Section 94 Entry 0001. Date: 2004 February 20 Friday.
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In the newspaper today there's an article about a woman who married a dead man, and apparently in her country this happens as often as twenty times a year. Legally. And, in the face of this assault by the forces of "truth is stranger than fiction," my first thought was, "Well, what is the poor fiction writer supposed to do in the face of the world like this?"

The country in question is France, and the article, by Craig S. Smith, appears on page 7 of today's International Herald Tribune (as published in Japan) and starts like this:-

It's her attorney, apparently, who is the source of the information that "about 20" such marriages take place in France each year, each individually approved by the president of France.

These marriages can only take place if a prosecutor "determines that the couple had planned to marry before the death and if the parents of the deceased approve".

The posthumous marriages may be for sentimental reasons, as in the case of Christelle Demichel, but:-

It would seem, from that, that the artificial category of "illegitimacy" is still in play in France. (I may be mistaken, but I'm under the impression that, in New Zealand, illegitimacy was done away with thanks to legal reforms undertaken by Geoffrey Palmer ... and rationally so, because a child cannot control the sex lives of its parents, and so, rationally, should not suffer a legal penalty as a consequence.)

Anyway, during the day, as I've been teaching, training and commuting, at odd intervals I've found thoughts of marriages to the dead intruding. There must be fictional possibilities here ....