by Luc Sante
“seen from on high”: Louis Aragon, Le paysan de Paris (Gallimard, 1953 [1926]), p. 169.
“The fauna of the imagination”: Ibid., p. 20.
“The nineteenth century”: Benjamin, The Arcades Project, p. 831.
“Night in our cities”: Aragon, Le paysan, p. 173.
“Time works for those”: Yonnet, Rue des maléfices, p. 13.
“the whole neighborhood”: Clébert, Paris insolite, p. 110.
“It takes longer”: Ibid., p. 40.
“What an awakening”: Ibid., pp. 252–53.
“to win the energies”: Walter Benjamin, “Surrealism: The Last Snapshot of the European Intelligentsia” (1929), in Selected Writings (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 1999), vol. 2, p. 216.
“a technique of forward movement”: Guy Debord, “Théorie de la dérive,” Les Lèvres Nues 9 (November 1956): 6.
“The center of Paris”: Jacques Fillon, “Description raisonnée de Paris,” Les Lèvres Nues 7 (December 1955): 39.
“mythomania, interpretive delirium”: Gil J. Wolman, “À la porte,” Potlatch 2 (June 29, 1954).
“All cities are geological”: Gilles Ivain, “Formulaire pour un urbanisme nouveau,” Internationale Situationniste 1 (June 1958): 15.
“the wards of this city”: Ibid., p. 19.
“Now it’s finished”: Ibid., p. 15.
“The Situationists, thanks”: Abdelhafid Khatib, “Essai de description psychogéographique des Halles,” Internationale Situationniste 2 (December 1958): 13.
“The industrialization of private life”: Raoul Vaneigem, “Commentaires contre l’urbanisme,” Internationale Situationniste 6 (August 1961): 36, 37.
Acknowledgments
Thanks go, first of all, to Philippe Bordaz, who started feeding me books and pamphlets as far back as 1976, and more recently acted as my guide to places in Paris I would never have found on my own. Thanks to Lilith Jaywalker and her friends James and Badia and Philippe for the life-changing dépucelage (figuratively speaking) they administered in and around Rue de l’Ourcq a bit more than thirty years ago. Thanks to Jenny Turner for putting a flea in my ear twenty-odd years ago, for all that she may have forgotten the occasion. Thanks to Catherine Temerson and Israel Rosenfield for their hospitality and kindness and memorable after-hours tour of the august institutions along Rue d’Ulm. Thanks to Marina van Zuylen for being my first reader and a fount of good counsel, and for having more than once saved my hide.
Thanks to Peter Hutton, Olivier Verschueren (at the Livre au Trésors in Liège), Richard Devereaux, Michael Atkinson, David Schwartz (then of the American Museum of the Moving Image), Brent Kite, Alex Abramovich, Lance Ledbetter, Eric Mitchell, and the phenomenal Brian Berger for supplying crucial information and documents. Thanks to my two favorite Parisian bookstores: L’Oeil du Silence, long on the corner of Rue Yvonne le Tac and Rue des Martyrs but now sadly gone, and the Librairie du Patrimoine, which happily remains in the Hôtel de Sully on Rue Saint-Antoine. Neither place ever allowed me to leave empty-handed. A shout-out, too, to the venerable Delamain, a bedrock institution on Rue Saint-Honoré for more than three hundred years—here’s hoping for at least a few more. I could not have carried out my research without the assistance, grudging and otherwise, of the stallholders at the Porte de Vanves flea market or those at the book market on Rue Brancion, where the markups forcibly recall the fact that the place once dealt in livestock.
Major thanks to the wonderful Jean Strouse and Marie d’Origny at the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library, which hosted and financed a utopian final year of research, and thanks to my fellow Fellows for being such a good-humored and tolerant gang. Thanks to Lyall Bush and Adam Sekuler at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle for hiring me to put together a film program that proved invaluable to the course of the work, and for supplying me with the title for this book. Thanks to Robert Silvers, Edwin Frank, Liz Helfgott, and Josh Glenn for assigning me topics to write about that helped clarify what I was doing here. For miscellaneous imponderables, thanks to Régine le Meur, Angelika Becker, Joseph Mullender, Diane Dufour, Alexandre Civico, Bruce Goldstein, Hannah Jablonski, Odile Chilton, and above all Jem Cohen. Thanks to Mike McGonigal and Steve Connell for publishing me during my years in the desert of self-doubt. Thanks to my son, Raphael, for being a good sport through it all. And thanks to “Mr. Chrysler” for underwriting the homestretch.
This book would not exist without the wisdom, foresight, generosity, and incredible patience of my agent, Joy Harris, and my editor, Jonathan Galassi. They set the ball rolling, and watched as it disappeared over the horizon for an unsettling length of time. Even more fundamentally, the book would not exist without the example of my late father, Lucien Sante, even if he might not sign off on the entirety of its contents. I owe my dad for his love of Paris and the French language and the well-turned phrase, for throwing me whatever crime novels turned up in the packages sent by his sister the village news vendor, for bequeathing me his dictionaries and the collected works of G. Lenotre, for educating me as he had educated himself. And finally, thanks to Mimi Lipson, who lived through the infernal process, for being my best friend, confidante, and resident golden ear.
