{"id":12020,"date":"2021-06-01T20:07:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T20:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/?p=12020"},"modified":"2021-09-28T15:42:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T15:42:45","slug":"licornes-unicorns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/blog\/2021\/06\/01\/licornes-unicorns\/","title":{"rendered":"Licornes
Unicorns<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Arlberg-Bruderschaft Wappenbuch, fol 26r<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Vous avez peut-\u00eatre remarqu\u00e9 que, alors m\u00eame que le confinement aurait d\u00fb me laisser plus de temps que jamais pour imaginer des jeux et \u00e9crire des b\u00eatises, j\u2019ai peu mis \u00e0 jour ce site web ces derniers mois. En fait, j\u2019ai peu pens\u00e9 aux jeux car, contrairement \u00e0 beaucoup d\u2019autres auteurs, je n\u2019ai pas vraiment r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 me mettre au jeu de soci\u00e9t\u00e9 en ligne sur Tabletopia et autres BoardgameArena. J\u2019ai essay\u00e9, mais n\u2019ai pas \u00e9t\u00e9 convaincu. C\u2019est sans doute un peu d\u00fb \u00e0 mes jeux, qui gagnent \u00e0 pouvoir regarder adversaires ou partenaires dans les yeux, et un peu \u00e0 moi-m\u00eame, qui pr\u00e9f\u00e8re jouer autour d\u2019une table avec de bons amis et de bonnes bi\u00e8res. Et donc, comme je ne pouvais pas non plus voyager, il m\u2019a fallu trouver autre chose pour m\u2019occuper\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Yale, Beinecke Library, ms 436, fol 15v<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Il y a vingt-cinq ans, en 1996, j\u2019avais soutenu une th\u00e8se d\u2019histoire, Images et connaissance de la licorne de la fin du Moyen \u00c2ge au XIXe si\u00e8cle. <\/em>J\u2019ai ensuite assez rapidement abandonn\u00e9 toute id\u00e9e de faire une v\u00e9ritable carri\u00e8re d\u2019historien, mais j\u2019ai gard\u00e9 de cet interm\u00e8de un go\u00fbt pour les vieux papiers et les th\u00e8mes un peu marginaux \u2013 au sens propre du terme, car, dans les manuscrits m\u00e9di\u00e9vaux, la licorne est souvent dans les marges.

Lorsque les circonstances m\u2019ont, comme tout le monde, enferm\u00e9 pour quelques mois, j\u2019ai vu l\u00e0 une occasion de faire ce \u00e0 quoi je pensais depuis d\u00e9j\u00e0 quelque temps, reprendre mes recherches avec moins d\u2019enjeu et plus de plaisir, pour en tirer quelque chose de plus l\u00e9ger, de plus digeste,  un livre ou un site web. Et puis je me suis laiss\u00e9 emporter en d\u00e9couvrant que tous les manuscrits et incunables que je n\u2019avais pas pu consulter il y a trente ans \u00e9taient aujourd\u2019hui accessibles en ligne. J\u2019ai donc pass\u00e9 une grande partie des deux confinements sur les sites de Gallica, de la bodl\u00e9ienne, de la British Library, de la Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, de la biblioth\u00e8que nationale de Russie, du Metropolitan Museum, d\u00e9couvrant plein de nouveaux trucs amusants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u00c9glise Saint \u00c9tienne du Mont, Paris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

