Ça Alors! Learning French Through Comic Books

I’m always on the lookout for a good book to read in French, but it can’t be too hard, too easy – just right s’il vous plait. And it’s even better if it’s actually interesting and fun, which makes finding the right book nearly an impossible task.

At my local French book store, I gravitated to a new section: a large table featuring comic books, or more correctly, ”graphic novels.”

I was lingering over two biographies about American dancer Isadora Duncan (1877-1927). I had just seen the biopic “The Dancer,” about the life of dancer Loie Fuller, who at one point hires Duncan. And I just saw the miniseries “Zelda,” about the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who knew the dancer. Bios about women and the 1920s were in the air.

So I picked up “Isadora,” by Julie Birmant and Clément Oubrerie (2017). Little did I know was how daring and unconventional this dancer was. She was enamored with ancient Greece, and danced in bare feet and a flowing tunic, improvising her way through music by the likes of Wagner and Stravinsky.

Isadora and later her students often went on tour—including
to Pittsburgh on Dec. 18, 1918, invited by The Art Society of Pittsburgh. In 1921, her leftist sympathies took her to the Soviet Union where she founded a school in Moscow, but the government did not support her work as promised. She died as dramatically as she lived, when in 1927 her long flowing scarf became entangled in the wheel of a sports car in the south of France. She is buried in Paris at the Père Lachaise cemetery.

Graphic novels have become seriously popular in France. Starting in the 2000s, nearly every big French publisher started a line of literary comic books. But then this is a country with a long history in quality hardback comic books such as “Babar” and “Tintin.”

What I liked about reading “Isadora” is that much of the writing is dialog, which is one of my weaknesses. How people speak in France is much different than how they write. Comic books are definitely an enjoyable way to learn some phrases I hear in conversation. And now trendy as well. Ça alors! (Well how about that?) One of the many very useful phrases to be found in a French comic book!


Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." Want to follow this blog? Enter your email address into the “Follow me” box. Or find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

Paris-Pittsburgh People: Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton in "Birdman"

I recently saw the movie star Michael Keaton – and native Pittsburgher – here in Paris, at the impressive new Paris Philharmonic concert hall.

Keaton was there, figuratively speaking, in a showing of the Oscar-winning film “Birdman” (2014) accompanied by live music. My daughter organized the evening, and I went along without knowing a thing about what I was going to see.

As I exited the nearby Métro, my eyes were stunned as the expansive site unfolded into view. It was more like going to a stadium, the size of PNC Park in Pittsburgh, than to a concert venue.

The new Philharmonic hall in Paris

Inside, I had expected a full symphonic orchestra, but all I saw on stage was a drum kit. My expectations sunk.

The drummer, Antonio Sanchez, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, told us his story and how he got involved in Birdman. The five-time Grammy Award winner who has worked with Chick Corea and was part of the Pat Metheny group happened to bump into Birdman director Alejandro González Iñárritu.

This was no ordinary drummer, but perhaps the world’s greatest living jazz musician. He was touring the world playing in concert with the film. The drums took us inside Birdman’s disturbed mind as he moved around the backstage maze that was the setting for most of the movie.

Drummer Antonio Sanchez

Although Michael Keaton didn’t win one of the Oscars, I think he should have (but won many other awards). He played an aging movie star known for his superhero films, longing to be taken seriously as a stage actor. Eerily, Keaton himself is an aging movie star perhaps best known for “Batman.” (1989)

Keaton is also a hometown acting hero as well. He first appeared on TV in several episodes of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" (1968). Keaton also worked as an actor in Pittsburgh theatre; he played the role of Rick in the Pittsburgh premiere of David Rabe's "Sticks and Bones" with the Pittsburgh Poor Players. Keaton is reportedly an avid Pittsburgh Pirates fan, and has been seen at seen at Steelers and Pirates games as well, but these days called Montana home. (Thanks Wikipedia!)

Michael Keaton, I hope to see you again in Paris, or perhaps at a game in Pittsburgh? For real?

Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." Want to follow this blog? Enter your email address into the “Follow me” box. Or find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.