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43rd out of 207 books
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The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris
by
Edmund White
Bloomsbury is proud to announce the first title in an occasional series in which some of the world's finest novelists reveal the secrets of the city they know best. These beautifully produced, pocket-sized books will provide exactly what is missing in ordinary travel guides: insights and imagination that lead the reader into those parts of a city no other guide can reach.
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Hardcover, 211 pages
Published
March 21st 2001
by Bloomsbury USA
(first published January 1st 2001)
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Read this little book yesterday on the bus as I was on my way to and from NY to see the Morandi show at the Met and the Eggleston show at the Whitney. Even as I was nodding off on the way back, with the Chipmunks movie loudly broadcast throughout the bus, I couldn't put it down.
The flaneur premise was an ingenious way for White to write anything he felt like about Paris. As I was reading it I could envision a whole flaneur series of books of not only every city in the world but any t...more
The flaneur premise was an ingenious way for White to write anything he felt like about Paris. As I was reading it I could envision a whole flaneur series of books of not only every city in the world but any t...more
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Ahhh. So nice to read a master of the sentence. My only problem with this is that it's unifying principle, flaneury, doesn't really unify it. I couldn't put it down though. He's a master of the essay. Also, it purports to be a book about a city (Paris). It is more a book of spotty, thematically organized artistic and sexual histories. Graceful and hilarious. Anecdotal, well-researched, a dessert book.
Wow, I just finished this book yesterday. Roslyn Raney gave it to me as a gift in 2008,I was not interested in reading it then but happened to pull it off my bookshelf two weeks ago and it has been a fun ride. I have never been to Paris but this book gave me a birds's eye view from so many perspectives as the flaneur is apparently a person who strolls about observing the intricacies of public life. The author, Edmund White, is an American who lived in Paris for many years. He describes Paris...more
Emmy
is currently reading it
Yes, another book I am reading along with the other ones. It's best to read this on the subway, not in bed before sleep. It's possible that I'll somehow begin to like Baudelaire, whom White mentions, after reading this book.
A bit pretentious and often unintentionally intimidating--the title is a forewarning in and of itself: who "strolls" through paradoxes, non? Yet, "The Flaneur" is one of the most fascinating books written on the teeming vibrancy of Paris if simply because it addresses what so, so many books on Paris do not: how much of that vibrancy is due to outsider/borderland culture, not native Parisians, and where traces of that culture can still be found. Much of White's descriptions of...more
“And no wonder Paris, land of novelty and distraction, is the great city of the flaneur – that aimless stroller who loses himself in the crowd, who has no destination and goes wherever caprice or curiosity dictates his or her steps.”
What is there to say about Paris that has not already been said? Ask any person on the street and he will tell you Paris is the best. And the worst. Alive. And dying. But when one is asked to write about Paris, one must. And thus this book. White uses the...more
What is there to say about Paris that has not already been said? Ask any person on the street and he will tell you Paris is the best. And the worst. Alive. And dying. But when one is asked to write about Paris, one must. And thus this book. White uses the...more
I chose this book from the title alone, and it lived up to the expectations. Like the flaneur himself, this book ambles gently and easily through Paris in all it's modes - historical, "current" (at least based on the author's term there in the 80s), philosophical, and cultural. He treats the less attractive sides of living in Paris with the same matter-of-fact curiosity as it's more delightful. A great book for those who know and love Paris, or those who want to visit vicariously and s...more
I was fortunate to have been given this book as a gift from my amazing boss, the day I left for Paris. However, it was unfortunate that I didn't read most of on the plane, before I landed. My time in Paris would not have been any less enjoyable, but it would have been more insightful and quaint. That's pretty much how I found The Flaneur. Not to diminish the visible work and research that Edmund White put into this short piece of non-fiction, but White saunters through the history and streets of...more
From http://lanew-yorkaise.com/
“For the perfect flâneur, for the passionate observer, it’s an immense pleasure to take up residence in multiplicity, in whatever’s seething, moving, evanescent and infinite: you’re not at home, but you feel at home everywhere, you see everyone, you’re at the center of everything yet you remain hidden from everybody…The amateur of life enters into the crowd as into an immense reservoir of electricity.”
