THE PARIS WRITER'S SALON 11 - John Baxter and Samuel Lopez-Barrantes propose discussions on Romantic Love

 Bonjour everyone,

        Samuel Lopez-Barrantes and I are happy to announce the 11th Paris Writers Salon, this time discussing three books on the perennial topic of romantic love. Samuel and I look forward to welcoming you into the heart of literary Paris for another stimulating series of conversations.

Best, 

John

Salon No. 11: Paris, Love & Memory/

In the film An American Paris, Leslie Caron says “Paris has ways of making people forget” but Gene Kelly disagrees. “It's too real and too beautiful to ever let you forget anything. It reaches in and opens you wide and you stay that way.” The books in this Salon all deal with love and forgetting, and the impact of Paris on the emotional life of those who live here.

Every Sunday at 7pm CET

November 19 - December 10 2023.

The cost is 300 Euros or $300. For more details, see https://www.johnbaxterparis.com/paris-writers-salon.

Watson is a dedicated Salon member

Sunday, November 19.

Bonjour Tristesse/Hello Sadness by Françoise Sagan (1954)

Written when she was 18, this novel made Sagan a household name. People accustomed to dismissing teenagers as gossiping bubbleheads were shocked to discover they could experience grand passions and existential despair. Cecile, a sassy Parisienne holidaying on the Côte d'Azur with her widowed but womanizing father, all but drowns in the whirling currents of his love affairs and her attempts at defining her emotional needs.

Sunday, November 26

In the Café of Lost Youth by Patrick Modiano (2007) 

Nobel laureate Modiano is both jaded and hopeful, intellectual and romantic. Four lonely people congregate at the Café Conde in central Paris, their lives illustrating the precepts of philosopher Guy Debord, who re-defined our view of city life. “Ever-present through this story,” wrote onc critic,”is the city of Paris, almost another character in her own right. This is the Paris of 'no-man's-lands', of lonely journeys on the last metro, or nocturnal walks along empty boulevards; of cafés where the lost youth wander in, searching for meaning, and the older generation sift through the memories of their own long-gone adolescence.”

Sunday, December 3

Of Love and Paris: Historic, Romantic & Obsessive Liaisons by John Baxter (2023)

“She wanted to die,” wrote Gustave Flaubert of his doomed heroine Emma Bovary, “but she also wanted to live in Paris.” In 32 essays, John examines why the city has exercised such a potent influence on the romantic lives of those who live here. From Napoleon and Josephine to Rimbaud and Verlaine, Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg to Henry Miller and Anais Nin, and the real-life lovers who inspired the novel and film Jules et Jim, he analyses why Paris inspires such extremes of emotion and attracts the people who wish to experience them. For a sample published earlier on this blog CLICK HERE

Sunday, December 10

Open Forum Salon

As usual, the last session opens up to thoughts and suggestions. If earlier salons are any guide, the conversation will range far and wide and provide a lively discussion to bookend the eleventh rendition of the Paris Writers’ Salon.