#reynaert

L'Académie française, c'est comme la prostate : elle fait rire quand on en parle. Personne n'a jamais été fichu de savoir à quoi elle servait exactement, mais sur le tard, elle finit toujours par devenir pour tous les hommes un besoin pressant.

- François Reynaert

One of the few vestiges of France’s royal past, the Académie was established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, Louis XIII’s regent, and it was formed in part to censor subversive academics who might plot against the monarchy. Since then members have included some of France’s greatest literary talents, plus scientists, doctors, oceanographers, anthropologists and politicians. But some greats never made it, such as Molière, Gustave Flaubert or Jean-Paul Sartre. Emile Zola was rejected 24 times.

If the Académie has been responsible for some blatant canonical omissions such as these, it has to be acknowledged that its task is not easy. Its primary role is the ongoing compilation of a dictionary that protects the uniqueness of the French language. But as globalisation and the Internet make English an omnipresence in most work places, the Académie has a job catching up with the ever expanding English vocabulary that springs up to cater for new developments in software, technology and cyberspace.

The regulations laid down by Cardinal Richelieu stipulate that: “The principal function of the Académie shall be to work with all possible care and diligence to give our language certain rules, and to render it pure, eloquent, and able to deal with the arts and sciences.” Many see the academie has been fraying at the edges for the last century or so.

Perhaps one of the Académie’s greater problems is its august age. It is the oldest of French institutions in more senses than one. Its average age is 78. Five of its surviving members, known rather ironically as the immortals, are over 90. One is 98. Nine are over 80. Only four of more than 700 members have been women, starting in 1981 with French-American author Marguerite Yourcenar.

Tadaah Here's the fully colored Kiara Dragontail

Joeri Reynaert - Tuberack (2012)

Tuberack is a shelf / space divider assembled without screws or glue but strongly held together by rubber tubes. The tubes make a random pattern that can be used to display books or other items. Tuberack is made out of solid oak and comes in a flat package, easy to assemble.