How do you describe the history of a city? Perhaps they have experienced the smoke of war and are heavy; perhaps they have a long culture, a splendid civilization, and they are heavy; or perhaps they have an outstanding position, and every move, every word and deed will have a great impact, and they are solemn.
After reading a lot of urban history, it seems that they will write about their "weight", but the British biographer and historian Graham Rob's "Paris: A Feast of Light and Shadow Flow" made me see a different kind of "light", it is not a "light flutter" that is nothing, but a time and space flow that hovers over light and shadow, and travels through the ancient and modern.
It can be said that "Paris: A Feast of Light and Shadow" is not only a history of the city, but also an interesting travelogue, a wonderful collection of stories, perhaps in line with Graham's original intention of writing - "I hope that this "Paris" can be compared to a miniature "human comedy", the city's residents tell their personal experiences, and collect them into a piece of Paris's past."
As a critic specializing in French literature, Graham has a lot of experience in the study of French cultural history, he has come to Paris many times, carefully observed the famous buildings and even streets of Paris, deeply understood the literary culture and history of Paris, repeatedly pondered the characters and events sealed in historical time, and then presented them in the "true stories" he wrote. Let his Paris seem to be as bright and moving as the reflection of light, but also make the shadows hidden behind those lights have nothing to hide, the convergence of light and darkness, new and old, Paris in this way with its most authentic posture, in the dappled river of years blooming with glittering.
Graham has written many works related to the geography and history of French celebrities biographies, and it is precisely because of his many achievements related to France and Paris that he was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Arts and Letters in 2009 and the Gold Medal of the City of Paris in 2012, which can be described as an indissoluble relationship with Paris, so at this moment, we might as well follow this British "traveler" who has a deep understanding of Paris, travel through hundreds of years of time, and "personally" uncover the historical fog that shrouded the city. Feel the light and shadow of paris, the "City of Lights", which has remained in history.
The Graham Paris Tour started on the eve of the French Revolution and ended in 2010, and the vicissitudes of more than 200 years have been transformed with the beginning and end of each stop, outlining a unique panoramic view of Paris.
Baudelaire once described the dreamy Paris with such soft and wonderful sentences as "beautiful and poetic life fills the life of Parisians - miracles surround us; we can't see it, but breathe it into the air", in fact, there are many cold and hard Gothic buildings in the city, confusing neighborhoods, and the cityscape is often hidden in the mist, but the true stories that once happened in those buildings and streets are intertwined to weave a poetic and romantic exclusive paris.
There is a very special place in Paris, that is, the royal palace, and perhaps ordinary people have no way to associate the word "royal" with a special profession, prostitutes. In the turbulent years on the eve of the French Revolution, the royal palace had lost its original function and had become the best foothold for Parisian prostitutes.
Once upon a time, this palace made countless people envious, it is a dream city, known as the "capital of Paris", all kinds of style and luxury in this palace are just ordinary conditions, and even very exaggerated, prisoners imprisoned in the royal palace will not want to regain freedom, elderly knights can become a beautiful teenager who walks around the royal palace.
The more stark the contrast, the more it is lamented, and now visitors to the Royal Palace look at the quiet and leisure in front of them, feel its thick history, and probably do not think that it was once a place where Napoleon could not shake the "mud feet of young people".
When I read About Gresillon, I almost thought I had "strayed" into the plot of a suspense novel, and I don't believe you, "Gressillon is still a garbage everywhere but no one will look at the place, even if occasionally a deformed human head emerges from the garbage heap, dripping and disappearing again."
One second it is a very poetic depiction of the water of the Seine taking away the disturbances in the city, and the next second the camera turns to such a terrible side, because Gresillon was such a scene at that time, even in Paris, but there is nothing reminiscent of Paris, in Gracillon, people do not see romance and poetry, the eyes are full of shabby and devastated.
However, it was also here that there was a legendary figure, who had been a policeman, had escaped from prison, had repeatedly solved strange cases, had published books, and had also been met by Balzac.
Legendary characters must be accompanied by legendary deeds, so Graham wrote Victor's story as wonderful and suspenseful as a detective novel, Victor sent the nickname "hard to stay", tough and strange, legend has he has a bone reduction skill, no prison in France can hold him, he is a fluctuating ghost fire, but also a hunting dog that does not stop until the goal is reached, all kinds of mysteries can be solved in Victor's hands, he incarnated as a detective and has made many achievements, and only a yellow curtain can catch the suspect...
How, is the legend about Victor a god? However, such a character can only sigh while sullenly: "The real genius will never be recognized by his time." ”
In fact, what Victor did for Paris was not just as simple as "catching the bad guys", in addition to controlling the good people and reforming the law and order, Victor also touched the political arena and became an indispensable part of promoting the political situation, and even made Lamartine praise that "if Victor alone helps, it is enough to control the overall situation."
Of course, these legends may not be entirely true, but it is certain that Victor's death is too low-key compared to the strangeness of his life, and the legendary figure who once made a fortune has become a "ubiquitous ghost hovering over Nineteenth-century Paris".
Speaking of the famous French literary master Proust, I think most people's first impression must be "Remembrance like a watery age", interestingly, Graham also told proust's story in "Paris: A Feast of Light and Shadow Flow", but he did not take the famous "Remembrance of Water Years" as the theme, but said the story of Proust and the subway...
The Paris Metro has been open to traffic since 1900, more than a hundred years ago, and unlike the rush to experience the Paris Metro, Proust was still quietly staying in his apartment. The restrooms of the Paris metro stations are cool on a hot summer day, and Proust sits in his bathroom like a sphinx, feeling the outside world.
According to Proust, because he was weak and sick since childhood, the air outside would cause him severe wheezing, so Proust would hardly leave his apartment, so those voices from the outside became a rare special experience for him every day, so the subway rumbled, so did the wrong phone calls, and it seemed that those who talked to those voices that had no substance could briefly dispel the sorrow and anxiety in his heart, until the alarm of the air raid forced him to leave there.
In Paris: A Feast of Light and Shadow, there are many stories led by buildings and characters, some of which sound mysterious, some full of dark memories, some heart-wrenching, some heart-wrenching, and some fascinating, such as the Paris Peace Conference, which Graham called "the so-called victors and the defeated are accomplices", those with yellow star badges on their chests, the Jewish children transported by white and green buses to Auschwitz, known as the "Land of Nowhere", and the Road to Hell. The Hidden Bone Hall and the Underground Kingdom...
Graham condensed the centuries-old history of Paris into the flow of light and shadow, and "won by surprise" in various unexpected ways. As Dwight Garner, a book critic at The New York Times, commented— "He speaks well and bravely in his work, as if playing Truth or Dare, daring to drive in the opposite direction in the traffic of history, even illegally parking." His books are as energetic as the green fennel wine that has been made out of the company, with a pure Parisian flavor."
Paris: A Feast of Light and Shadow (Reading City Series) ¥108 Purchase