Thung Yang in Laplae, and Mueang Ta Chuchok in Tron district.

During the Ayutthaya kingdom, Mueang Phichai was one of the 16 main Mueang of the Thai kingdom. In the reign of King Naresuan, the ruler of Phichai rebelled, joined by the ruler of the Sawankhalok region. Their revolt was suppressed and the inhabitants of both cities were forced to move south to Phitsanulok.

Following the fall of the city of Ayutthaya to the Burmese in 1767, Phichai was the site of several battles against the invaders. The ruler of Phichai succeeded in driving back the Burmese and was awarded the title Phraya Phichai Dap Hak - the "Lord of Pichai with a Broken Sword", as he had broken one of his swords in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.

In the reign of King Rama III Mueang Phichai controlled several Mueang of northern Siam like Nan or Phrae, and even Luang Prabang and Vientiane. At the point where the Nan river became shallow a port was established. As this town grew in importance as an important trade point, in 1887 it was made a Mueang subordinate of Phichai. 1899 the center of Phichai was moved to this new location, which was renamed to Uttaradit in 1915.

Geography
The province is in the Nan River valley. About 45 kilometers north of the city of Uttaradit is the Queen Sirikit Dam, which created a 250 km2 artificial lake. The Phi Pan Nam Range reaches the northwest of the province.

Most of the province was once covered with teak forests, then the major product of Uttaradit. The largest teak tree in the world is found at the Ton Sak Yai Park in the Luang Prabang Range. The 1,500-year-old tree measures 9.87 m in circumference and 37 m in height. Originally it was 48.5 m high, but it was damaged in a storm. The total forest area is 4,415 km² or 55.9 percent of provincial area.

National parks
There are three national parks, along with seven other national parks, make up region 11 (Phitsanulok) of Thailand's protected areas.
 * Lam Nam Nan National Park, 999 km2
 * Ton Sak Yai National Park, 519 km2
 * Phu Soi Dao National Park, 340 km2

Wildlife sanctuaries
There are a total of four wildlife sanctuaries, three of which are in region 11 (Phitsanulok) and Lam Nam Nan Fang Khwa Wildlife Sanctuary is in region 13 (Phrae) of Thailand's protected areas.
 * Phu Miang–Phu Thong Wildlife Sanctuary, 696 km2
 * Mae Charim Wildlife Sanctuary, 660 km2
 * Nam Pat Wildlife Sanctuary, 512 km2
 * Lam Nam Nan Fang Khwa Wildlife Sanctuary, 235 km2

Economy
Uttaradit is largely an agricultural province. Among its best known crops are two fruits: durian and langsat. A durian festival is held each year around the beginning of June in Laplae District. The province is known for two varieties of durian which lack the usual, and to some people offensive, odour: Longlaplae and Linlaplae, both named after Laplae District. Durian production in Uttaradit province was estimated to be around 20,000 tonnes in 2012. The province has approximately 10,600 acres of durian orchards.

The langsat (ลางสาด) (Lansium parasiticum), for which Uttaradit is famous, and its thick-skinned sibling, longkong (ลองกอง), is a fruit that is similar in taste to the longan. A langsat festival is held each year around the middle to end of September.

Health
Uttaradit's main hospital is Uttaradit Hospital, operated by the Ministry of Public Health.

Symbols
The provincial seal shows the mondop at the temple Wat Phra Thaen Sila At, in Baan Phra Thaen in the Laplae district. The main item of worship in the temple is a laterite block, which is believed to have been used by Buddha to seek enlightenment. The mondhop is built upon this block.

The seal was first designed in 1940, later a garuda as the symbol of Thailand and the name of the province were added.

The provincial tree is the teak (Tectona grandis). The largest teak tree in the world stands in Sak Yai Forest Park (สักใหญ่). The tree, estimated to be more than 1,500 years old, is 37 meters high and has a circumference of 9.58 meters at its base. Although the upper part of the tree broke off in a storm, the trunk is still alive. Discovered in 1927, the giant teak tree is part of the 35 square kilometer park of mixed deciduous forest.

