In Paris you can encounter genuine tolerance of other races and religions-and of atheism. La Defense went directly from being futuristic to being passe without ever seeming like a normal feature of the present.īut while there are enough serious, intellectual reasons for defining Paris as a big city, there are many more minor ones, including the fact that it’s a place where you can sleep all day if you want to, score heroin, hear preposterous theories that are closely held and furiously argued ( especially in the “philosophical cafes,” where meetings are regularly scheduled to discuss ethical questions). La Defense has few apartment dwellers other than Africans and the rootless, whereas the young white middle class for whom it was intended are all off living in the restored Marias district with its exposed beams and period fireplaces. By that definition Paris is deficient in tall buildings although President Pompidou had a scheme in the sixties and early seventies to fill Paris with skyscrapers, he succeeded only in marring the historic skyline with the faulty towers of a branch university, Paris VII at Jussieu (which was recently closed because it was copiously insulated with asbestos), the appalling Tour Montparnasse-and the bleak wasteland of the office district, La Defense.
A reckless friend defines a big city as a place where there are blacks, tall buildings and you can stay up all night. Along the way we learn everything from the latest debates among French lawmakers to the juicy details of Colette's life.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. The Fl neur leads us to bookshops and boutiques, monuments and palaces, giving us a glimpse into the inner human drama. In the hands of the learned White, a walk through Paris is both a tour of its lush, sometimes prurient history and an evocation of the city's spirit. Edmund White, who lived in Paris for sixteen years, wanders through the streets and avenues and along the quays, into parts of Paris virtually unknown to visitors and indeed to many Parisians. "One has the impression, reading The Fl neur, of having fallen into the hands of a highly distractible, somewhat eccentric poet and professor who is determined to show you a Paris you wouldn't otherwise see.Edmund White tells such a good story that I'm ready to listen to anything he wants to talk about."- New York Times Book Review A fl neur is a stroller, a loiterer, someone who ambles through city streets in search of adventure and fulfillment.
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