-Charles Baudelaire
...more
“For the perfect flâneur, for the passionate observer, it’s an immense pleasure to take up residence in multiplicity, in whatever’s seething, moving, evanescent and infinite: you’re not at home, but you feel at home everywhere, you see everyone, you’re at the center of everything yet you remain hidden from everybody…The amateur of life enters into the crowd as into an immense reservoir of electricity.”
-Charles Baudelaire
...more
Aptly subtitled “A Stroll though the Paradoxes of Paris”, White’s first travelogue –according to my recollection, as all of his work I’ve read to date have been fiction – meanders its way through Paris past and present A virtual mind-walk through the City of Lights, this is. He starts off this slender volume (best read on a rainy weekend afternoon) by criticizing the current state of Gallic affairs.
"…Paris itself has become a cultural backwater. There aren’t more than two or thr...more
"…Paris itself has become a cultural backwater. There aren’t more than two or thr...more
Flânerie as explicated by Edmund White is less about actual locomotion than the exploratory urge, the quest to investigate the cracks within the city, specifically Paris. He details the flâneur as a distinctly Parisian creation, drawing upon the city's nuances and dichotomies, its ethnic character, literary and artistic traditions, and the nature of the Parisians themselves.
This is not a book about walking in Paris, and yet, that is all it concerns. The stroll White takes us on t...more
This is not a book about walking in Paris, and yet, that is all it concerns. The stroll White takes us on t...more
For anyone who is interested in that masterpiece of cities, Paris, I highly recommend this little book. It is highly selective, deliberately highlighting places that do not typically appear in guidebooks. The majority of the book deals with several disparate groups of people who have found refuge in the City of Lights: (1) Afro-Americans; (2) Jews; (3) gays; and (4) royalists and/or monarchists. There is also a chapter dedicated to the Musée Gustave Moreau on the Right Bank and the Hôtel de Lauz...more
The bottom line might be that I'm just not very good at non-fiction. Memoir is the exception, but probably only because it reads like fiction. In The Flaneur, White takes readers through dark corners and forgotten alley-ways of Paris -- through scandal, through decay, and through memory. For a particularly passionate francophile, this might be an ideal book, as White presents things that the average American visiting Paris would never see or know. He discusses how race has changed in Paris, how ...more
This booked surprised me in a good way. When I picked it up I thought it would be another one of those sentimental pieces about how amazing Paris is. It is, sort of, but Edmund White is closely attuned to the contradictions of French society and the social and political injustices that have shaped it and shaped Paris. This becomes the book's strength, because it's not what you expect a piece called "The Flaneur" to be about. In fact, Paris the city hardly figures at all in some chapter...more
I loved this little gem of a book, part of Bloomsbury's Writer and the City series. Although the title "The Flaneur" suggests some sort of journey through the sights of Paris, from the famous to hidden nooks known only to Parisian denizens, it really is more an account of the city's lesser known stories and history. From the African American and Jewish presence in Paris, to the more esoteric of Parisian museums beloved by White (the Gustave Moreau museum and the Hotel de Lauzun), the g...more
If Goodreads allowed you to do 1/2 stars, I'd give this one a 3.5. I've read some of Edmund White's fiction, so I expected the book to be well written and interesting. And, maybe I'm being greedy, but somehow I wanted more from him.
What was interesting was the White gives voice to a whole host of people that live "in the margins" in Paris. He gives us an interesting mix of history and his personal observations about what it means to be a woman, a man, a foreigner, a transv...more
What was interesting was the White gives voice to a whole host of people that live "in the margins" in Paris. He gives us an interesting mix of history and his personal observations about what it means to be a woman, a man, a foreigner, a transv...more
I loved this book. It was a perfect mix of art/music/random knowledge history from around the turn of the century and the author's experience of living in Paris during the 20 years he spent there. Some parts are odd, when he randomly gets into talking about the history/struggles of homosexuality--I think he devotes an entire chapter to it (he happens to be homosexual) but other than that, which was STILL interesting to read about, the book was captivating.
