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Writer and the City
Gebrauchsanweisung für Paris
The Barnes & Noble ReviewThe Paris of The Flâneur -- loosely translated as one who strolls, seemingly without purpose or set destination -- is a return to the familiar in more ways than one for Edmund White. After having spent the better part of two decades living and writing in la ville de la lumière before coming back to the U.S. in 1998, White knows his subject with an intimacy that is enviable and effortless. His first nonfiction work about the city, Our Sketches from Memory, was published in 1995; and in his latest and finest novel, The Married Man, the city assumes its own weight of character. Indeed, The Flâneur can -- and perhaps should -- be read as a companion piece to the novel, or vice versa; the wonderful synergy of story and place between the works greatly enhances two already thought-provoking reads.The Flâneur deserves its own applause. White's celebration of loitering as the best and truest form of travel discovery will resonate with anyone who has ever dared to toss away a tourist office map or "wasted" an afternoon people-watching. Under his tutelage, we encounter the relatively undiscovered haunts and untold stories of the artists and writers, tycoons and spendthrifts, immigrants and royals who have shaped modern Parisian -- and European -- culture.White uses his skills as a polished writer, erudite gossip, and intellectual magpie (indeed, the impressive and useful informal bibliography "Further Reading" section of the book validates the quicksilver breadth of White's research) to bring us along with him arm-in-arm on his rambles. A walk around the jazz-drenched fringes of Montmartre finds White sharing energetic cameos of African-American expatriates such as Josephine Baker (the recipient of 2,000 marriage proposals within two years of hitting the town) and musician Sidney Bechet (unknown at home but an icon of success in France, complete with wife, mistress, and two mansions.) A stop at an unremarkable rue de Rivoli café leads White into a hotbed of antirepublican/proroyalist political sentiment, complete with modern-day dissolute, bankrupt dukes and wild allegations of ski slope beheadings.White does presume a certain sophistication among his audience while disclosing these city secrets. From winking at his readers' familiarity with the effects of hashish while recounting the fascinating past lives of the Hôtel de Lauzun, (onetime residence of Cardinal Mazarin's grand-niece -- whose father, incidentally, had her front teeth pulled in an unsuccessful attempt to stave off marriage proposals -- and later, the affected and afflicted poet Baudelaire) to candid discussions of his own experiences cruising the city's lesser-known gay meeting spots, there is a level of intimacy here that is not typically found in other travelogues.The Flâneur is the opening work in a new Bloomsbury Publishing series called The Writer and the City. If the irresistible combination of White's dapper prose and his utterly engaging revelations of a Paris where tour buses fear to tread are anything to go by, readers can certainly look forward to more delights from this imprint. (Janet Dudley)Janet Dudley is a freelance travel writer and travel agent based in upstate New York.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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3430 people want to read
About the author
Edmund White
136 books902 followersEdmund Valentine White III was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. He was the recipient of Lambda Literary's Visionary Award, the National Book Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction. France made him Chevalier (and later Officier) de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1993.
White was known as a groundbreaking writer of gay literature and a major influence on gay American literature and has been called "the first major queer novelist to champion a new generation of writers."
White was known as a groundbreaking writer of gay literature and a major influence on gay American literature and has been called "the first major queer novelist to champion a new generation of writers."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 248 reviews
June 16, 2012
The Flaneur
I first became familiar with the word “Flaneur” when a collection of Walter Benjamin’s writings called “The Arcade Projects” was published in 1999.
It included a 1929 review called “The Return of the Flâneur”.
In it, Benjamin speculates on the significance of the “Flaneur”, a French word meaning “stroller” or “saunterer”.
It describes someone who walks the street, apparently idly, not intending to simply get from point A to point B, but seeking more to observe and experience the street and its surroundings.
In Paris, not only does the Flaneur experience the streets or boulevards, he explores the shop-lined arcades that radiate off them and join other streets.
