Re: What exactly is désinvolture?

[Ulrich Oswald <dear@ulri.ch>]

>
> PS to Ulrich Oswald:
> 
> What did your native Russian friend say about "neprivyazannost'" as a
> translation for "désinvolture?"

Oleg also liked Jungers quote of Lord Byron's very much (It's good to
have something of a fool and not too much of a gentleman) and added:
There are situations in life where désinvolture actually helps, namely
in those moments when the humans are so harrassed in their little lives
that the "Homeric Gods" brake out in laughter. He made this remark
interestingly enough when lecturing on Tchekhovs "neshastye" (bad luck),
a short love story in the twilight zone. 

This brings me to a historic episode: After the desaster at Dunkirke,
Churchill had to persuade General Alexander not to commit suicide but to
retreat over the channel with all troups, because: "There are moments
when it is NOT of military dishonour to defeit" which meant that the old
chevalresque qualities of European  military tradition lost its value
facing a new kind of total war and that it is necessary to find a
distance to the old traditions and values. If this is not also a kind of
désinvolture, what is it then?

Ulrich