[Finished] A Literary Guide to Paris: Strolling Through the Paris of the Past in Your Mind (Shigeru Kashima / Chuokoron-Shinsha)
Book Information
Author: Shigeru Kashima
Publisher: Chuokoron-Shinsha
Publication Year: 2010
Recommendation Rating
★★★★★
Quote
Hugo, a born visionary, was able to board a time machine of imagination, travel back 350 years in an instant, and vividly conjure up Paris during the era of what Huizinga called the 'Autumn of the Middle Ages'.
Notes and Impressions
The book is structured to introduce episodes related to French literature and authors associated with famous Parisian landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Élysées, followed by a one-page overview of each landmark.
Since renowned novelists and playwrights are featured and discussed, the book is packed with information that you wouldn't know just by reading their works, making it a very enjoyable way for French literature lovers to stroll through Paris in their minds.
It also touches well on historical context, so it would likely serve as good teaching material for literature students.
Of course, those who have never read French literature can also enjoy it.
You can enjoy learning about books that feature these landmarks through episodes about places you only know by name, or you can expand your interests by exploring other books by the author. It truly guides you through the city of Paris in a literary way.
Featured Authors
There are many authors featured, and there are several I didn't know. I thought I knew quite a few just by name, but I was nowhere near.
Guillaume Apollinaire
Gérard de Nerval
Marcel Proust
Victor-Marie Hugo
Gaston Leroux
Honoré de Balzac
Alfred Louis Charles de Musset
Alexandre Dumas fils
Émile Zola
Anatole France
Simone de Beauvoir
Francis Carco
André Breton
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Gustave Flaubert
André Paul Guillaume Gide
Alphonse Daudet
Stendhal
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau
Le Comte de Lautréamont
Nicolas Edme Restif de La Bretonne
Eugène Dabit
Alexandre Dumas, père
Zola
Zola's stories feature Les Halles. Les Halles is a district that was formerly the central market of Paris. It is famous for the Church of Saint-Eustache and the Forum des Halles shopping center.
The Church of Saint-Eustache is a district church and is said to be the most graceful church in Paris.
Speaking of Zola, his description in 'The Ladies' Paradise' (Au Bonheur des Dames) from 'The Rougon-Macquart' series is famous, where customers and employees are compared to blood, the central atrium staircase to an artery, and the department store is written as if it were a living creature.
Les Halles is similarly described in 'The Belly of Paris' (Le Ventre de Paris) as the internal organs of a giant creature.
"Now, he heard the long roar emanating from Les Halles. Paris was chewing food for its two million inhabitants. It was like some giant organ, a central organ pulsing violently, sending the blood of life into every vessel."
Although the Les Halles and Paris of today are different from the era Zola depicted, it is also good to compare and view the city and buildings in the midst of modernization that give a somewhat eerie impression with the city that has passed its peak and become calmer and more inorganic.
Jardin du Luxembourg
The Parisian park known as the Jardin du Luxembourg is introduced. It seems the author makes it a rule to stay near the Jardin du Luxembourg when visiting Paris.
The name comes from Luxembourg, as Marie de' Medici bought the land owned by the Duke of Luxembourg and built a palace. The park was created as a garden attached to the palace.
It has a very glamorous history, but in the 19th century, it was treated as a quiet park, and it is said that the people who visited the park were only university students, monks, and the elderly.
In Hugo's "Les Misérables", the elderly and children are also depicted as a set. In addition, it seems the Jardin du Luxembourg became the setting in various works as if to symbolize peace, such as works featuring the elderly like "Le Père Goriot" and works featuring children like "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" (Note: The Japanese title refers to Gide's 'The Fruits of the Earth' or similar, but translating literally as requested).
Did the writers see it with a different flow of time than the city? At the very least, there must have been something compelling about it that made it a setting for literature.
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