false 109724 5 If a place is best known by its particulars, then Edmund White is an expert on Paris. Fortunately, he's generous with his secrets: he reveals a Paris not found in any other guide in this first book in the Writer and the City series. White's Paris is seen on foot, as a flâneur, a stroller who aimlessly loses himself in a crowd, going wherever curiosity leads him and collecting impressions along the way. Paris is the perfect city for the flâneur, as every <I>quartier</I> is beautiful and full of rich and surprising delights. But this is no typical tour of monuments and museums; it is much more intimate and surprising. As a flâneur of Paris for 16 years, White knows where to find the very best of everything--silver, sheets, plum slivovitz. He can tell you where to get Tex-Mex surrounded by a dance rehearsal hall, where to rent an entire castle for a party, or even where to get Skippy peanut butter. He eschews the pearl-gray city built by Napoleon and roams the places where the real vitality lives, the teaming <I>quartiers</I> inhabited by Arabs and Asians and Africans, the strange corners, the markets where you can find absolutely anything in this city that accommodates all tastes. White's Paris is a place rich in history with a passion for novelty and distractions. So a walk through the Jewish ghetto leads to the history of the little-known Musée Nissim de Camondo, with its impressive collection of Louis XV and Louis XVI furniture, created by a family of Jewish bankers ultimately killed in the Holocaust. White shares other favorite and obscure museums, such as the Hôtel du Lauzun, where writers like Balzac and Charles Baudelaire and the painter Edouard Manet met for long evenings of music and hashish-induced hallucinations. Reminiscences in Montmartre reach back to the thriving jazz culture created by African Americans in the years between the world wars and include stories about Josephine Baker, Richard Wright, and James Baldwin. While White may ignore Notre Dame, he has fascinating tidbits to share about kings and queens and their heirs who still fight for the throne. The variety of Paris, White remarks, is matched by the voraciousness and passion of its people. With his own remarkable flair, he reveals a thriving and alluring city where tourists rarely tread. <I>--Lesley Reed</I> 846765 3 2001 The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris total:207|5:38|4:85|3:61|2:19|1:4| 207 755 342 39 4 3 false false Sat Oct 18 10:35:14 -0700 2008 Thu Jan 15 09:30:33 -0800 2009
The flane...more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Oct 17 01:55:31 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 17 02:00:55 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Mar 04 05:41:53 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 05:42:11 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jul 20 18:23:17 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 18:26:34 -0700 2009 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, yo...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Oct 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 10:15:17 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 22:12:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Mar 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Feb 14 20:17:17 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 09 14:42:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 02:26:10 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 03:18:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Nov 24 17:20:15 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 17:32:57 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Aug 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 10:52:44 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 11:29:49 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 21 07:25:57 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 21 07:30:21 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Jul 27 11:58:28 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 12:00:07 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun May 10 07:16:13 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 07:19:05 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 30 12:12:26 -0700 2008 Mon May 05 21:34:36 -0700 2008
What was interesting was the White gives voice to a who...more...]]> 0 1 false false Thu Aug 27 18:55:27 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 18:57:06 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Sep 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 20:53:04 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 20:12:56 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Dec 04 05:05:35 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 05 10:31:16 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 09 06:48:02 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 09 06:51:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 17:12:44 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 17:13:18 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Mar 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 23 13:54:37 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 26 03:18:58 -0700 2009 1 0 true false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 18 09:02:05 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 18 09:10:35 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=4699391