A Year in Paris: Season by Season in the City of Light [9780062846884]

Overview

A NEW YORK TIMES "SUMMER READING" PICK!

From the incomparable John Baxter, award-winning author of the bestselling The Most Beautiful Walk in the World, a sumptuous and definitive portrait of Paris through the seasons, highlighting the unique tastes, sights, and changing personality of the city in spring, summer, fall, and winter.

When the common people of France revolted in 1789, one of the first ways they chose to correct the excesses of the monarchy and the church was to rename the months of the year. Selected by poet and playwright Philippe-Francois-Nazaire Fabre, these new names reflected what took place at that season in the natural world; Fructidor was the month of fruit, Floréal that of flowers, while the winter wind (vent) dominated Ventôse.

Though the names didn’t stick, these seasonal rhythms of the year continue to define Parisians, as well as travelers to the city. As acclaimed author and long-time Paris resident John Baxter himself recollects, “My own arrival in France took place in Nivôse, the month of snow, and continued in Pluviôse, the season of rain. To someone coming from Los Angeles, where seasons barely existed, the shock was visceral. Struggling to adjust, I found reassurance in the literature, music, even the cuisine of my adoptive country, all of which marched to the inaudible drummer of the seasons.”

Devoting a section of the book to each of Fabre’s months, Baxter draws upon Paris’s literary, cultural and artistic past to paint an affecting, unforgettable portrait of the city. Touching upon the various ghosts of Paris past, from Hemingway and Zelda Fitzgerald, to Claude Debussy to MFK Fisher to Francois Mitterrand, Baxter evokes the rhythms of the seasons in the City of Light, and the sense of wonder they can arouse for all who visit and live there.

A melange of history, travel reportage, and myth, of high culture and low, A Year in Paris is vintage John Baxter: a vicarious thrill ride for anyone who loves Paris.

This captivating blend of memoir and cultural history unpacks the city’s secrets:

• Paris Through the Seasons: Discover how the city’s personality transforms from the blossoms of spring to the chill of winter, and how these rhythms have shaped Parisian life for centuries.
• The Republican Calendar: Journey back to the French Revolution and the fascinating, short-lived calendar that renamed the months to reflect the natural world, from the mists of Brumaire to the heat of Thermidor.
• A Paris Travel Guide: Go beyond the typical tourist spots with an insider’s look at the tastes, sights, and hidden corners that make the city unforgettable, no matter the time of year.
• Literary Paris: Walk in the footsteps of legends like Hemingway and Zelda Fitzgerald, exploring the haunts that inspired generations of writers and artists.