A presentation by

Harish kumar &SaiF uR RahmaN on

Luxemburg is a country in Western Europe bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south.

It is the world’s only sovereign grand duchy.

Capital Luxembourg City is the largest city and Luxembourg has a population of 524,853.

Luxembourg has an area of 2,586 square kilometers.

Luxembourg is one of six founding members of the European union, which was established in 1951 as the European coal and steel community.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a representative democracy in the form of a constitutional monarchy, with a hereditary crown.

The Grand Duke is its head of state. King Sigefroid is considered the

founder of Luxembourg.

Luxembourg is a trilingual country: Luxembourgish, French and German are official language.

German is taught from the very first school year, while French is taught the following years.

German is the main language for primary education, as well as for the first few years of secondary classical and secondary technical education.

French, however, is used predominantly in secondary classical education.

LINGUISTIC HISTORY

Luxembourg’s multilingualism is rooted in the historical co-existence of two ethnic groups, one

Romance and the other Germanic.

The name Lucilinburhuc means “small castle” in Old German.

The territory was divided into two major areas, in which different dialects were spoken: Walloon in the French-speaking part and the Luxembourgish dialect in the German-speaking part.

This period marked a time of juxtaposed bilingualism (a term coined by the historian Gilbert Trausch) , with the two languages not spoken by one and the same person.

Under the first French occupation by King Louis XIV, the use of German was virtually banned. A century later, under the impact of the French Revolution, French continued to gain lasting ground, infiltrating the local administration of the German-speaking zone. The Napoleonic Code was introduced in 1804. Lëtzebuergesch remained the everyday language spoken by all the inhabitants.

The London Treaty of 1839 reduced to its present size (2,586 km2), with its new territory situated entirely in the German-speaking zone.

The German language could have toppled the superiority of French once and for all. But the lack of support shown by William II, king of the Netherlands and grand duke of Luxembourg, to German officials allowed the influential Luxembourg notables to enforce French as the administrative, legislative and political language.

To shield it from nationalist “germanisation” attempts, a crucial law was passed: French was henceforth to be a compulsory school subject, in the same capacity as German. French lessons were introduced from primary school onwards and the linguistic syllabus was implemented once and for all by the school reform of 1912.

Languages generally preferredby Luxembourg residentswhen watching TV

Luxembourg nationals

All residents

Lëtzebuergesch 24 % 18 %

French 24 % 34 %

German 50 % 40 %

Other 1 % 8 %

Luxembourg has its own film production industry. On average, the country produces or coproduces one to two feature films and six to ten short films and documentaries a year Unlike countries such as France and Germany, where most films are shown in their dubbed version, almost all films in Luxembourg, with the exception of children’s films, are presented in their original version with subtitles. This original-version film culture reflects the multilingualism that prevails in the Grand Duchy.

Loosely translated as ‘Girl With Pearl Earring’, This film, adapted from a work of fiction by author Tracy Chevalier, tells a story about the events surrounding the creation of the painting "Girl With a Pearl Earring" by 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. Little is known about the girl in the painting, it is speculated that she was a maid who lived in the house of the painter along with his family and other servants, though there is no historical evidence. This masterful film attempts to recreate the mysterious girl's life. Griet is a maid in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer. His wealthy patron and sole means of support, Van Ruijven, commissions him to paint Griet with the intent that he will have her for himself before it is finished. She must somehow secretly pose for the crucial painting without the knowledge of Vermeer's wife, avoid Van Ruijven's grasp, and protect herself from the cruel gossip of the world of a 17th century servant.

1) Griet: Good morning, madam. Catharina: Don't speak until you are spoken to.

2) [to Vermeer, after seeing her own portrait for the first time]

Griet: You looked inside me...

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2)

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 Luxembourgish authors write in one or more of the three official languages  because of the linguistic diversity of Luxembourg.

Despite the use of French and German for administrative purposes, it was Lëtzebuerger Däitsch, now known as Luxembourgish, which was behind the development of Luxembourg's literature in the 19th century, contributing much to the consolidation of the national identity.

Lambert Schlector

& Félix Thyes

Lambert Schlector (born 1941) is a Luxembourgish author who has written in both German and French but has now adopted French as his preferred language. His work includes poetry, novels, essays and contributions to newspapers and magazines.

It is a poetic collection. The poem preamble,  “en guise d’autoportrait“("by way of self-portrait")  calls and launches color collection. And if poetry was the only possible self-portrait? When art fragment joined the singing-did we not there in the hollow of language, the most faithful attempt autobiography, which is being in all its movement, its fretwork, its white, his will to live and his refusal to die, his elusiveness soul than words, shifty, struggling to express caressing and releasing soon. If the verse, with its evocative power, its brevity, its density could only take "the name / Sling", and with him the art of enjoying, live & die, the one that anaphora through the text? In L'envers de tous les endroits ,  we find poems exploded, the beautiful and intricate web of diarist, oscillating between "fullness & lack, life & death. Here he fights against the fascination of nothingness, this "side of all places/envers de tous les endroits," this ’absolute pleasure’ against the inevitable death that he refuses to resign.

The poet slips in the text, to simple words, almost childish sometimes ("there is death coming / and the sun shines"), the reverse of his soul refusing to yield to lament, he foils with humor about fear of disappearance, learns to combine the fear of death with bursts of daily life (“the room I prefer/ is your flowered room/ and no matter when / if your beautiful scarf is my shroud cloth"), to see this promise of shade means splitting the brightness of life ("candle gives light if it burns / she is not living in dying") to replace the missing all fullness. Questioning death, with a soul as contemplative as laughing ("drowsiness and its euphoria / we already know / why another drowsiness / she would frighten us?"), He then shoots all the above joys and enjoyments of life.

J’aime et n’aime pas la poésiela plupart des poètes m’ennuient dans neuf poèmes sur dixje trébuche d’un vers à l’autre cascades d’indécises syllabesleur glouglou ne me mouille pas mais après neuf poèmes le dixième :mots qui explosent et font trembler et je lis un poème qui change ma vie

Félix Thyes (1830–1855) is recognized as the first Luxembourg author to write a novel in French. Marc Bruno, profil d'artiste was published shortly after his death in 1855. He was also the first literary historian to discuss literature written in Luxembourgish.

Marc Bruno: portrait d'un artiste is a psychological novel associating romanticism with realism. It is the story of an unfortunate medical student in Brussels who pays his way by painting pictures in the attic where he lives. He falls in love with an aristocratic girl but she soon leaves him for someone of her own class. Finally he finds a girl he dearly loved during his childhood only to discover she is now a prostitute and wants to have nothing more to do with him. One morning he finds her body on a dissection table at the university. He finally decides to devote himself fully to medical practice and ends up in a small village where he can immerse himself in his work. But he soon falls in love once more….

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