What the Flaneur observes is the full diversity and complexity of modern life in the city.
Seeing Beyond the Crowd
The Flaneur is a spectator who joins the crowd that is moving with intent, but he remains somehow separate from it.
He is both in the crowd and detached from it. He is both an individual and a member of society.
He is both a participant and an observer, a witness to the sometimes opposing forces of tradition and modernity.
Where these forces are in conflict, the Flaneur detects the paradoxes that result from their co-existence.
The Flaneur sees both interaction and flux.
"A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris"
This is the sub-title of Edmund White’s non-fiction work.
Outwardly, it presents itself as a guidebook to the culturally aware tourist.
It starts tantalizingly:
"Paris is a big city, in the sense that London and New York are big cities and that Rome is a village, Los Angeles a collection of villages and Zurich a backwater."
I like the hint of argumentativeness and controversy planted in this otherwise innocuous first sentence.
He then quotes a “reckless friend” who defines a big city as “a place where there are blacks, tall buildings and you can stay up all night” (although he admits that Paris is deficient in tall buildings).
In the Footsteps of the Flaneur
While I didn’t really appreciate it at the time, White was already starting to flirt with our expectations of a travel guide.
I just knew him as one of the world’s greatest gay writers and a formidable intellect and writer of any gender or sexual persuasion.
However, superficially, there was no intimation that this would affect his approach to his subject matter.
Curious, I flicked quickly through the contents of the book.
There were no photos or illustrations, the six chapters bore numbers rather than headings, and, shock, shock, there were no sub-headings in the body of the text.
This guide consisted solely of thoughts and observations, all conveyed by words alone.
Still, I was already seduced and captivated by these words.
So I innocently walked up behind Monsieur White and followed him on his stroll.
How was I to know where he would lead me?
Cruising the Margins and Cracks of Paris
Of course, where he took me was to the places where you could find the true character and secrets of Paris, the City not just of Light, but of Light, Darkness and Shade, a city where the Past, Present and Future live side by side, awaiting the Flaneur.
What follows is a highly individual, informed, informative and affectionate tour through Paris’ intellectualism, sophistication, variety, foreigners, Jews, Arabs, blacks, gays, dandies, artists, jazz musicians, royalty, royalists, monarchists, town houses, temples, cathedrals, palaces and museums.
While White sings the praises of Paris’ boulevards and grand design, it’s in the cracks that he finds “those little forgotten places that appeal to the Flaneur, the traces left by people living in the margin – Jews, blacks, gays, Arabs – or mementoes of an earlier, more chaotic and medieval France.”
Paris as Palimpsest
Paris is a work of art which is being constantly altered and added to, but scratch the surface and you will find that it is a palimpsest that reveals the former work that still resides below.
It is the role of the Flaneur to impose a personal vision on this palimpsest, to use it not so much as a source of abstract or dry knowledge, but to create from it a picture or record of experience, a collection of impressions or mental snapshots or “instantanee”, of life lived and still being lived.
Paris as Refuge
Paris accommodates all tastes, from the most extravagant and luxe to the most commonplace, but it also accommodates life’s fugitives, those who are marginalized in other parts of the world.
People who are scorned or cast out from elsewhere are welcome here.
They put down roots and they start to grow and create, paradoxically within a short distance from cathedrals, palaces and museums, the institutions by which we know Paris.
Ultimately, it’s these people who hold the greatest interest for White, not to mention the objects they surround themselves with and the record of their existence and their experience:
"...these mental snapshots, these instantanees of fugitive life, these curving banisters and lacquered portals, these cold, empty quays beside the Seine where someone under a bridge is playing a saxophone – all the priceless but free memories only waiting for a Flaneur to make them his own."
Be Your Own Flaneur
We are lucky that Edmund White was one such Flaneur, because in making these memories his own and writing about them, he has also made them ours.
However, I won't be content to be an armchair Flaneur.
