Pensées D'Après Pascal

Publication Instance Details #1932

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
No	No	No	No	Yes	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies HR & Weapons of Mass Destruction (incl. nuclear)
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Paratext Text	Nótaí: Is iad na pensées de chuid Pascal a bhfuil an dán bunaithe orthu ná: 1. 'L'homme n'est qu'un roseau, le plus faible de la nature, mais c'est un roseau pensant.' 2. 'Le silence éternel de ces espaces infinis m'effraie.' Port-Royal an lárionad a bhí ag na daoine cráifeacha agus na fealsaimh a tháinig faoi thionchar an teagaisc sin ar a dtugtar Jansenism. Bhí scoil thurgnamhach agus clochar san áit.
Notes	Meditation upon the philosophy of French philosopher Blaise Pascal - in the context of Catholic Jansenism. The aspects of his philosophy relevant to the poem are mentioned in the paratext. This is connected to the French Nuclear tests in Mururoa, one of the French Polynesian islands. France undertook nuclear weapon tests between 1966 and 1996 at Moruroa and Fangataufa, causing international protests, notably in 1974 and 1995. The speaker of the poem seems to connect the threat of nuclear annihilation to the Jansenism belief in inherent human depravity by mentioning the link between Port Royal (once the centre of Jansenism) and Mururoa.