J\u2019ai \u00e9crit le livre, 160 brefs chapitres, et lui ai trouv\u00e9 un \u00e9diteur, Ynnis. Le volume s\u2019appellera sans doute Les l\u00e9gendes de la licorne<\/em> et devrait sortir d\u00e9but 2022. Bien s\u00fbr, mon tapuscrit de 1.500.000 signes et plus de 1000 illustrations \u00e9tait trop long, beaucoup trop long, et il a fallu couper \u2013 \u00e0 peu pr\u00e8s la moiti\u00e9 du texte et les quatre cinqui\u00e8mes des images. Du coup, il me reste de la mati\u00e8re pour faire aussi un site web, qui sera un blog parce que j\u2019ai l\u2019habitude de WordPress. J\u2019y posterai r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement des extraits du futur bouquin et, surtout, tous les passages que j\u2019ai supprim\u00e9s, g\u00e9n\u00e9ralement parce qu\u2019ils abordaient des sujets relativement pointus \u2013 mais tout est un peu pointu en mati\u00e8re de licornes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mon anglais est suffisant pour discuter de jeux de soci\u00e9t\u00e9 et pour \u00e9crire des r\u00e8gles, mais je crains qu\u2019il ne soit pas assez pr\u00e9cis pour aborder l\u2019histoire ou la litt\u00e9rature. Du coup, et je le regrette un peu, ce deuxi\u00e8me blog sera uniquement en fran\u00e7ais.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Et maintenant que le livre est boucl\u00e9, que la situation sanitaire semble s\u2019arranger, que je suis vaccin\u00e9 et que la plupart de mes amis commencent \u00e0 l\u2019\u00eatre, je devrais pouvoir de nouveau organiser des soir\u00e9es jeux, tester des prototypes, et sans doute passer de nouveau par ici parler de jeux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Et mon blog sur les licornes se trouve l\u00e0<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"
British Library, ms Harley 4979, fol 71v<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

You might have noticed that, even when the long months of confinements should have left me with more time to design games and write online nonsense, I rarely updated this website last year. I actually didn\u2019t focus that much on games because, unlike most other boardgame designers, I could not really get accustomed to playing online on Tabletopia or Boardgamearena. I tried, but didn\u2019t like the experience. It\u2019s probably due in part to my games, which play better when one can look opponents and partners in the eyes, and to me, who really enjoy playing around a real table with real friends and real beer. And since I could not travel either, I had to find something else to keep myself busy.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Cambridge, Trinity College ms B 11 22, fol 11r<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-five years ago, in 1996, I completed my PhD about the Images and knowledge of the unicorn from the late Middle-Ages to the XIXth century. I then quickly gave up the idea of making and academic career, but I still have a fascination for old manuscripts, strange books and marginal themes \u2013 marginal in its narrower sense, since unicorns are often found in the margins of manuscripts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When circumstances confined me in my flat for a few months, like everyone, I seized the opportunity to do what I was already considering for a while, going back to my old research with lower stakes and more fun and trying to make something lighter and more mainstream out of it, a book or a website. Then I found out that hundreds of manuscripts and incunabula I had not been able to see thirty years ago were now accessible online and was hooked on the Gallica, the Bodleian, the British Library, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the Russian National Library, the Met and a few other such websites where I found more strange, fun and sometimes unexpected unicorn stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Biblioth\u00e8que Nationale, ms fr 2810, fol 85r<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I wrote the book, made of 160 short chapters, and found a publisher. It will probably be called Les l\u00e9gendes de la licorne (The Legends of the Unicorn) and will be published in early 2022, in French at first \u2013 but if you\u2019re interested in doing it in English or any other language, email me and I\u2019ll get you in touch with the publisher. Of course, my 1.500.000 characters and 1000 pictures typescript was too long, far too long, and I had to cut out more or less half of the text and four fifths of the pictures. This means I have lots of stuff left for a website, a blog because I am used to WordPress. In the coming months, I\u2019ll regularly post there excerpts from the coming book and, mostly, all the chapters I had to remove, usually because they were a bit redundant or dealt with really small details.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While my english is sufficient for discussing boardgames and writing game rules, I\u2019m afraid it\u2018s not good enough for history and literature. Unlike my boardgaming blog, the unicorn part of my website will be only in French \u2013 but if some day my book is translated in English, may be I\u2019ll find a way to have the website translated as well.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now that the book is nearly finished, that the health situation is becoming better, that I am vaccined and most of my friends will soon be as well, I will soon be able to hold game nights again, play prototypes and may be come back here and write about games.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And my unicorn blog – in French – is there<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Biblioth\u00e8que Sainte Genevi\u00e8ve, ms 143, fol 232r<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vous avez peut-\u00eatre remarqu\u00e9 que, alors m\u00eame que le confinement aurait d\u00fb me laisser plus de temps que jamais pour imaginer des jeux et \u00e9crire des b\u00eatises, j\u2019ai peu mis \u00e0 jour ce site web ces derniers mois. En fait, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[263],"class_list":["post-12020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-licorne-unicorn"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2HNOP-37S","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12020"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12709,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12020\/revisions\/12709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}