One day soon, December, 2012, I hope to be a Flaneur strolling down the boulevards of Paris.
I’m sure there will be a few paradoxes waiting there for me to discover.
I might even incorporate some of my instantanee as appendages to my review.
Meanwhile, I'm getting in as much strolling practice as I can.
Galerie:
Here is a YouTube video reading of Walter Benjamin's discussion of Flaneurs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6-weV...
Here is a little flanerie (well, sort of):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZes-V...
And some photos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi2Au1...
I first became familiar with the word “Flaneur” when a collection of Walter Benjamin’s writings called “The Arcade Projects” was published in 1999.
It included a 1929 review called “The Return of the Flâneur”.
In it, Benjamin speculates on the significance of the “Flaneur”, a French word meaning “stroller” or “saunterer”.
It describes someone who walks the street, apparently idly, not intending to simply get from point A to point B, but seeking more to observe and experience the street and its surroundings.
In Paris, not only does the Flaneur experience the streets or boulevards, he explores the shop-lined arcades that radiate off them and join other streets.
What the Flaneur observes is the full diversity and complexity of modern life in the city.
Seeing Beyond the Crowd
The Flaneur is a spectator who joins the crowd that is moving with intent, but he remains somehow separate from it.
He is both in the crowd and detached from it. He is both an individual and a member of society.
He is both a participant and an observer, a witness to the sometimes opposing forces of tradition and modernity.
Where these forces are in conflict, the Flaneur detects the paradoxes that result from their co-existence.
The Flaneur sees both interaction and flux.
"A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris"
This is the sub-title of Edmund White’s non-fiction work.
Outwardly, it presents itself as a guidebook to the culturally aware tourist.
It starts tantalizingly:
"Paris is a big city, in the sense that London and New York are big cities and that Rome is a village, Los Angeles a collection of villages and Zurich a backwater."
I like the hint of argumentativeness and controversy planted in this otherwise innocuous first sentence.
He then quotes a “reckless friend” who defines a big city as “a place where there are blacks, tall buildings and you can stay up all night” (although he admits that Paris is deficient in tall buildings).
In the Footsteps of the Flaneur
While I didn’t really appreciate it at the time, White was already starting to flirt with our expectations of a travel guide.
I just knew him as one of the world’s greatest gay writers and a formidable intellect and writer of any gender or sexual persuasion.
However, superficially, there was no intimation that this would affect his approach to his subject matter.
Curious, I flicked quickly through the contents of the book.
There were no photos or illustrations, the six chapters bore numbers rather than headings, and, shock, shock, there were no sub-headings in the body of the text.
This guide consisted solely of thoughts and observations, all conveyed by words alone.
Still, I was already seduced and captivated by these words.
So I innocently walked up behind Monsieur White and followed him on his stroll.
How was I to know where he would lead me?
Cruising the Margins and Cracks of Paris
Of course, where he took me was to the places where you could find the true character and secrets of Paris, the City not just of Light, but of Light, Darkness and Shade, a city where the Past, Present and Future live side by side, awaiting the Flaneur.
What follows is a highly individual, informed, informative and affectionate tour through Paris’ intellectualism, sophistication, variety, foreigners, Jews, Arabs, blacks, gays, dandies, artists, jazz musicians, royalty, royalists, monarchists, town houses, temples, cathedrals, palaces and museums.
While White sings the praises of Paris’ boulevards and grand design, it’s in the cracks that he finds “those little forgotten places that appeal to the Flaneur, the traces left by people living in the margin – Jews, blacks, gays, Arabs – or mementoes of an earlier, more chaotic and medieval France.”
Paris as Palimpsest
Paris is a work of art which is being constantly altered and added to, but scratch the surface and you will find that it is a palimpsest that reveals the former work that still resides below.
It is the role of the Flaneur to impose a personal vision on this palimpsest, to use it not so much as a source of abstract or dry knowledge, but to create from it a picture or record of experience, a collection of impressions or mental snapshots or “instantanee”, of life lived and still being lived.
