Paris_ The Collected Traveler - Barrie Kerper [31]
What I especially enjoy about this series is that the writers whose fiction is featured are mostly all contemporary, so we are introduced to writers we might not find otherwise. The France volume (published in 2008) is edited by William Rodarmor and Anna Livia, and they include a most diverse group of writers in this edition, among them Christian Lehmann, Samuel Benchetrit, Frédéric Fajardie, Jacques Réda, Colette, Annie Saumont, Eric Holder, and Andrée Chedid. Rodarmor concludes that “these pieces are neither bonbons nor full-course meals. They’re more like hearty appetizers. You’re at a bountiful buffet, and you should feel free to come back for more.”
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert (various editions).
One Hundred Great French Books: From the Middle Ages to the Present, Lance Donaldson-Evans (BlueBridge, 2010). French literature, the author notes in the introduction, has been an inspiration to readers around the world for the simple reason that it is “one of the great literatures on the planet and would surely be offered World Heritage status if such a category existed in the literary sphere.” Donaldson-Evans, professor of Romance languages at the University of Pennsylvania, has written a unique and worthy book, and I wish there were hundreds more just like this one for other countries in the world. This book is not necessarily an introduction to the best one hundred French books, but rather the emphasis is on the word “great.” The book is also not for specialists of French literature, but rather for the general reader who would like to learn about, or renew acquaintance with, some noteworthy books published in French. Additionally, the books selected had to be available in English translation, and lastly Donaldson-Evans admits to having a hidden agenda: to “whet your appetite to read or reread some or all of the works presented.” A number of the writers represented were born outside metropolitan France but have French as their primary language, such as authors from the Caribbean, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, and African nations. And what a selection this is—everything from The Song of Roland, The Romance of the Rose, The Letters of Madame de Sévigné, and The Count of Monte Cristo to The Journal of Eugène Delacroix, The Flowers of Evil, Astérix, So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ, The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun, and Monsieur Ibrahim and The Flowers of the Koran by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt. (Plus, there are fifty other great titles recommended at the back of the book.) I, for one, discovered at least a dozen books I want to track down, but I like this book also for providing me with good outlines of titles I’d known of but haven’t read, which is sometimes enough, though not nearly as satisfying as what Roland Barthes calls “le plaisir du texte, the pleasure that comes from reading a great book and being stirred to the core by it.”
Reckless Appetites: A Culinary Romance, Jacqueline Deval (Ecco, 1993). One of my favorite quirky books, blending the fictional story of Pomme and Jeremy with literary history and almost one hundred recipes.
Scaramouche: A Romance of the French Revolution, Rafael Sabatini (originally published in 1921; various editions available). The opening line of this truly swashbuckling book is among the great opening lines of all time: “He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.”
Literary Traveler
A unique and dangerously interesting Web site—it’s easy to start browsing and completely lose track of time—that I love is Literary Traveler (literarytraveler.com). Founders Linda and Francis McGovern say their mission is “to inspire readers and travelers to explore their literary imagination. We uncover the connections