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Suffer the Little Children! A book by Corinne Maier
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In 2009, I read an interview in the Wiener Zeitung – an Austrian paper. Corinne Maier, the provocative French Author and psychoanalyst, said that childhood was a disaster. And her then latest book, No Kids – 40 Reasons for Not Having Any managed to shock the entire French nation.
This book was too much for the normally very cool French and feelings were high. Having children, said Corinne Maier, was just about the worst and most stupid thing that anyone could possibly do!
Children were boring and dull and with them you were never free to do what you wanted. And, school holidays were the worst. They were restricted to mindless time-killing things. Kids loved zoos and Disney World. Both, as Corinne Maier believed, were as bad as the plague. And, as for museums - or any other kind of culture – forget it!
Then, of course, there was Christmas. This was the one time in the year when people could prove what good parents they actually were. All that was needed was a very good present. The rule was, and still is, if the kids are happy - then the parents are happy as well!
Corinne Maier found nothing good to say about children. She described them as leeches, killjoys, future losers, boring, and squealing Gremlins. All of which naturally meant that she, too had been all of these things when she was a child! And being a child was something she hated and the reason was simple.
Corinne Maier was born in Geneva which really makes her Swiss – not French, a fact which she blamed for her very boring childhood! She hated school, she had no real friends, and, her father was an unexciting businessman, and her mother a tiresome housewife! So what sort of person is Corinne Maier now?
Surprisingly, Corinne Maier is, despite her very own 40 good reasons for being the opposite, a mother! She has 2 children which she had because she was scared of being alone, and life, because of them, is a battle. She has to get them up in the morning, she has to feed and cloth them, she has to make sure that their homework is done, and, because they take all of her time, she can’t be herself.
And this is her problem. Childhood, she says, is not paradise, and children are nothing other than objects which are owned and controlled by their parents. Utopia is being grown-up – because it is then that one can do what one wants. And, as far as Corinne Maier is concerned, if you really want to bring up a parasite, then you're better off with a gigolo.
All very strong words. In short, Corinne Maier is everything that she never wanted to be. Maybe she was just scared of herself. Or, is the answer much simpler? Could it be that she simply hates life? A good question. But judging by the number of people who bought and read her book to the end, she must be a very good writer!
Corinne Maier, a writer who wrote about a subject she hates. But, does she hate all the money it made her? Children normally cost very much money, but Corinne Maier was clever! Her children not only made her a fortune, but shocked the French nation as well! And, that's a very hard thing to do! Au revoir Madame Maier!
Language Assistance – English – German
*(No kids. 40 Gründe, Keine Kinder zu haben)
*Suffer – an old English word for allow/let - erlauben/lassen. Its modern meaning is (in German) leiden.
boring – langweilig
childhood – Kindheit
despite – trotzdem
disgust – Empörung
feelings – Gefühle
future loser – zukünftiger Verliere
important – wichtig
leeches – Klette
mindless – gedankenlos
most stupid – dümmste
opposite – Gegenteil
owned – own(s)/ besaßen.
parents – Eltern
plague – Pest
prove – beweisen
provocative – herausfordern
purchased – kaufte
rubbish – Mist
squealing gremlin – Kreischende Gremlin
tiresome – lästig
trail – Spur.
unexciting – langweilig
worst – Schlimmste.