Paris as Refuge
Paris accommodates all tastes, from the most extravagant and luxe to the most commonplace, but it also accommodates life’s fugitives, those who are marginalized in other parts of the world.
People who are scorned or cast out from elsewhere are welcome here.
They put down roots and they start to grow and create, paradoxically within a short distance from cathedrals, palaces and museums, the institutions by which we know Paris.
Ultimately, it’s these people who hold the greatest interest for White, not to mention the objects they surround themselves with and the record of their existence and their experience:
"...these mental snapshots, these instantanees of fugitive life, these curving banisters and lacquered portals, these cold, empty quays beside the Seine where someone under a bridge is playing a saxophone – all the priceless but free memories only waiting for a Flaneur to make them his own."
Be Your Own Flaneur
We are lucky that Edmund White was one such Flaneur, because in making these memories his own and writing about them, he has also made them ours.
However, I won't be content to be an armchair Flaneur.
One day soon, December, 2012, I hope to be a Flaneur strolling down the boulevards of Paris.
I’m sure there will be a few paradoxes waiting there for me to discover.
I might even incorporate some of my instantanee as appendages to my review.
Meanwhile, I'm getting in as much strolling practice as I can.
Galerie:
Here is a YouTube video reading of Walter Benjamin's discussion of Flaneurs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6-weV...
Here is a little flanerie (well, sort of):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZes-V...
And some photos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi2Au1...
January 15, 2022
I was not surprised, after reading this, to discover a book called ‘Flâneuse’ by Lauren Elkin. Lucy Scholes comments in her Guardian review of that book: “Women lacked access to the city streets that their male counterparts took for granted, reduced instead to mere objects upon which the flâneur’s gaze alighted and delighted.”
Despite Edmund White’s default ‘male gaze’, his subtitled ‘Stroll through the Paradoxes of Paris’ is a remarkable overview of the diverse and marginalised people and cultures of Paris, all of which have left their mark on the City of Light, whether a forgotten building, a surprising piece of architecture or art, or a local flavour of food that carries with it echoes of home:
Despite a few glitches, Baron Haussmann’s concept of a uniform Paris laid out along the most imperial lines has triumphed – a Paris that is efficient, clean, modern and always impressive. But in the cracks are those little forgotten places that appeal to the flaneur, the traces left by people living in the margin – Jews, blacks, gays, Arabs – or mementoes of an earlier, more chaotic and medieval France.
It is interesting that White references his own 2000 novel ‘The Married Man’ “as a paean to contemporary Paris.” That is the one novel of his I have been unable to read; it is a very French novel in its inscrutability and lack of any desire to get anywhere quickly. Obviously, that is highly objective; I will return to it in the light of ‘The Flâneur’, and more than likely be hopelessly charmed by it.
White is perhaps one of the most culturally attuned and refined gay writers at work today (there is a fascinating discussion about why that term does not even exist in French literary circles). He is always one of the bawdiest, smuttiest and most generous of writers. All of these qualities are magnificently on display in ‘The Flâneur’.
Despite Edmund White’s default ‘male gaze’, his subtitled ‘Stroll through the Paradoxes of Paris’ is a remarkable overview of the diverse and marginalised people and cultures of Paris, all of which have left their mark on the City of Light, whether a forgotten building, a surprising piece of architecture or art, or a local flavour of food that carries with it echoes of home:
Despite a few glitches, Baron Haussmann’s concept of a uniform Paris laid out along the most imperial lines has triumphed – a Paris that is efficient, clean, modern and always impressive. But in the cracks are those little forgotten places that appeal to the flaneur, the traces left by people living in the margin – Jews, blacks, gays, Arabs – or mementoes of an earlier, more chaotic and medieval France.
