Many books have been written about or taken place in Paris, some of which have been thoughtful and original, well-constructed stories while others have been egregiously clichéd and overtly illusory, recreating the same scenes we’ve read and seen previously. You know the themes – strangers from different worlds meet and fall in love on the Pont des Arts, a country bumpkin becomes cultured, well-intentioned foreigners stumble into the French administrative hole yet find their shining light at the end of the tunnel with the help of charming and dapper Parisians and a culinary novice finds their life calling in the heart (kitchen) of the gastronomical capital. But few are able to depict the simultaneously whimsical and anachronistic image of Paris with words as so many have done with a camera or paintbrush.
David Downie, a San Francisco native whose curiosity for his adopted city has yet to wane after twenty-five years, has deftly woven thirty-one vignettes on the neighborhoods, characters and daily life of Paris with irreverent humor and elegant descriptions. In Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light, Downie offers insight to feed both the Paris of our imaginations and the Paris that has hitherto remained unknown. I knew his thoughts would be perfect for Franco File Friday…..
Describe what you love about France in three words.
Contrarianism is mainstream.
Most amusing or surprising tidbit people may not know about the French?
Genetically speaking, they’re about as mixed and scrambled as any European population can get. Many of the notions held by certain rightwing exponents of “national identity”, especially notions based on national roots and “blood”, are amusingly ludicrous. The Francs were a Germanic tribe. The Burgundians were Scandinavian. Most of the great kings, queens, statesmen, artists, scholars and thinkers who have made France great were either of foreign or mixed stock. France is a wonderful nation of bastards!
Your go-to place in Paris to feel inspired?
Père Lachaise cemetery: if it was good enough for Balzac, it’s good enough for me. It teaches humility and encourages you to enjoy life now – Carpe Diem!
Aside from very specific, world-renowned architecture and cuisine, what are the most remarkable differences you observe between Paris and Rome, your other love?
The inhabitants: Romans are naturally sociable and pleasantly rough in texture. They’re provincial in the way all Italians are provincial – tied to their city or village – yet they are open to the world and welcoming. Parisians are preternaturally grumpy and thrive on the negative. Non, non and ni, ni are on most lips most of the time. They are cosmopolitan because the city is by its nature but they are closed to the world in mind and spirit because they consider Paris “caput mundi”, the center of the universe.
Favorite French novel or film?
Madame Bovary: it’s still the best novel produced by a Frenchman and one of the masterpieces of world literature.
