My Life in France: Fin

Alas, all good things must come to an end. As Julia Child was close to reaching 80, her dear friend and co-author Simca died, 3 years after Jean, her husband. Paul Child, who was 10 years older than Julia, was having heart problems and could no longer travel and lived in a nursing home. With all of this in mind, Julia had one last decision to make. Should she give up their little French house in Providence, where they lived many months out of the year to escape from the business of the United States? Julia's niece, Phila didn't want her to give up the place. She explains "The house was filled with familiar smells and memories" (330). The thought of giving up the one last safe haven that the family really had was a sad thought, but Julia decided that it was just impractical to keep it any longer. Julia writes, "Without Paul to share the house with, or my grande cherie Simca, or all of our favorite friends and family, it had come time to relinquish La Pitchoune" (329). The place was not what it had once been, not without her friends or family. Julia felt that it was better to let the place go. But she was not letting go of France. She comments "France was my spiritual homeland: it had become part of me, and I part of it" (332). No matter what happened, she would always hold on the France and what she had learned there.

Throughout the book, Julia Child has been faced with many ethical decisions. The decision to let go of the house was probably the least difficult to make, given that almost all of her French friends were dead and her husband was unable to travel. Yet it was still a big decision and one that was hard to give the final ok on, since the place held so many memories. Julia couldn't have passed it on to anyone in her family, because the land was only leased, not owned. So I guess I agree with her decision, and I doubt that there are many, if any that disagree. But no matter if we know that it is right or wrong, decisions like these are always hard, because you are giving up a piece of your live.

"My Life in France" Post 5

As Julia Child and her friend Simca were both enjoy a temporary stay in Washington DC, they decided to visit their new publishing company, Houghton Mifflin. The girls are nowhere near being done, having only two sections completed (sauces and poultry), but they already had over 700 pages devoted to instructions and recipes. A few days after giving their manuscript to Houghton Mifflin, the chefs received back their manuscript back along with a letter. The letter said "...What we could envision as saleable...is perhaps a series of smaller books devoted to particular portions of the meal...certainly less elaborate that your present volumes, which, although we are sure that they are foolproof, are undeniably demanding in time and focus" (229). The American public, it seemed, was more interested in a quick, easy meal, than a nice, elaborate, home made one. At first Child and Simca wanted to abandon the company in search of one that would publish their entire book, but after much thought decided that it would be better to create a shorter book for the time being, then later publish their big book. They replied to the letter by saying: "Everything would be of the simpler sort...and emphasis would always be on how to prepare ahead, and how to reheat" (231). Even though it meant putting their dream cook book on hold, the women realized that there would not be a huge audience for their cookbook, especially since the two authors were unheard of.

I do not know if I agree with their decision or not. I think that people are happiest and do their best work if they are following their dreams, but on the other hand some things are just impractical. By saying no to Houghton Mifflin, they would have been forced to search for a new publisher. The chance of finding a publisher who would be willing to publish such a large book (when completed it would be well over 1,000 pages) was very slim. And there was the question of would the book sell in a country devoted to its TV dinners and McDonalds. But do these risks outweigh the dreams of the two women? I honestly don't know.

"My Life In France" post 4

After successfully starting up their own mini cooking school, Julia Child, and her friends Simca and Louisette began working on a cookbook of their very own. Simca and Louisette had looked in to the cookbook idea in the past, and had even found a potential publisher named Ives Washburn, who had already published a (very unsuccessful) mini book called What's Cooking in France. Washburn "...had gone into publishing as a hobby; he knew little about cooking, did little advertising for his book, and was said to keep slipshod accounts" (149). When the three women had finished a chapter of their book (sauces), they sent it to him, along with a letter of explanation. Child says "He did not reply to my letter. Nor did he respond to our chapter on sauces, which I sent him by diplomatic pouch" (150). With no word from Washburn, the three had to make a decision, whether to look for a new publisher, or remain with Washburn. Through her correspondence with the wife of magazine writer Bernard de Voto, Julia Child found another publisher named Houghton Mifflin, who was very well respected in the United States. But when Child suggested this idea to Simca and Louisette "...Louisette balked: she felt that we had an obligation to keep working with Ives Washburn. I disagreed, saying that, in light of no advance, no contact, and, lately, no communication with him whatsoever, we had no obligation to the publisher" (152). After much debate, the three did finally switch publishers, but Louisette stopped working directly on the book, only giving advice when asked by Simca or Julia Child.

The three chefs must make an ethical choice, whether or not to remain with Ives Washburn. The differing opinion about whether or not they had an obligation to Washburn was the heart of their disagreement. I do not think that they had an obligation to Washburn. If a publisher is really interested in someone's writing, then they should stay in contact and read and reply to letters and excerpts sent to them. It isn't like Washburn was extremely busy, if he only published as a hobby. If you want clients, you should treat them well.