It is interesting that White references his own 2000 novel ‘The Married Man’ “as a paean to contemporary Paris.” That is the one novel of his I have been unable to read; it is a very French novel in its inscrutability and lack of any desire to get anywhere quickly. Obviously, that is highly objective; I will return to it in the light of ‘The Flâneur’, and more than likely be hopelessly charmed by it.
White is perhaps one of the most culturally attuned and refined gay writers at work today (there is a fascinating discussion about why that term does not even exist in French literary circles). He is always one of the bawdiest, smuttiest and most generous of writers. All of these qualities are magnificently on display in ‘The Flâneur’.
December 24, 2021
The American writer Edmund White (b. 1940) stayed in Paris from 1983 to 1998, long enough to get to know the Parisian 'morals and customs' well. His approach is original: that of the 'flaneur', a thoroughly French concept that can be interpreted as 'walking around without a goal'. White refers to Walter Benjamin, among others, who rightly pointed out that the flaneur is more focussed on experiencing than on gaining knowledge. Yet, contrary to this, in this little book White overwhelms us with a plethora of tidbits. He introduces us to the enormous diversity that Paris has to offer and scans all possible known Latin Americans, Arabs and especially black Americans who have ever lived and grown famous in the City of Light. Also, beautiful portraits of French natives such as Colette and Baudelaire are on offer.
Anyone who expects this book to be a real city guide, with tips and walking routes, is going to be disappointed; that would also go against the principles of the ‘flaneur’. One exception, though: White does elaborate on the gay scene and the rendezvous- and 'cruising' places (and it strikes me once again that gay authors barely pay attention to congeners like, for instance, the lesbian community). In a way this booklet also is an introduction to France in general. White offers interesting reflections on how the French treat minorities in general. He points out that while there is a high degree of tolerance in France (although I think this surely has been declining in recent years), rabid French republicanism tends to accept only one identity (the famous 'laïcité'), and thus bulldozing all minority groups into the background. It's a justified remark, that exposes both the strengths and the weaknesses of French culture!
Anyone who expects this book to be a real city guide, with tips and walking routes, is going to be disappointed; that would also go against the principles of the ‘flaneur’. One exception, though: White does elaborate on the gay scene and the rendezvous- and 'cruising' places (and it strikes me once again that gay authors barely pay attention to congeners like, for instance, the lesbian community). In a way this booklet also is an introduction to France in general. White offers interesting reflections on how the French treat minorities in general. He points out that while there is a high degree of tolerance in France (although I think this surely has been declining in recent years), rabid French republicanism tends to accept only one identity (the famous 'laïcité'), and thus bulldozing all minority groups into the background. It's a justified remark, that exposes both the strengths and the weaknesses of French culture!
December 14, 2023
A thoroughly engaging and enjoyable book but with only the most tenuous of connections to the idea of flaneurie, which is used as an excuse or justification for episodic narratives about diverse aspects of the Parisian landscape. The source of multiple suggestions for further reading of undeniable value to the Parisophile and a virtuoso performance in its own right, but four stars rather than five for the misleading premise.
January 15, 2009
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 thing any person.
Masterfully written. Goes down like a sweetly complex aperitif. Delicious!
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 thing any person.
Masterfully written. Goes down like a sweetly complex aperitif. Delicious!
January 11, 2011
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.
Read
January 1, 2021Ένα βιβλίο ανάλαφρο κι ευχάριστο όσο κι ένας πραγματικός περίπατος στις κρυφές ή φανερές ομορφιές του Παρισιού. Ο Edmund White ως γνήσιος κοσμοπολίτης μας παίρνει τρυφερά και γενναιόδωρα από το χέρι και μας μυεί στην υψηλή τέχνη του flaneur. Το Παρίσι του, πολύχρωμο και πολύβουο, πολυτελές και ταπεινό, είναι το πραγματικό παρίσι του χτες, του σήμερα και του αύριο και δε μπορείς παρά να το λατρέψεις.