Transport
Uttaradit is served by the Northern Line of the State Railway of Thailand. There are two stations in Uttaradit town: Uttaradit railway station, the main station and Sila At railway station, where it is a major centre for Northern Line operations. It does not have an airport. The nearest airport is in Phrae.

Provincial government
The province is divided into nine districts (amphoe). These are further divided into 67 subdistricts (tambon) and 562 villages (muban).

Local government
As of 26 November 2019 there are: one Uttaradit Provincial Administration Organisation (ongkan borihan suan changwat) and 26 municipal (thesaban) areas in the province. Uttaradit has town (thesaban mueang) status. Further 25 subdistrict municipalities (thesaban tambon). The non-municipal areas are administered by 53 Subdistrict Administrative Organisations - SAO (ongkan borihan suan tambon).

Human achievement index 2022
Since 2003, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand has tracked progress on human development at sub-national level using the Human achievement index (HAI), a composite index covering all the eight key areas of human development. National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has taken over this task since 2017.

title: Uttaradit province


text:
Talk:Ironman Triathlon

Orphaned references in Ironman Triathlon
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Ironman Triathlon's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "ReferenceC": From List of University of Birmingham alumni: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/alumni/old-joe/Old-Joe-spring-2014.pdf  From Tony Abbott: Tony Abbott lashes out at Christopher Pyne over leaked leadership, same-sex marria; www.abc.net.au; 26/6/17

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 11:58, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Introduction to Information Studies
— Assignment last updated by Wikiforschoolhomework (talk) 22:49, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Ironman Triathlon


text:
Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier

Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, (, – ) known as La Grande Mademoiselle, was the only daughter of Gaston d'Orléans with his first wife, Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier. One of the greatest heiresses in history, she died unmarried and childless, leaving her vast fortune to her cousin Philippe I, Duke of Orléans. After a string of proposals from various members of European ruling families, including Charles II of England, Afonso VI of Portugal, and Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy, she eventually fell in love with the courtier Antoine Nompar de Caumont and scandalised the court of France when she asked Louis XIV for permission to marry him, as such a union was viewed as a mésalliance. She is best remembered for her role in the Fronde and her role in bringing the famous composer Jean-Baptiste Lully to the king's court, and her Mémoires.

Early years
Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans was born at the Palais du Louvre in Paris on 29 May 1627. Her father was Gaston, Duke of Orléans; as the eldest surviving brother of King Louis XIII, he was known at court by the traditional honorific Monsieur. Her mother, 21-year-old Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier, was the only surviving member of the Montpensier branch of the House of Bourbon. When she died five days after giving birth, she left the newborn Anne Marie, the new Duchess of Montpensier, heiress to an immense fortune which included five duchies, the Dauphinate of Auvergne, and the sovereign Principality of Dombes, found in the historical province of Burgundy.

As the eldest daughter of Monsieur, Anne Marie Louise was officially known as Mademoiselle from the time of her birth, and, because she was the granddaughter of a King of France, Henry IV, her uncle Louis XIII created for her the new title of Petite-Fille de France ("Granddaughter of France").

Mademoiselle was moved from the Louvre to the Palais des Tuileries and placed under the care of Madame de Saint Georges, the governess of royal children, who taught her how to read and write. Mademoiselle always had a great sense of self-importance and when asked about her maternal grandmother Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse she replied that she was not her grandmother, because her grandmother was "not a queen". She grew up in the company of Mademoiselle de Longueville, as well as the sisters of the Maréchal de Gramont.

Mademoiselle was very close to her father Gaston, Duke of Orléans. Gaston was involved in multiple conspiracies against Louis XIII and his chief advisor Cardinal Richelieu, and generally on bad terms with the court. When Gaston fell in love with Marguerite of Lorraine, Louis XIII refused to give his brother permission to marry— France and Lorraine were enemies, and a prince of the blood and heir to the throne was not legally allowed to marry without the king's permission. Nonetheless, Gaston secretly married Marguerite in January 1632. When Louis found out, he had the marriage annulled and the couple exiled from court.