Index
The index that appears in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
absinthe
Académie Française
accordions
acrobats
Action Française
actors and actresses
Africa
alcohol, see drinking; wine
Alfortville
Algerians
Alibaud, Louis
Allain, Marcel
alleys
Almereyda, Miguel
ambience units
Amérique
anarchists; bombings; Bonnot Gang; professions; women; see also specific anarchists
Anderson, Sherwood
animals
anti-Semitism
apaches; tattoos
Apollinaire, Guillaume
aqueducts
Aragon, Louis; Aurélien; Paris Peasant
Arceuil
architecture; Haussmann’s urban planning and; modern
Arcis
Arènes de Lutèce
Argenteuil
Argentina
aristocracy
Arletty
arrondissements
artists; anarchists; bohemia; pigments; see also specific artists
Asile Fradin
Asnières
Asso, Raymond
assommoir
asylum, right of
Atget, Eugène
Aubervilliers
Auschwitz
Auteuil
automobiles
Auvergnats
Avenue de l’Opera
Avenue Jean-Jaurès
bagnes
bains-douches
Baker, Josephine
bakers
Bal Bullier
Bal Chicard
balconies
ballrooms
bal-musette
bals
Bal Tabarin
Baltard, Victor
Balzac, Honoré de; La Cousine Bette; The History of the Thirteen
banlieue
Banque de France
barbers
Barbès
barricades
barrières
bars; bohemian; Montmartre; terminology; thematic
Bastille
Bastille Opéra
baths
Batignolles
Battalions d’Infanterie Légère d’Afrique
Baudelaire, Charles; La fanfarlo; “The Swan”
Beaumé, Suzanne, photograph by
Bécan, drawing by
Becker, Jacques; Casque d’Or
beggars; clochards
Belleville
Belon, José, illustrations by
Ben Barka, Mehdi
Benjamin, Walter
Béranger, Pierre-Jean de
Bercy
Bernhardt, Sarah
Bernstein, Michèle
Bertrand, Aloysius
Bibi-la-Purée
bicoques
bidonvilles
Bièvre
Biribi
bistros
black flag
black market
blacks
Blanqui, Louis-Auguste
blind
Bloy, Léon
Blum, Léon
boats, pleasure
Boer War
bohemia; Chat Noir; Montmartre; origin myth; Privat and; terminology
Bois de Boulogne
Bois de Vincennes
boîte
Bonaparte, Pierre
Bonapartists
bones
Bonnard, Pierre
Bonneff, Maurice and Léon
Bonnot, Jules
Bonnot Gang
Bordas, Rosa
Borel, Petrus
Boudu Saved from Drowning (film)
Boulanger, Georges Ernest
Boule Noire
Boulevard Arago
Boulevard de Bonne-Nouvelle
Boulevard de Clichy
Boulevard de la Chapelle
Boulevard de la Villette
Boulevard de Ménilmontant
Boulevard de Port-Royal
Boulevard de Rochechouart
Boulevard de Sébastopol
Boulevard d’Italie
Boulevard du Temple
Boulevard Haussmann
boulevards; cafés-concerts; street theater; see also specific boulevards
Boulevard Saint-Germain
Boulevard Saint-Michel
Boulevards des Maréchaux
bourgeoisie; Jewish
Bouvier, Alexis
Bouzingos
Brassaï
brasserie
bread
Brecht, Bertolt
Breton, André: Anthology of Black Humor; Nadja
brigade mondaine
bridges
Brocher-Rouchy, Victorine
Bruant, Aristide; Le Bal des Puces; Les bas-fonds de Paris; “Belleville-Ménilmontant”; Dans la rue; “À la Roquette”; “À Saint-Lazare”
Buffet, Eugénie
Bugeaud, Thomas-Robert
Burguet, Charles
Buronfosse, Henri
butchers
Butte-aux-Cailles
Buttes-Chaumont
cabarets; drinking; terminology
cafés-concerts
cafés; bombings; codes and clientele; drinking; music; terminology
Café Terminus bombing
caïds
Cain, Georges; Promenades dans Paris
Callemin, Raymond
Callot, Jacques, Les bohémiens en marche
camelots
Camelots du Roi
canals
Canal Saint-Martin
cancan
Cape Colony
capital punishment
Carbonari
Carco, Francis; L’équipe; La lumière noire; Mon homme; Perversité; Rue Pigalle
card players
Carlingue
Carné, Marcel
carnival
Carnot, Sadi
Carouy, Édouard
Carrousel
Cartier-Bresson, Henri
Cartouche
Caserio, Sante Geronimo
Casque d’Or
Casque d’Or (film)
castles
Catacombs
Catholics
cats
Cayenne
Céline, Louis-Ferdinand
cemeteries
Cendrars, Blaise; Panorama de la pègre
censorship
chahut
Champs-Élysées
Charles V, King
Charles X, King
Charonne
Chateaubriand
Chat Noir
Chevalier, Louis; The Assassination of Paris
Chevalier, Maurice
Chez Foyot bombing
Chez Gégène
Chez Guignard
Chez Moineau
chic (term)
children; illegitimate; labor; prison
Children of Paradise, The (film)
Chinese
cholera
Chtcheglov, Ivan
church
cigarettes
Cirque d’Hiver
Cité
Cité de la Muette
Cité Doré
cités
claque
Clark, T. J.