I felt like I was reading a...more
I felt like I was reading a...more
Eine wirkliche "Gebrauchsanweisung" für Paris ist das Buch von Edmund White nicht. Es bietet ein paar mehr oder weniger interessante literarisch-historische Ausflüge, denen man in den seltensten Fällen intensiver nachgehen kann als sich vor die entsprechende Hausnummer einer Strasse zu stellen. Im Vordergrund steht für White das schwule Paris und neben seinen Anekdoten, die sich fast immer darauf beziehen, bei welchen wichtigen Parisern und Pariserinnen er schon zu Gast war, bietet er ...more
My very favorite book about Paris to read when I'm in Paris, and to follow as much as possible in its footsteps.
I was on a book tour in the 80s at the same time the author Edmund White was touring his "State of Desire," and we appeared in a few common events. I remember thinking this was my favorite contemporary look at gay life in America I had read to date. Now... all these years later, I get ready to go the Paris, with an armful of "guides," and White's book on the art of the "flaneuse" is heaven-sent. He has a way of capturing a city and its community and history like no...more
Whenever I'm lucky enough to travel I make a point of reading something about the place. I read this in Paris in a tiny flat on the rue Lepic (#9). A love letter to White's adopted city, it allowed me to look at everything around me with a critical eye. His descriptions are lush, raw, and an education.
I was saved me from a major faux pas by reading that the French consider bringing a bottle of wine to a dinner party to be rude. It sends a subtle message that the hosts wine cellar isn't...more
I was saved me from a major faux pas by reading that the French consider bringing a bottle of wine to a dinner party to be rude. It sends a subtle message that the hosts wine cellar isn't...more
In this small easily consumed volume, White uses a flaneur's stroll through various Paris neighborhoods as the framework to tell stories and histories linked to each place. His choice of subjects is varied and what I found most interesting was his focus on traditionally marginalized groups and their relationship with the city.
Mais efetivo como um conjunto de anedotas interessantes do que como uma homenagem a Flânerie.
A small and delicious morsel.
Edmund White doesn't show us Paris, or even his Paris. Instead of focusing on one or a couple of characters he rolls through about 30 a six-inch page and the only impression you get is that Paris must be a crowd of stalkers, and that White's def of a "big city" is a big place with crowds of stalkers. He even fails his one goal, which is, I think, to describe how ambiguous Parisian sexual orientation is, because instead of the kaleidoscope-effect that I think he's going for he shows P...more
A trifle I breezed through last night and this morning, but even the least of Edmund White is worth the read. I've always liked how his tone does justice to the seaminess and the poignant meaning of any human scene he's describing. He's lurid and wise at once, relishing the dirty details while telling you how brave and beautiful it all is. So an ideal travel writer, really. His 'States of Desire: Travels in Gay America' is out of print; snatch it up unhesitatingly if you stumble across a copy.
Flâneur has no direct English equivalent (stroller or saunterer do not even come close), and the author tries to echo the added French meaning of leisurely discovery and serendipity in the manner he describes this corner or that person (all associated with Paris, of course). Somewhat entertaining, somewhat uneven, but always easy to read. Most useful, perhaps, is the author's last chapter spent on describing the books on Paris he read in order to finish his sketches.
My dream has always been to be a flanneur in Paris and through this book I have been, several times or more. No joking: I love to walk the streets of the city (as a New Yorker, I guess I'm more Alfred Kazin but as a dreamer-who HAS been to Paris-I'm a flanneur and I live in the 1920's on the Left Bank. Edmund White is a lush writer and his style matches his subject here perfectly. If you love Paris, at least in your dreams, you'll always have it here.
I flew through this small book in a few hours and very much enjoyed it. Having recently been to Paris, it was a nice accoutrement for remembering certain impressions and neighborhoods, and a reminder that to actually experience Paris takes not days or months but years. Stories of families, artists, kings, politicians, noblemen and whores, and the neighborhoods attached to their histories, told in White's remarkable prose. Worth the read.
Read in Paris - wonderful insights into the various areas of the city not usually explored.
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Edmund White's novels include Fanny: A Fiction, A Boy's Own Story, The Farewell Symphony, and A Married Man. He is also the author of a biography of Jean Genet, a study of Marcel Proust, The Flâneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris, and, most recently, his memoir, My Lives. Having lived in Paris for many years, he is now a New Yorker and teaches at Princeton University.
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