As a child, Mademoiselle lived with her governess at the Palais des Tuileries. Gaston resided at Blois, where Mademoiselle visited him frequently. After his secret marriage, Mademoiselle did not see her father for two years. When she finally did see him again in October 1634, the seven-year-old Mademoiselle "flung herself into his arms". After learning that Cardinal Richelieu, her godfather, was behind her father's exile, Mademoiselle would sing street songs and lampoons in the presence of the cardinal himself, earning her a scolding from the cardinal.

At the birth of the future Louis XIV in September 1638, the determined Mademoiselle decided that she would marry him, calling him "her little husband" to the amusement of Louis XIII. Richelieu subsequently reprimanded her for her remarks. Her father on the other hand wanted her to marry Louis, Count of Soissons, a descendant of Charles, Duke of Vendôme, one of his old co-conspirators. The marriage never materialised.

When Mademoiselle's governess, Madame de Saint Georges, died in 1643, Mademoiselle's father chose Madame de Fiesque as her replacement. Mademoiselle was devastated at the death of her former governess and, not keen on having a new governess, was an awkward student; she later recalled that she once locked Madame de Fiesque in her room and Madame de Fiesque's grandson in another.

On his deathbed in May 1643, Louis XIII finally accepted Gaston's plea for forgiveness and authorized his marriage to Marguerite; the couple were married in July 1643 before the Archbishop of Paris and, as the Duke and Duchess of Orléans, were finally received at court.

Louis XIII's death left Louis XIV (then 4 years old) as King of France, and Louis XIII's widow Queen Anne as regent during her son's minority. When the wife of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III died in May 1646, Mademoiselle considered marriage to Ferdinand, but the regent, Queen Anne, under the influence of Mazarin, ignored Mademoiselle's pleas. Louis XIV (then 8 years old) and his younger brother, Philippe, Duke of Anjou (then 6 years old) were too young to be married. Queen Anne suggested her brother, Cardinal Ferdinand of Austria, but Mademoiselle declined. The "wealthiest single princess of Europe" was left without suitable marriage prospects.

Fronde
One of the key areas of the life of Mademoiselle was her involvement in the period of French history known as the Fronde, a civil war in France marked by two distinct phases known as the Fronde Parlementaire (1648–1649) and the Fronde des nobles (1650–1653). The former was precipitated by a tax levied on judicial officers of the Parlement of Paris that was met with a refusal to pay and the emergence of Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (future Grand Condé), as a rebel figure who took the city of Paris by siege. The influence of Cardinal Mazarin was also opposed.

At the Peace of Rueil of 1 April 1649, the Fronde Parlementaire ended, and the court returned to Paris in August amid great celebration. Mademoiselle caught smallpox, but survived the illness. Having convalesced, Mademoiselle befriended Claire Clémence de Brézé, Madame la Princesse, the unwanted wife of the Grand Condé. The pair sojourned in Bordeaux, where Mademoiselle was involved in the peace which ended the siege in the city in October 1650. Her role in the matter made her look like a frondeuse in the eyes of Queen Anne.

Even in uncertain times, the possibility of a marriage between Mademoiselle and the Prince of Condé arose when Claire Clémence became critically ill with erysipelas. Mademoiselle considered the proposal, as she would still have maintained her rank as one of the most important females at court, and her father had a good relationship with Condé. These plans failed, however, when Claire Clémence recovered.

In 1652, there was another Fronde, this time involving the Princes of the Blood. Mazarin was in exile and was not recalled until October 1653. The city of Orléans, Mademoiselle's namesake and the capital of her father's duchy, wanted to stay neutral in the civil war; the magistrates of the city had seen what the war had done to the nearby area of Blaisons and wanted to avoid the same fate. The city requested the input of Mademoiselle's father in order to avoid being pillaged. Gaston was undecided and Mademoiselle took it upon herself to go to Orléans to represent her father and put an end to the troubles. Travelling via Artenay, Mademoiselle was informed that the city would not receive her because she and the king were on different sides, referring to Mademoiselle's dislike for Mazarin.

