Paris Journal, 1956-1964

by Janet Flanner (Genet)

This portrait of a city and an era is drawn from the the author's celebrated "Letter from Paris," a series that appeared in The New Yorker from 1925 to 1975 over the signature "Genêt." Edited by William Shawn; Index.

Genres: Paris, Nonfiction, History, France

316 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 1988

Reviews

[Richard Gorelick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jumped around.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

How can I criticize a book because it has too much information (not in the TMI sense)? Because the writings were not done as a memoir, but in real time, there are masses of detail--chiefly about the struggles of France to extricate itself from Algeria. It turns out that despite the bloody excesses of French forces and the Algerian populace, the greatest physical threat came from disgruntled French officers who loathed the idea of giving up Algeria to Algerians, feeling it was to be French territory for all eternity.
DeGaulle, of course, is a major player in this book. Flanner comments, interestingly, on the quality of the general's French, noting its elegance and quality of being from an earlier era. Pierre Mendes-France, always a heroic figure to me, also figures prominently. Despite these 2 giants, there is a great deal of ink spent on describing lesser figures--all of which helps to explain why a certain level of dictatorship seemed necessary to save France.