August 11, 2021
Summary: Cute book that is like walking through Paris with a local who shares their vision. Adorable and perfect for my trip to Paris.
It was fate that this was in the laundry room. A few moments in the book, I wanted to keep for myself:
p. 14: He talks about the idea you can buy anything and Paris and then goes through the things that you can buy. how wonderful! He claims the best silver is Puiforcat and the best sheet are Noel and Pourthault. The best florist Lachaume.
I also am inspired by his love for the best public library system. Need to add that to the list, avid reader that I am.
p. 84, he goes through a bit of politics about Le Pen. Interesting for us outsiders.
p. 113, he talks about all the museums of Paris. There are loads of little museums to check out and names a few that are under the radar, but with unique histories.
p. 116, he describes why Paris has moved from being a center of art sales. It has to do with the manner in which the French gov can stop the sale of art, something done post-WWII because of the issues associated with Art and the Jewish community of that time. It's actually quite beautiful what was done, though it has sucked for the industry.
p. 152. He talks about the history of homosexualism. Astolphe de Constine's history is described. . Very cool.
Really, a very cute little book that anyone en route to Paris will enjoy.
It was fate that this was in the laundry room. A few moments in the book, I wanted to keep for myself:
p. 14: He talks about the idea you can buy anything and Paris and then goes through the things that you can buy. how wonderful! He claims the best silver is Puiforcat and the best sheet are Noel and Pourthault. The best florist Lachaume.
I also am inspired by his love for the best public library system. Need to add that to the list, avid reader that I am.
p. 84, he goes through a bit of politics about Le Pen. Interesting for us outsiders.
p. 113, he talks about all the museums of Paris. There are loads of little museums to check out and names a few that are under the radar, but with unique histories.
p. 116, he describes why Paris has moved from being a center of art sales. It has to do with the manner in which the French gov can stop the sale of art, something done post-WWII because of the issues associated with Art and the Jewish community of that time. It's actually quite beautiful what was done, though it has sucked for the industry.
p. 152. He talks about the history of homosexualism. Astolphe de Constine's history is described. . Very cool.
Really, a very cute little book that anyone en route to Paris will enjoy.
April 25, 2018
What a wonderful book to read as I vacationed in France. When I was in Paris I would read in the Luxembourg gardens and discover new places to visit and new thoughts to think as I walked along. Particularly wonderful was White's pointing me in the direction of the Musee Nissim de Camondo on the edge of Park Monceau.
July 31, 2018
A flâneur is always open to diversion. He lives in the knowledge that the direct line between A+B is seldom the most interesting.
In this book, White, the compleat flâneur, shares his discovery of a city that offers rich rewards for any who practice the art. Along the way, White explores not only geographical spots (many off the beaten path) but also people who live on the margin—Jews, blacks, gays, Arabs and even members of the competing sects of royalists and monarchists.
This urbane book was the perfect companion on my way to revisit Paris for the first time in over thirty years.
In this book, White, the compleat flâneur, shares his discovery of a city that offers rich rewards for any who practice the art. Along the way, White explores not only geographical spots (many off the beaten path) but also people who live on the margin—Jews, blacks, gays, Arabs and even members of the competing sects of royalists and monarchists.
This urbane book was the perfect companion on my way to revisit Paris for the first time in over thirty years.
May 22, 2024
The Flâneur is one who strolls aimlessly about without a destination in mind, wanders wherever curiosity strikes at the moment. This book replicates this approach, at least for the author. It wanders aimlessly through some curiosities in Paris, with a bit of French history, settling mostly on the culture of Paris, discussing artists: writers, painters, musicians, and others.
The first chapter is a general sort of overview of Paris, all the weird things that could be found or done there (such as a wife swap club), and of course the fashion. There are also some spots pointed out, cafés and through this meandering land on Collette, a leading woman writer in the 1920s, who was full of contradictions.