When Mademoiselle arrived at Orléans, the city gates were locked and the city refused to open them. She shouted that they should open the gates, but was ignored. An approaching boatman offered to row her to the Porte de La Faux, a gate on the river. Mademoiselle got onboard "climbing like a cat" and "jumping over the hedge" in order not to hurt herself and climbed through a gap in the gate. She entered the city and was greeted triumphantly, being carried through the streets of Orléans on a chair for all to see. She later said that she had never been "in so entrancing a situation".

Staying for five weeks, she became attached, calling it "my town", before returning to Paris in May 1652. Paris was once again under a state of panic on the eve of the Battle of the Faubourg St Antoine; Mademoiselle, in order to allow the Prince of Condé into the city, which was controlled by Turenne, fired from the Bastille on the army of Turenne on 2 July 1652. Mazarin remarked "with that cannon, Mademoiselle has shot her husband."

Exile
Fearing for her life, Mademoiselle fled Paris for the safety of her residence at Saint-Fargeau. She remained in exile until 1657 when she was welcomed to the court once again. She went with Madame de Fiesque and Madame de Frontenac, wife of the future Governor General of New France. Having never been to Saint-Fargeau before, she was unaware of the state of the building and thus stayed at a small residence in Dannery having been received by the bailiff of her estates. Convinced to return to Saint-Fargeau, she settled into her home for the next four years and soon began to improve the building under the direction of François Le Vau, brother of the renowned architect Louis Le Vau.

Le Vau redid the exteriors of Saint-Fargeau at a cost of 200,000 livres. They were lost in a fire in 1752 and suffered further damage in 1850, thus all evidence of the appearance of Mademoiselle's residence was lost. Despite being an exile, she still visited her father at Blois. While at Saint-Fargeau, she dabbled in writing and wrote a small biography under the title of Madame de Fouquerolles despite her bad spelling and grammar. Mademoiselle looked to her financial affairs, which had been under her father's management. Having reached her majority in 1652 it was discovered that her father had not been entirely honest with the management of her finances and that was the reason for her 800,000 livres of debt. At the same time her grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Guise, tricked Mademoiselle into signing away money to her under false pretences. Her father was involved with this, which caused her relationship with Gaston to deteriorate. In 1656, hearing that her father had been excused for his various scandals, Mademoiselle herself said she would forget the bad blood caused by his financial misdemeanours and resumed her close relationship with him.

Return to court and family life
When her father was welcomed back to court, it paved the way for Mademoiselle. She left for Sedan, Ardennes, where the court was established in July 1657. Having not seen any of her family for some five years, she was greeted with forgiveness and the added compliment that her "looks had improved", according to Queen Anne.

In a pen portrait of herself executed later the same year, she noted how she was neither "fat nor thin" and "looked healthy; my bosom is fairly well formed; my hands and arms not beautiful, but the skin is good...". The same year, she met Christina of Sweden, who had arrived in France in July 1656. The two ladies met at Essonne where they watched a ballet together. Mademoiselle later exclaimed that Christina "surprised me very much. [...] She was in all respects a most extraordinary creature". At court, her cousins Louis XIV and Philippe, Duke of Anjou were nineteen and seventeen, respectively. Mademoiselle's part in the Fronde had ruined her dream of becoming Louis's consort, but the Duke of Anjou briefly courted her. Despite toying with the idea, Mademoiselle was put off by the Duke's immaturity, saying that he always stayed near his mother as if he was "like a child".

Mademoiselle fell ill in Paris during September 1657, when she bought the Château d'Eu from Mademoiselle de Guise (her maternal aunt) at the end of her illness before returning to her beloved Saint-Fargeau for Christmas.

In February 1660, Gaston died of a stroke at Blois. As his eldest daughter Mademoiselle was his principal heiress, and Gaston left her a considerable fortune that added to her already vast personal wealth. As a result of her mourning her father, Mademoiselle was only allowed to go to the formal marriage between Louis and his new spouse Maria Theresa of Austria; however, Mademoiselle did go to the proxy ceremony incognito, fooling no one. The next marriage at court was between Philippe, the Duke of Orléans, known as Monsieur, and Princess Henrietta of England (youngest child of Queen Henrietta Maria and the dead Charles I of England) on 31 March 1661. Mademoiselle was in attendance with various other members of the court.

