Paris was ours : thirty-two writers reflect on the city of light / edited by Penelope Rowlands.
Material type:
TextPublication details: Chapel Hill, N.C. : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2011.Edition: 1st edDescription: xvi, 279 p. ; 21 cmISBN: - 1565129539 (pbk.)
- 9781565129535 (pbk.)
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
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Main Library | NonFiction | 944.361 P232 | Available | 33111006343863 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Thirty-two writers share their observations and revelations about the world's most seductive city.
"Whether you have lived in Paris or not, this captivating collection will transport you there." --National Geographic Traveler
Paris is "the world capital of memory and desire," concludes one of the writers in this intimate and insightful collection of memoirs of the city. Living in Paris changed these writers forever.
In thirty-two personal essays--more than half of which are here published for the first time--the writers describe how they were seduced by Paris and then began to see things differently. They came to write, to cook, to find love, to study, to raise children, to escape, or to live the way it's done in French movies; they came from the United States, Canada, and England; from Iran, Iraq, and Cuba; and--a few--from other parts of France. And they stayed, not as tourists, but for a long time; some are still living there. They were outsiders who became insiders, who here share their observations and revelations. Some are well-known writers: Diane Johnson, David Sedaris, Judith Thurman, Joe Queenan, and Edmund White. Others may be lesser known but are no less passionate on the subject.
Together, their reflections add up to an unusually perceptive and multifaceted portrait of a city that is entrancing, at times exasperating, but always fascinating. They remind us that Paris belongs to everyone it has touched, and to each in a different way.
Introduction : L'Arrivée -- L'Argent is no object / Véronique Vienne -- Learning French ways / Diane Johnson -- Becoming a Parisian / Walter Wells -- Love without reason / Caroline Weber -- Keep your distance / Samuel Shimon -- Friends of my youth / Joe Queenan -- Fledgling days / Valerie Steiker -- The tapeworm is in / David Sedaris -- My bookstore high / Jeremy Mercer -- Chantal's gift / Mark Gaito -- My day with Mr. D. / Alice Kaplan -- Parenting, French-style / Janine de Giovanni -- Deal with it / Patric Kuh -- Two Paris poems / C.K. Williams -- Understanding chic / Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni -- It's my home, that's all / Julie Lacoste -- Just another American / Janet McDonald -- Toward a politics of quality of life / Judith Warner -- Out of the revolution / Roxane Farmanfarmaian -- My literary Paris / Lily Tuck -- The tribulations of a Cuban girl in Paris / Zoé Valdés -- Montparnasse and beyond / Richard Armstrong -- Guillaume á Paris / Judith Thurman -- Ma vie bohéme -- Karen Schur -- A mild hell / Edmund White -- The sky is metallic / Alicia Drake -- In Franklin's footsteps / Stacy Schiff -- Litost / Brigid Dorsey -- La bourdonneuse / Noelle Oxenhandler -- Paris is gone, all gone / Marcelle Clements -- Enfin / David Lebovitz -- Le départ / Penelope Rowlands.