Paris 1935 by Jean Follain

by John Follain

Paperback

First published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[Jake Metcalfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly astonishing. As close to time travel as you'll get, and what a place and time to be landing in. Follain possessed such a wonderfully elegant mind, as must our translator to have rendered such astonishing and beautiful prose. A rare kind of writer and a rare kind of book, really. I haven't read much else like it. It hovers somewhere between memoir and prose poetry, somewhat similar to Cendrars' postcard poems, only extended, though every bit as lush and transportive. French through and through, à la flâneur extraordinaire. The two existing collections of Follain's translated prose are hard to come by and are very(!) expensive these days, so it is an absolute delight to be able to access this rare poet's work here and inhabit, quite completely, the Paris through which he walked wherein his keen eyes and sympathetic heart were wide, wide open to the world. Such precise, heart-wrenching detail! A poet's poet. I re-enter this work constantly--a true delight!

[Simran Mehta Dryden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the juxtaposition of life in Paris in an intimate sense but also a panoramic sense along with the fact that it rejects the idea of “eternal cities” and makes it more about the memory that you hold of a place and the lives you observe (and speculate upon). I really enjoyed this book, and perhaps the excellent translation also had something to do that!

[Alertword · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It is good to cross Paris as though it were a village."
Jean Follain in "Paris 1935" approaches the popular city in an intimate fashion. With an eye keen to details and senses enhanced so to inevitably drag the reader into the raw nature of Paris. And yet throughout the voyages of the unknown wanderer, Paris withholds it's picturesque peculiarity despite these curious embarks.

[Brian Doak Carlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the wonderful CB Editions, and the great now sinking into the past Follain… a collection of vignettes, impressions internal and external of mid thirties Paris. Writing on a par with the best of Ponge.

[Sam M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right under the wire