Philippe and Henrietta formed a stormy couple. Philippe was an overt bisexual and openly lived with his male lovers at the Palais Royal, much to the dislike of Henrietta. In retaliation, she openly flirted with Louis XIV as well as seduced Philippe's own lover the comte de Guiche. Mademoiselle was the godmother of Philippe and Henrietta's youngest child, the Mademoiselle de Valois, born in 1670. Once again at Henrietta's death in 1670, Louis XIV asked if Mademoiselle wanted to fill "the vacant place" that had been left by Henrietta, a suggestion she declined. Mademoiselle and her younger half sister Marguerite Louise enjoyed a close relationship. The two would go to the theatre and attend Mademoiselle's salon.

Marguerite Louise later asked her to sort out arrangements when the Grand Prince of Tuscany proposed an alliance in 1658. Mademoiselle was asked to ensure its fulfilment, a previous proposal from the Duke of Savoy having failed.

Initially overjoyed at the prospect of marrying, Marguerite Louise's ebullience faded to dismay when she discovered Mademoiselle no longer favoured the Tuscan match. After this, Marguerite Louise's behaviour became erratic: she shocked the court by going out unaccompanied with her cousin Prince Charles of Lorraine, who soon became her lover. Her proxy marriage did nothing to change her attitude and she attempted to abscond and go hunting, only to be stopped by Mademoiselle herself.

In 1663, Louis XIV again approached Mademoiselle with a possible match for her. The intended bridegroom was Alfonso VI of Portugal, who acceded to the Portuguese throne in 1656. The proud Mademoiselle ignored the idea, saying she would rather stay in France with her vast income and estates and that she did not want a husband who was rumoured to be alcoholic, impotent and paralytic. Alfonso instead married Marie Françoise of Savoy.

An angry Louis thus ordered her to return to Saint-Fargeau for having disobeyed him. This "exile" lasted roughly a year and during it she began to make repairs to the Château d'Eu, and started writing her memoirs. Appealing to Louis regarding her health, she was allowed to return to court, whereupon Louis proposed that she marry Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy, who had previously married Mademoiselle's younger half sister Françoise Madeleine. Mademoiselle seemed very keen on the match, but Charles Emmanuel II was not, and he made various excuses to avoid it. This proposal was to be the last for la Grande Mademoiselle.

Lauzun and later years
Away from court in 1666, Mademoiselle regretted not being present at the entertainments organised at the Château de Fontainebleau in honour of Queen Marie Thérèse that summer. At the entertainments was a man called Antoine Nompar de Caumont, later Duke of Lauzun, an impoverished nobleman from Guyenne. Close to the king, he was renowned for his wit as well as his evident "sex appeal", despite being "the smallest man God ever made". He was also a distinguished soldier and was part of the marriage negotiations between Louis XIV and Queen Marie Thérèse. Very opinionated and louche, Lauzun once saw Mademoiselle wearing a red ribbon in her hair and declared it too "youthful" for her, to which the proud Mademoiselle replied "people of my rank are always young".

Before long, Mademoiselle fell hopelessly in love with Lauzun. In December 1670, the most senior female at the court (behind Madame Royale, the only legitimate daughter of Louis XIV) she asked Louis XIV's permission to marry Lauzun. Louis consented, to the astonishment of his court and much to the dislike of Queen Marie Thérèse, Monsieur and various members of the court. The Queen and Monsieur refused to sign the marriage contract. The date for the ceremony was set to occur at the Louvre on Sunday, 21 December 1670. Lauzun even asked Louis's mistress Madame de Montespan to help convince the king to submit to the match. Mademoiselle was in high spirits later, stating that the days from 15 to 18 December 1670 were the happiest days of her life. She referred to Lauzun as "Monsieur le duc de Montpensier" to her friends. The joy was not to last; under pressure from a disapproving court, Louis XIV reversed his decision, and the engagement was called off on 18 December stating that it would damage his reputation. Mademoiselle was asked to have an interview with the king and Madame de Montespan. The former informed her of his decision, to which she responded, "what cruelty..!" Louis replied that "kings must please the public" and ruined Mademoiselle's hopes of marriage on that "unhappy Thursday", as she later called it.

