The Alpha-Flaneur

[Costi]

Of course "flaneur" was sort of a "style license" here, if any such thing exist (if not, we can invent in ad hoc). Perhaps it comes from the difficulty of naming, defining a "man of Style". Then discussions developed in a somewhat different direction, though we all understood what we were talking about, so I agree terminology is not our forte in this debate
The drive to succeed must be there, indeed, but in the sense that "anything worth doing is worth doing well", knowing that if you do your best you will ultimately succeed (although not always the way you want or expect...). But as far as Style is concerned, how does one "succeed"? How does one measure "success"? And competitiveness (as in a tennis match) certainly does not apply - it is not a race against anyone (not even against oneself). I'm afraid sports are not at all a good metaphor of Style.
On another note, I wonder whether the British tennis men whom you deplore keep losing ground because they focus on success... Where is the pleasure of playing in the sport world today? Where is the enjoyment? The stakes are too high, competitiveness goes beyond the natural "drive to succeed", it arrives at a point where it becomes paralyzing, defeating its purpose. Too much pressure - and what for?!
By the way - where are the elegant or stylish sportsmen in our "Great Photos" section? I can't seem to recall any, other than a few sports-loving men who never turned professional. Is that a clue, I wonder?...

[alden]

NJS

Nice to see you.

Yes, the English do not really have a word for flaner as it is understood in French. The idea of the idle stroller would be best translated in French as boulevardier.

Balzac said that flaner was " gastronomy of the eyes." It is a verb that means to walk the streets in the creative process, study and observation of the world, man and his manners to an artistic end (poetry, painting, dramatic study, or novel writing to name a few.) Baudelaire wrote most eloquently about the subject and really put the concept on the map. There is absolutely nothing "idle" about the verb flaner. It is a highly charged, active, and creative state of an artist.

Neither Balzac nor Baudelaire had much time for idle pursuits or for those who could afford
them.

"Dandyism is a perversion, a heresy of Elegance."

"In reality Dandyism is studied affectation. In becoming a dandy, a man becomes a piece of bedroom furniture, an elaborated stuffed dummy one can position on a horse or on a couch, one who sucks and bites the end of a cane, but never a thinking being..., this never! The man who only sees dress in dressing is a fool. Elegance does not exclude thought or science; it consecrates them!"

-Honore de Balzac

Cheers

Michael

[NJS]

Costi - I am not sure that, in the French sense, the termionology is wrong, after all; please see below.

I think that you are absolutely right about modern games and 'sport'. Such tournaments as he Olympic Games and Wimbledon used to be about amateur sport and professionals were even banned. Of course, in professional games and 'sport', it is all about winning: the trophy, the prize money and, of utmost importance, the sponsorship money from sports' goods manufacturers.

Playing cricket and rugby and football for the honour of representing one's country is no longer enough and that all means that sportsmanship is abandoned along the way; even the experience of losing (which can be a test of Style). A good line from the film 'A Good Year' is that there is more wisdom to be gained in losing than in winning (including the knowledge that it is much better to win). "The secret is not to make a habit of it."

Michael - that last quote gets quite close to the matter, doesn't it. I am sure that 'flâneur' probably doesn't work in English because of the application of the puritan British work ethic: it is not a heedless generalization to say that the British tend to think that, to be 'worthwhile', an endeavour must include piling something up; whether it is piles of bricks or piles of money and anything else is mere indolence and vanity. They recognize Van Gogh now of course because he has become worth money and so now passes the test but in his lifetime he would have been dismissed as a flâneur, in the distorted English sense.

NJS

[Costi]

“I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.”
Rumi

[NJS]

Emerson Senior in A Rooom With A View, to Miss Bartlett, while pointing at his chest with his fork:

"This is where the birds sing. In here!"

NJS

[Rowly]

I am sure that 'flâneur' probably doesn't work in English because of the application of the puritan British work ethic: it is not a heedless generalization to say that the British tend to think that, to be 'worthwhile', an endeavour must include piling something up; whether it is piles of bricks or piles of money and anything else is mere indolence and vanity.

NJS, very nice to hear from you. I think the Alpha Flaneur we refer to is more akin to a Bon Viveur who , being Alpha, has probably fulfilled the endeavours you refer to and has earned his right to live the good life, his style expressing congruence and strength of character. The Bertie Wooster type would then be Beta.

