Some delightful musings about absolutely essential words from author Lemony Snicket, known about San Francisco as Daniel Handler, and illustrator Maira Kalman. This is a web preview of their latest book, 13 Words, set to come out on October 5th in hardcover and, in a new kind of reading experience, on the iPad. (This clip certainly makes this lover of words want to run out to get an iPad!)
Snicket and Kalman's most 13 essential words:
Bird
Despondent
Cake
Dog
Busy
Convertible
Goat
Hat
Haberdashery
Scarlet
Baby
Panache
Mezzo-Soprano
The word Panache comes from the latin pinna which means feather. The definition of panache comes from the play Cyrano de Bergerac, written by Edmund Rostand in 1936. Rostand's hero is a swashbucker with style and an oversized nose, who can fight 100 men while spouting poetry. Known for his flair, Cyrano led his guard in a Musketeer hat with a unsullied white plume and the rallying cry, "Follow my white plume!"
The play closes with Cyrano's dying words...
"... yet there is something still that will always be mine, and when I go to God's presence, there I'll doff it and sweep the heavenly pavement with a gesture — something I'll take unstained out of this world ... my panache."
Kalman and Snicket will surely be in linguistic heaven if they snag a seat to San Francisco Opera's production of Franco Alfano's opera Cyrano de Bergerac, featuring the great Placido Domingo in the title role.
We look forward to the October 21 final dress rehearsal, when we bring our 6th, 7th and 8th graders to the Opera House to see the busy mezzo-soprano who sings like a bird while helping to bake the cake enjoyed by the despondent man with panache wearing the scarlet hat from the haberdashery! Sorry, no pets or children under 3rd grade. Leave your cat, dog, goat and baby in the convertible, please.
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