Seven Ages of Paris Book

3 stars ? Very generous. Instinct told me : do not read in chrono order. So I began with the 6th "Age," which begins w La Belle Epoque and covers W1, and moves into the 7th "Age," W2 and ends c 1969. Instinct was kerect. Author Horne -- in 400 pages -- condenses centuries of French history and shows the importance of good writing and selectivity of material. Reading about what I knew, fairly well, enabled me to consider what he was up to.

Yes, he writes damn well -- but why can't I remember anything vital ? Is it important to learn that Josephine Baker danced wearing only a crotch feather and had a boff w author Georges Simenon? Or that Nijinsky may have performed, at least once, minus a jockstrap? I do like the Sacha Guitry quote: "The burdens of marriage are too heavy to be borne by two people alone." In the 7th "Age," when author turns to post-war2 culture (and his researchers fail him here), he ignores the New Wave cinema revolution (with an off-hand line or two), which dismays me, as this had a profound effect on La La Land. Belmondo, at this time, was on the cover of LIFE, for god's sake, in a French movie: That Man from Rio. He was followed by Jeanne Moreau on the cover of TIME (1965). Very rare kudos! Blinkered author gives a mild hiccough over the disastrous building of La Tour Montparnasse, started in 1959 and finished in 1973, that famously obscene skyscraper in the middle of the Left Bank -- a ghastly blight on the Paris he claims to love so well. At this point, I thought, Aw, piss off Mr Horne! I do not believe he "loves" Paris.

So, I dutifully returned to the beginning, "Age 1: 1180-1314," and plodded along, cranky, but curious. He stays very chatty and is never hesitant to repeat a cliche, like "Paris is a woman." Here, I required a double vodka martini. He mostly delivers political strategems-betrayals-deceits-wars-slaughters-royal mistresses & bastards-and the stench of Paris sewage. (It wasn't until the 1970s that every hotel room had a wc -- and many apartments, too.) Aah, the necessity of perfume, so important, I pondered....well, he didn't. Bidet, anyone?

Author Horne likes Henry IV (reign: 1572-1610), who was stabbed to death by a Catholic crackpot in his open coach during a traffic jam. (Mull that--) Henry was kindly to Protestants. Nancy Mitford gushes over Louis XIV, the Sun King, though 1000s of Versailles chamber pots had to be emptied, but let's move along... ca va ? ~~ I like author Horne when he allows that life at Versailles was leaden -- unless you had a taste for cards, hunting and gossip.

In sum, my feelings are mixed. And rather blurry. Let me recommend anew "The French" by Sanche de Gramont, who offers a perceptive look at everything French, "from bureaucracy and pettiness, to grandeur, fashion, politics and philosophy," and, of course, food and sex. This is the book you want. He points out that the US-English kid is told to "be good." By contrast, the French child is always told, "sois raisonnable" -- be reasonable. This is called Thinking French. Ca va.