We have now seen a few similar souvenir drawings which include an exaggeratedly long-stemmed flower penned by cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé. This relatively simple device allows him to present fans with a genial gag cartoon while easily filling a significant part of the page. Gradignan bookseller Librairie du Cardinal currently proffers a copy of Bonjour Bonsoir (1980) with such a drawing for 450 Euros.
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| Jean-Jacques Sempé AbeBooks listing accessed April 30, 2021 |
This book is personally dedicated to one "Janine," whose name I have included in the post's title although it very likely is a misspelling of the same Jeanine whose collection included a copy of Tout se complique containing a Sempé sketch on a related theme. See the book here. The misspelling suggests that Jeanine was not a close friend but, rather, a fan who attended several Sempé signings.
Bonjour Bonsoir is a title that arguably does not require translation, but if I were the type of person who could leave well enough alone, I never would have started writing a blog. Google Translate came up with Hello Good Night, which I cannot endorse, as it loses the parallel rhythm of the two words. That leaves us with Good Day Good Night, which sounds forced, or Good Morning Good Night, which I think works best even though it eerily reminds me of "The Truman Show." I'm so glad I don't translate for a living.
Note: If you've gotten this far, you surely must know what sort of blog Attempted Bloggery is. But just in case you don't, it's the sort of blog on which I love to post reader images of seldom-seen drawings by Jean-Jacques Sempé. Let's work on this together, collectors. Good morning. Oh, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.
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