[alden]

No one wins in life, but life can win in everyone.

If one lets it.

Cheers

[alden]

NJS

There was a time when the promenade in the park or boulevard was a way for families to show their success, social rank, spotlight available daughters and sons etc. With the advent of a new and rapacious artistocracy called inland revenue and the like, wealth went underground never to reappear except in places like Monaco or the Bahamas. For the last fifty years, Ostentatious displays have been the perview of those who live above the law, the lunatic fringe of the nouveau riche and those who have nothing. In any case, Balzac ranked the rich along with fops as men whose chances of acceeding to elegance was as likely as an overcoats length of camelhair passing through the eye of a needle.

Cheers

[alden]

Rowley

I do not see a relation between style and accomplishing endeavors or earning a right to the good life, whatever that means.

If Fred Astaire had not been discovered and became a cravat salesman in Hoboken, he would still have had style. He would have delighted anyone who knew him with that style. It just turns out that a lot of us got to enjoy his style because he became well known. Most scarecrows have more style than the lot of successful men who would or should meet the style draft of your Alpha today, they don't. As far as confidence is concerned, there is a big difference between smug and the quiet confidence inherent in style.

Style cannot be purchased. It does not come as an added service with the Platinum card. In this forum we are tryin to figure out how the lucky ones who have it, got it. Get it?

Cheers

[Rowly]

As I said, the style that I refer to has within it

congruence and strength of character.

I did not mention success nor would I be so vulgar as to think along those lines. It has been agreed that the semantics of the definition are vague...just trying to clarify.

the British tend to think that, to be 'worthwhile', an endeavour must include piling something up; whether it is piles of bricks or piles of money and anything else is mere indolence and vanity.

This was not written by me

Most scarecrows have more style than the lot of successful men who would or should meet the style draft of your Alpha today, they don't.

My style draft, as you describe it, as far as I am aware, at no time suggests that success ( I assume you mean financial) is required to have an Alpha personality (although the bill still needs to be paid).Ironically, I had someone like yourself in mind. The very analysis I have been trying to stimulate is the expression of quiet confidence through style. The discussion has been interesting and we have all remained aware of the need to make allowances for vague definitions. But then again, as you say..

... there is a big difference between smug and the quiet confidence inherent in style.

[NJS]

Michael, we certainly need to remember to live as Life gets us all in the end.

Rowly - I think that you are misconstruing what I was saying about the acquisitive British tendencies (nicely exemplified by Soames Forsyte in Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga). I did not mean that one should earn a right to live well. What I meant was this:

‘Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause;
He noblest lives and noblest dies who makes and keeps his self-made laws.
All other Life is living Death, a world where none but Phantoms dwell,
A breath, a wind, a sound, a voice, a tinkling of the camel-bell.’
From The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî ; A Lay of the Higher Law (a pretended translation), by Sir Richard Francis Burton.

best,
NJS

[Rowly]

NJS,

, from none but self expect applause;

Of course !... there is no room in true style for those with a narcissistic need to be admired, nor any form of self apotheosis, in my opinion, which is why I refer to congruence of character.

Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause;
He noblest lives and noblest dies who makes and keeps his self-made laws.

What thy manhood bids thee do comes, I think, from the inner gravity we discussed....who makes and keeps his self made laws..takes responsibility for himself, and is his own man. The self expression of this, he has earned, and of course, this is nothing to do with the material world.

Not for one minute did I think you meant anything other than this, and please forgive me if I gave that impression.

It's always a pleasure (even via the Internet) to exchange ideas with Gentlemen such as yourself, Costi, and others.

I beg to say, that when I use the word, gentleman, I use it in
the sense in which the degree may be attained by any man. The
feelings of a gentleman I hold sacred,
Our Mutual Friend-Dickens

As always, your quotations are most apposite!
Rowly.

[NJS]

Rowly - Burton again: it was from Ariosto, perhaps through Camões, who adopted it, that he took his life motto, “Honour, not honours”—

“’Tis honour, lovely lady, that calls me to the field,
And not a painted eagle upon a painted shield.”

Someone once wisely said that quotations avoid the need for original thought!

Now it's back to the beach!

best,

NJS