Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
A a wonderful, unknown book written between the two wars by an obscure but brilliant American journalist who wrote about one street -- the Rue de la Huchette in the 5th arrondissement -- which he first saw in the Summer of 1923. He writes a biography of the street and all the cast of characters who live there - the hookers, vegetable sellers, barmen, coal man, and ordinary people.
Tell me about the Elliot Paul book, The Last Time I Saw Paris
Ah, this is about longing for a life that no longer exists. Elliot Paul was unknown to me until somebody recommended this book, but apparently he was quite a famous American journalist living in Paris in the 1920s, and he did this amazing thing which was to write a biography of a street, Rue de la Huchette. It’s a complete dump now this street, it’s right in a tourist area and full of Greek gyros stands, but then it was a quintessential Parisien street and Paul profiles everyone on it, from the local tramp and the prostitutes to the shop owners, doctor, dentist, and he creates this unbelievably vivid picture of life in the 20s in Paris. It’s the only biography of a street I’ve ever heard of – apart from one in Sarajevo that someone was trying to do – and I’ve never read anything like this before. He starts in 1923 and ends in the late 1930s just before the start of WWII when he goes back to New York. Then he comes back after the war and…everything’s gone.
It’s tragic. He goes back to find all the wonderful characters and some have been killed, the Jews have been deported, there are kids who have been horribly scarred by it all and he says the Nazis have made a ‘fair haul’ of this street. He writes; ‘In future years the day of the black rain will always be remembered…’
It’s so beautiful and it’s totally unknown. In a way it’s sad that such a brilliant chronicler, who far surpasses Hemingway, has been forgotten.
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Janine di Giovanni is one of Europe's most respected and experienced war reporters. Born in the US, she began reporting by covering the first Palestinian intifada in the late 1980s and went on to report nearly every violent conflict since then. Her trademark has always been to write about the human cost of war, to attempt to give war a human face, and to work in conflict zones that the world's press has forgotten.
