As I was leaving a restaurant in Lyon today, I espied this poster. Translated, it says: If the book had been invented AFTER the computer, it would have constituted a major advance. Its qualities are remarkable: lightness, availability, low cost, functioning WITHOUT consumption of energy, optimal layout… At the bottom of the poster is the …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.escapetoparis.com/2009/06/wise-words-in-lyon/
May 02 2009
De Beauvoir’s (and my) Montparnasse
I’ve loved the Montparnasse area since I first stayed there as a guest in the incomparable Pension Les Marronniers, just opposite the southwest corner of the Jardin du Luxembourg. The area known as Montparnasse comprises parts of the fifth, sixth, fourteenth and fifteenth arrondissements. The last time I stayed there, a few years ago, it …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.escapetoparis.com/2009/05/de-beauvoir%e2%80%99s-and-my-montparnasse/
Apr 14 2009
No Escaping La Princesse de Clèves
When I was diligently poring over the canonical 17th century French novel La Princesse de Clèves last year during my French literature class in Melbourne, the last thing I would have imagined was La Princesse becoming a symbol of resistance to President Sarkozy. Sarkozy seems to have borne a grudge against La Princesse for quite …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.escapetoparis.com/2009/04/no-escaping-la-princesse-de-cleves/
Mar 31 2009
Message for Sarkozy
As my friend Marc Cogan commented in the previous post, the recent general strike had as its unofficial slogan Sarkozy’s comment, although this time directed back at him, “Casse-toi, pauv’ con” – “Bugger off, you sorry asshole.” Around two-thirds of the marchers were wearing this slogan in some form, and Marc managed to get a …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.escapetoparis.com/2009/03/message-for-sarkozy/
Mar 24 2009
From the midst of the grève
(by guest blogger Marc Cogan) Last Thursday’s general strike and supporting march were big successes, both from an organizational perspective, and as spectacle. Even the weather had already chosen sides, as the newspaper Libération, said, and it was sunny and warm throughout France. The weather swelled the crowds and buoyed their spirits. The parade was …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.escapetoparis.com/2009/03/from-the-midst-of-the-greve/
Mar 15 2009
Seeing Sarkozy’s sister-in-law
In the past few days I’ve seen two French films, both starring Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi. She’s not an actress to whom I’ve paid much attention in the past, but in these films—Actrices and Le Grand Alibi, Bruni-Tedeschi played such entirely different characters, and so convincingly, that I became utterly captivated. How anyone can go and see …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.escapetoparis.com/2009/03/seeing-sarkozys-sister-in-law/
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