The next chapter begins wandering about touching on varied subjects, then lands on African Americans in Paris, how their experience of racism was completely different, and much more accepted. This morphs into jazz musicians with some details about Bricktop, Bechet and Josephine Baker.
And so we meander through the book on varied topics, history of Jewish people in France and Paris, with particulars on some people, multitude of museums, Hôtel de Lauzun in particular and Baudelaire, and gay culture and writers in another chapter. The last chapter discusses royalty, the descendants of the old Kings and Queens who where banned from living in France, and what they have been up to since the beheading of King Loius XVI and Marie Antoinette.
My personal interest in these varied subjects ran the gamut. If I read this book back when it was given to me over twenty years ago, when I was studying French, I suspect the book would have interested me more than today. It was quite a wandering about of subjects.
Book rating: 2.75
The first chapter is a general sort of overview of Paris, all the weird things that could be found or done there (such as a wife swap club), and of course the fashion. There are also some spots pointed out, cafés and through this meandering land on Collette, a leading woman writer in the 1920s, who was full of contradictions.
The next chapter begins wandering about touching on varied subjects, then lands on African Americans in Paris, how their experience of racism was completely different, and much more accepted. This morphs into jazz musicians with some details about Bricktop, Bechet and Josephine Baker.
And so we meander through the book on varied topics, history of Jewish people in France and Paris, with particulars on some people, multitude of museums, Hôtel de Lauzun in particular and Baudelaire, and gay culture and writers in another chapter. The last chapter discusses royalty, the descendants of the old Kings and Queens who where banned from living in France, and what they have been up to since the beheading of King Loius XVI and Marie Antoinette.
My personal interest in these varied subjects ran the gamut. If I read this book back when it was given to me over twenty years ago, when I was studying French, I suspect the book would have interested me more than today. It was quite a wandering about of subjects.
Book rating: 2.75
December 31, 2021
I have long had struggles with books that have virtually no chapters or very long chapters. I get lost in the narrative and in Edmund White’s The Flaneur: A stroll through the paradoxes of Paris, I got completely lost. I know the point of being a flaneur is to wander aimlessly and make new discoveries but in this case I was completely lost geographically. There was no division at all in this book and we merely wandered through history in 211 pages.
I think I was hoping for more visuals – this arrondissement versus that one, the left bank versus the right but instead I felt I was wading through strange facts, skipping through odd museums and yes, touching on the paradoxes of Paris - who the French people are as a nation. Not the book I was expecting to read.
I think I was hoping for more visuals – this arrondissement versus that one, the left bank versus the right but instead I felt I was wading through strange facts, skipping through odd museums and yes, touching on the paradoxes of Paris - who the French people are as a nation. Not the book I was expecting to read.
March 9, 2008
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 other. You just can't put it down. It's like a best friend showing you around Paris who knows every thumbprint by heart.
December 26, 2021
Had I a much more than the casual experience of Paris (one visit), I probably would have appreciated White's book more. Still, he's a good storyteller - witty, urbane, and clearly in love with his subject, having lived there for almost two decades. Fluent in French, he invites the reader to see parts of Paris beyond the postcards, and in taking us there, gives us an appreciation both of the ordered beauty that is the central city as well as an appreciation of what it also conceals. Worth the stroll.
October 17, 2008
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.
January 5, 2009
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.
August 25, 2022
I’m sure that this little, diverting book is not the best place to start with Edmund White. It’s quite wandery ( which is thematic), but also a little repetitive and a little too heavily researched to really be as wandery (or personal) as it could be. However, I very much liked the chapters about racism, Jews in Paris, and homosexuality. I couldn’t care less about the royals, though.