Mademoiselle secluded herself in her apartments and did not reappear until the beginning of 1671, when she was informed of the arrest of Lauzun without an official reason released. He was taken to the Bastille and then the Pignerol fortress, where he remained until 1681 despite making several attempts to escape.

Determined to get Lauzun freed, Mademoiselle devoted herself to his interests and approached Madame de Montespan to try to encourage the king to release him. The release came at a cost; she would have to sell two of her most profitable lands: the principality of Dombes and the County of Eu. These titles would be given to Louis Auguste de Bourbon, Légitimé de France, Duke of Maine, eldest and favourite son of Louis and Montespan. Capitulating on 2 February 1681, Mademoiselle sold the lands, both of which had a great personal attachment to her. Unknown to Mademoiselle, she was only buying Lauzun's release and the right for him to live on her estates as an exile.

Lauzun was freed on 22 April 1681 and obliged to live quietly at Bourbon before returning to Paris, but not the court, rather at the Hôtel de Lauzun, in March 1682. Prior to the death of Queen Marie Thérèse in July 1683, the couple had been on bad terms when they again came together temporarily in their grief. Soon after the two had an interview, the last time they would ever see each other before Mademoiselle retired to her Parisian residence, the Palais du Luxembourg.

Death and burial
Mademoiselle fell ill on 15 March 1693 with what appears to have been stoppage of the bladder. Lauzun asked to see her, but due to her pride, Mademoiselle refused to admit him. She died at the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris on Sunday, 5 April 1693. As a "Granddaughter of France", the title she treasured so much, she was buried at the Royal Basilica of Saint Denis outside Paris on 19 April. At her funeral, according to Saint-Simon, she was noted as being "the wealthiest single princess of Europe". Lying in state, the urn containing her entrails exploded mid-ceremony, which caused chaos as people fled to avoid the smell. Eventually, the ceremony continued with the conclusion of it being "[...] another jest at the expense of Mademoiselle".


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Myra Breckinridge

Myra Breckinridge is a 1968 satirical novel by Gore Vidal written in the form of a diary. Described by the critic Dennis Altman as "part of a major cultural assault on the assumed norms of gender and sexuality which swept the western world in the late 1960s and early 1970s", the book's major themes are feminism, transsexuality, American expressions of machismo and patriarchy, and deviant sexual practices, as filtered through an aggressively camp sensibility. The controversial book is also "the first instance of a novel in which the main character undergoes a clinical sex-change". Set in Hollywood in the 1960s, the novel also contains candid and irreverent glimpses into the machinations within the film industry.

Myra Breckinridge was dismissed by some of the era's more conservative critics as pornographic at the time of its first publication in February 1968; nevertheless, the novel immediately became a worldwide bestseller and has since come to be considered a classic in some circles. "It is tempting to argue that Vidal said more to subvert the dominant rules of sex and gender in Myra than is contained in a shelf of queer theory treatises", wrote Dennis Altman. Critic Harold Bloom cites the novel as a canonical work in his book The Western Canon. Vidal called Myra the favorite of his books, and published a sequel, Myron, in 1974.

The novel was adapted into a 1970 film of the same name, which was panned. Vidal disowned the film, calling it "an awful joke".

In his 1995 memoir Palimpsest, Vidal said the voice of Myra may have been inspired by the "megalomania" of Anaïs Nin's diaries. Indeed, the story is told through increasingly erratic entries in Myra's own personal diary and recordings on events given by Buck Loner.

