The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris | Edmund White

The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris | Edmund White | Edmund White is a Smart DUDE

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The Flaneur: A Str...

	The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris Edmund White Bloomsbury USA, 2008 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 25 reviews view larger image
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"THE PARADOXES OF PARIS"

I hope that the people at Bloomsbury Press continue to employ wise and opinionated writers who can tell us about their favorite cities and the personal secrets to be found in them. This first, by Edmund White, is a winner.

White takes us into HIS Paris, a city he has lived in for many, many years. As an American, the city will naturally feel different to him than it might to a native. White's writing is, as always, graceful and beautiful. His assessment of Colette, his desription of "nationalism" among the Jews of Paris, and, certainly, his thoughts on Homosexuality and specifically HIV in this city are important and fascinating. I also especially enjoyed the short appendix on "further reading."

It surprised me that a few of the other reviewers were taken aback that White would spend so much of his time on gay Parisian life. This has always been a subject for White...in his novels, his memoirs and in his non-fiction works. Hire Julia Child to write about Paris and we're bound to get a book filled with thoughts on food. By the way, a "flaneur," we are told, is a person who walks, strolls for the purpose of walking or strolling...not with any "ulterior" motive. RECOMMENDED

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Edmund White is a Smart DUDE

Edmund White's "The Flaneur" is not meant to be a a travel book even though in it he relates his travels around Paris. It is written in the tradition of a Flaneur which means Mr. White must comment on all that he sees and hears and knows about those areas in Paris on which he chooses to comment. Based on several novels and and non-fiction books he has written(White was made a Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French government for "Genet: A Biography")and by the fact he lived in Paris for a number of years he certainly posseses the goods to do justice to his subject. And indeed he does. This short book is crammed full of all sorts of interesting facts about Paris some of which seem to get people's dander up. But my answer to them is: GROW UP! A fine, well written insightful PERSONAL account of the streets and byways of Paris. Bravo Mr. White.

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Charming

The layers of history White unearths in his wanderings are fasinating. Observations on Colette and Josephine Baker show a real understanding of the richness of culture. But his musing on modern Paris bring to light a truth uncompromised by a romantic view of the City of Lights. The fact that the current Paris art scene lacks star quality, or that Paris is just as damp as London, shows that although White loves his topic, he's not above sharing some of it's meager qualities as well. This is a lovely book, even in it's design, and would be a nice edition to a coffeetable, inviting guests to thumb through ramdom snatchings of Paris life.

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Paris Flambe

'Le Flaneur' leaves a dry aftertaste like an ill-prepared 'Paris Flambe'- that is to say, after all of Edmund White's rambling, both through Paris and through this novelette, he has overcooked the city of light to flavorlessness. The irony of this charge is that Edmund White has labored to enliven Paris with buttery richness by delving into 'off-the-beaten-path' places and elaborating on the lesser known, 'alternative' histories and personas the city has hosted. But Mr. White's mix is just too watery. I know that he has stated that his novelette is supposed to be without real direction other than observing Paris and elements of its history, but in fact his observations are too one-sided, for he focuses on things like homosexuals and drag queens and stuff. Its just watery, and lacks backbone. Paris is far more than these libertine forays into strange pleasures. I think Mr. White is too hung up on the pleasnatries and funkyness of a city which equally prides itself on gravity of thought and formality of action- these later aspects he entirely overlooks. Where's the balanced purview?

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5

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