July 18, 2011
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 based on its art, architecture, history, ex-patriot American contributions, Jewish issues, Arab influx, gay paradoxes, monarchist/royalist tendencies, athiesm,the French Revolution's intended and unintended consequences, and so forth. His writing is humorous yet intellectual, critical yet appreciative. Each chapter introduces a topic that he wanders in and out of much like ones thoughts while walking down a busy street. One gets the sense that he is talking to the reader casually, like a friend. While the book is ostensibly about Paris, by extension, he describes French society with special attention to its inconsistencies and glaring paradoxes. Further, Mr. White mentions the United States from time to time and, in so doing, tempts and encourages the reader to compare American culture to the French ... presuming that the reader is American. I found the book to be fun yet provoking and I savored it like a good meal, indeed, I could have read through the book in two nights but I choose to draw it out for two weeks because I did not want it to end quickly. I have never heard of this author prior to reading this book and I aim to read more of his books after reading this one.
June 11, 2015
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 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 up to your standards. Yikes! I brought some gorgeous chocolates instead. A hit in any language.
I was saved 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 up to your standards. Yikes! I brought some gorgeous chocolates instead. A hit in any language.
September 3, 2011
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 see a side of the city less travelled by guidebooks.
July 3, 2008
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 he embraces the seaminess and the poignance of any human scene. He's lurid and wise at once, relishing the dirty details while telling you how brave and beautiful human desire is. So an ideal travel writer, really. His 'States of Desire: Travels in Gay America' is out of print; snatch it up if you stumble across a copy.
February 26, 2019
This book was less about ‘flâneurism’ and more about the author’s detailed knowledge of certain areas of Paris, but mostly historic details regurgitated from a list of books he’s read (listed at the back). In fact, this list is more useful than the contents of the book itself, but it was semi-engaging nonetheless.
February 29, 2016
Interesting.
just a quick aside -- Impressionist artists were flaneurs.
So, with that aside, I can say this in this book, form follows function. And, throwing away a tourist guide book, the author, in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way, leads us, the readers, on a tour of Paris.
just a quick aside -- Impressionist artists were flaneurs.
So, with that aside, I can say this in this book, form follows function. And, throwing away a tourist guide book, the author, in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way, leads us, the readers, on a tour of Paris.
November 16, 2018
This was lovely, and the cutest edition fitting perfectly in my hands (the tactile experience of reading is still a thing folks) a collection of essays on various pockets of history and culture in Paris.
May 11, 2025
Perfect airport reading. American writer, biographer and openly gay man lived in Paris from 1983 - 1990 he lived in Paris.
While I hadn’t read his most famous work, A boy’s own story (autobiographical account growing up gay in USA), I wanted to see where this romp would take us.
Most historical, political and cultural than I expected, but just the antidote to sitting in a small seat and letting the mind travel elsewhere.
While I hadn’t read his most famous work, A boy’s own story (autobiographical account growing up gay in USA), I wanted to see where this romp would take us.
Most historical, political and cultural than I expected, but just the antidote to sitting in a small seat and letting the mind travel elsewhere.
September 7, 2025
Flashes of interest like jewels set in an otherwise dun diadem. Very 90s perspective. Museum case studies were well fleshed out. Otherwise the book is somewhat skeletal and favours anecdote. A curious theme to which the author did not exactly adhere—but perhaps that is the essence of the flâneur? in any case a cheap excuse for divagation—and rather a catalogue of favourite haunts than a cultural history of the capital. Sections on race and sexuality worked well but the same cannot be said of the lie of the land among royalists.
June 2, 2018
[2001] Great read for a trip to Paris. Learned about things you wouldn't find in your typical travel guide book. He incorporates his own experiences living in Paris with a more historical perspective. Covers things such as key figures in French history, Jewish life, and the French gay literary scene.
Want to read
March 3, 2018Recommendation from Litsy (@wanderlustforwords) - 2/21/2018
July 29, 2020
If you love Paris, you will love this book...Period!
February 25, 2023
A true essence of Paris outlined wonderfully by Edmond White . A lovely read for anyone who loves Paris and loves to explore the history of a city !
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