Plot
An attractive young woman, Myra Breckinridge is a film buff with a special interest in the Golden Age of Hollywood—in particular the 1940s—and the writings of film critic Parker Tyler. She comes to the Academy for Aspiring Young Actors and Actresses, owned by her deceased husband Myron's uncle, Buck Loner. Here, she gets a job teaching, not just her regular classes (Posture and Empathy), but also, as part of the hidden curriculum, female dominance.

The spirit of the times is reflected in Myra's attendance at an orgy arranged by a student. She intends only to observe but suffers a "rude intrusion" by a member of the band The Four Skins, from which she derives a perverse, masochistic enjoyment. At an earlier regular party, after "mixing gin and marijuana", she eventually gets "stoned out of her head" and has a fit, before passing out in a bathroom.

As part of her quest to revolutionize Hollywood and American society, Myra preys upon a student named Rusty Godowski, and eventually anally violates him with a strap on. The rape makes Rusty, previously a gentle lover, into a violent and brutish sex partner, causing his relationship with Mary-Ann, his girlfriend and fellow student (whom Myra has taken under her wing), to deteriorate. The two break up, and Myra recommends Rusty to Leticia Van Allen, a casting agent who has sex with the male clients she represents.

Still in the process of transitioning from male to female and unable to obtain hormones, Myra transforms into Myron, and, as a result of the injuries she has sustained in a car accident, is forced to have her breast implants removed. Now a eunuch, Myron decides to settle down with Mary-Ann.

Writing
Vidal first contemplated writing Myra Breckinridge as a sketch for the risqué revue Oh! Calcutta! but quickly decided to develop the story into a novel. He wrote the first draft in Rome over the course of a month. About two weeks into writing the novel, Vidal decided to make Myra transgender. The name "Breckinridge" was taken from Bunny Breckinridge, an associate of director Ed Wood, and a stage performer whose openly gay, flamboyantly transgressive life partly inspired Vidal's novel.

Analysis
According to critic Robert F. Kiernan, Myra Breckinridge explores the mutability of gender-role and sexual-orientation as being social constructs established by social mores. The first novel whose main character undergoes a clinical sex-change, it was praised by Edmund Miller as "a brilliantly chosen image for satire of contemporary mores." Arnie Kantrowitz called the titular character a "comic surrogate [who] looks at life from both sides" and "wields a wicked dildo in her war against gender roles". Joseph Cady wrote that the novel "skewers conventional American sexuality".

title: Myra Breckinridge


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Françoise Bertaut de Motteville

Françoise Bertaut de Motteville (c. 1621 – 1689) was a French memoir writer.

Biography
She was the daughter of Pierre Bertaut, a gentleman of the king's chamber, and niece of the bishop-poet Jean Bertaut.

Her mother, a Spaniard, was the friend and private secretary of Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII. At the age of seven Françoise was also made a member of the queen's household and given a pension. The influence of Richelieu, however, who wished to separate the queen from her Spanish connections, exiled mother and daughter to Normandy, where in 1639 the young girl was married to Nicolas Langlois, seigneur de Motteville, president of the Chambre des Comptes of Rouen.

He died two years later at the age of eighty-two, and in 1642 the queen summoned Mme de Motteville to court, being now her own mistress by the death of Richelieu and Louis XIII. Through all the intrigues and troubles of the Fronde Mme de Motteville preserved the honourable reputation of being devoted to her mistress without any party ties or interests.

Some letters of hers are preserved, especially a curious correspondence with Anne, Duchess of Montpensier "La Grande Mademoiselle" on marriage, but her chief work is her Mémoires, which are in effect a history of Anne of Austria, written briefly till the date of Mme de Motteville's return to court, and then with fullness. They give a faithful picture of the life of the court at that time.

The best edition of her Mémoires is that of M. F. Riaux (2nd ed., Paris, 1891, 4 vols.), containing the essay by Sainte-Beuve from vol. v. of his Causeries du lundi. The Mémoires were translated into English in 1726 and again by KP Wormeley in 3 vols., 1902. For details concerning her family see Recherches sur Madame de Motteville et sur sa famille, by Charles de Beaurepaire (Rouen, 1900).

title: Françoise Bertaut de Motteville