Clébert, Jean-Paul; Paris insolite
Clemenceau, Georges
Clément, Jean-Baptiste, “Le temps des cerises”
Clichy
Clignancourt
clochards
clothing; apache; bohemian; couture; pimps; prostitutes
clowns
Cluseret, Gustave
Cobb, Richard
cobblers
cocaine
Cocteau, Jean
coffee
Collard, Hippolyte-Auguste, photograph by
Comédie Française
commedia dell’arte
commerce, see industry; markets; shops; trades; vendors
Commune; casualties; women
communism
Coppée, François
Corsicans
Coeur de lilas (film)
Courbet, Gustave
cour des miracles
Cours de Vincennes
Courteline, Georges
courtyards
Créteil
crime; anarchists and; apaches; barrières and; Bonnot Gang; capital punishment; Corsican; Fantômas novels; immigrant; milieu; press; prison; underworld; women; Zone; see also specific criminals
crippled
Cros, Charles
Croulebarbe
cult of morbidity
Dabit, Eugène
Dada
Daeninckx, Didier, Meurtres pour mémoire
Dahou, Mohamed
Damia; “En maison”
dance halls
dancers
Darcier, Joseph
Darien, Georges; Biribi; Les Pharisiens
Daudet, Alphonse
Daumier, Honoré; illustrations by
David, Jacques-Louis
Davis, Richard Harding
Death, see cemeteries; cult of morbidity; guillotine; murder; public execution
Debord, Guy; Guide psychogéographique de Paris; The Naked City
Deburau, Charles
Deburau, Jean-Gaspard
Degas, Edgar
de Gaulle, Charles
Delacroix, Eugène
Delannoy, Aristide, illustration by
Delaunay-Belleville
Delescluze, Charles
Delvau, Alfred
Dépôt
Deprince, Adolphe
Desbordes-Valmore, Marceline
Descaves, Lucien; Barabbas
Descente de la Courtille
Desnos, Robert
Detaille, Édouard
Détective
Dieudonné, Eugène
Dignimont, André
disabled veterans
disease; prison; prostitutes; see also specific diseases
dishwashers
Dmitrieff, Élisabeth
dogs
Doisneau, Robert
Don’t Touch the White Woman! (film)
Dreyfus, Alfred
drift (dérive)
drinking; bohemia; clochards; terminology; types of establishments
drugs
Drumont, Édouard; La France juive
Dubus, Édouard
du Camp, Maxine
Ducasse, Isidore, see Lautréamont
Dumas, Alexandre;
Count of Monte Cristo; The Duchess of Salisbury; Les Mohicans de Paris
dumps
Dunan, Renée
Dupin, Arthur
du Seigneur, Jehan
Duval, Clément
Duvivier, Julien
Eberhardt, Isabelle
economy; black market; post-Commune; post–World War II; sex trade
Écosse, woodcut by
Edward VII, king of Britain
Egypt
Eiffel Tower
Eighteenth Arrondissement
Eighth Arrondissement
Eisler, Hanns
Eldorado
Enfantin, Prosper
Engels, Friedrich
entertainment; cafés-concerts; carnival; dance halls; female singers; popular songs; street; theaters; see also specific entertainers
Ernst, Max
estaminet
Étoile
Eudes, Émile
existentialism
Fabrice, Delphi, L’opium à Paris
factories
fairs
faits-divers
Fantômas novels
Fargue, Léon-Paul
Farmers-General
farmland
faubourgs
Faure, Félix
Faure, Sébastien
Fénéon, Félix
Ferré, Théophile
Ferreri, Marco
Feuillade, Louis
Féval, Paul
Fieschi, Giuseppe
Fifth Arrondissement
Fifth Republic
Fillon, Jacques; “Rational Description of Paris”
film
fires
fireworks
fish market
flâneurs
Flanner, Janet
Flaubert, Gustave; Madame Bovary
flea markets
Fleshy Ox
Fleur Blanche
floods
flophouses
Florelle
Flourens, Gustave
flower markets
Folies Bergère
Follain, Jean
Fontaney, Antoine
food; anarchist; shortages
fortifications
Fort-Monjol
forts (strongmen)
Foucault, Sophie
Fourmies massacre
Fournel, Victor
Fourteenth Arrondissement
Fourth Arrondissement
Fraipont, Gustave, drawing by
France, Anatole
Franco-Prussian War
Frankel, Léo
Fréhel; “La chanson des fortifs”; “La vraie de vrai”; “Sur le trottoir”
French Guyana
Front National
Fuller, Loïe
funeral wreath vendor
Gabin, Jean
Gainsbourg, Serge
Gaîté
gambling
garbage
gardens
Gare d’Austerlitz
Garnier, Octave
Gascons
gasworks
Gauguin, Paul
Gautier, Théophile
Gauty, Lys
Gavarni; illustrations by