Review: Pages from the Goncourt Journals

Pages from the Goncourt Journals by Edmond de Goncourt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The ultimate gossip rag of the second half of the 19th century Parisian literary circles. The brothers (and later just Edmond) Concourt dish it out and namedrop over the decades, talking about Flaubert, Maupassant, Zola, Gautier, Daudet, Degas, Rodin, Saint-Beuve, Mdme George Sand, Victor Hugo, Dumas, etc. etc. And if you don’t recognize some of those names don’t worry. It doesn’t detract from the gossip and the pettiness, which makes this book great.

I bookmarked several excellent anecdotes, including:
the empress taking several paintings out “on loan” from the Louvre to hang on her walls, wishing to impress the Queen of England, but having the Queen recognize them from the Louvre (p. 120)
The story of Prince Napoleon drinking holy water by mistake on his wedding night and getting sick (p. 142, 5 November 1862)
The Chinese envoy saying “You are young, you Westerners. You hardly have any history to speak of” (p. 195 , 9 November 1871)
The initial impressions of Degas (p. 206 ,13 February 1874)
The fact that Balzac did not wish to ejaculate since he was afraid of losing cerebral matter. (p. 216, 3 June 1875)
Manet had an “ugly, cracked voice” (p. 239)
His outrage that someone had quit a job via the new contraption called a Telephone! (p. 269)
His impressions of Oscar Wilde (p. 285)

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Review: In the Café of Lost Youth

In the Café of Lost Youth by Patrick Modiano
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can never resist a book taking place in the cafés of Paris, whether fiction or non, and this was no exception. In fact, the café spills over into the streets and we witness a bit of the lives of the people in the café. 

Anyway, I found the ambience and general feel much more appealing than the story itself, so I'm not really sure if I'm a Modiano fan or not. 

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Review: A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition

A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition by Ernest Hemingway
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is sort of in the style of "Memoirs of Montparnasse", and in fact there is quite a bit of overlap in terms of people mentioned. In fact, this can tie into Giacometti biography (although no overlap of people as far as I can tell), or even Sue Roe's "In Montmarte". Regardless, it's always fun to read about Paris during this era, so much more so when written by Hemingway.

There are many curious parts, like how he keeps repeatings that Ernest Walsh was "marked for death". I'm not sure what that meant. Curious also to see how nice he finds Ezra Pound (although Gertrude Stein seems to hate him), but how much he seems to hate Ford Maddox Ford (always complaining about his breath). Also, the digs at F. Scott Fitzgerald didn't seem very becoming (even more so the digs at his wife). But then again, Hemingway never claims to be the nicest person, and seems quite unapologetic about it.

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Review: Hemingway's Paris

Hemingway's Paris by Robert E. Gajdusek


A collection of quotes by and about Hemingway, grouped together based on various topics. Also with some photos, mostly of locations frequented by Hemingway, but taken in the 1970s. Nice to look through, especially if you've read "A Moveable Feast" or any biography of Hemingway. 

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Review: In Montmartre: Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art

In Montmartre: Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art by Sue Roe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This basically reads like a sequel to the book "The Private Lives of the Impressionists". So much so, in fact, that I'm embarrassed to say I didn't realize it was the same author until after finishing the book. Essentially, Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Georges Braque, Henri Rousseau, Gertrude Stein, and even Igor Stravinsky, picked up the baton from the impressionists. Once again, this was a group of very poor artists who were hanging around Montmartre (in many of the same cafes as the impressionists), trying to find their way in art. 

The focus of this book is Picasso and Matisse, and their on-off rivalry, but it ends up encompassing the entire Montmartre scene, basically until the windmills are taken down and the scene moves down to Montparnasse (and I see she has a sequel of sorts here as well: "In Montparnasse: The Emergence of Surrealism in Paris, from Duchamp to Dali"). 

Regardless, once again I found the book excellent, enlightening, and I found myself having to look up many of the paintings mentioned by the author, as well as places I plan on visiting the next time I'm in Paris. 

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Review: That Mad Ache

That Mad Ache by Françoise Sagan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first Francoise Sagan book I read, and I can already tell she is masterful at discussing humans and their relationships and feelings (take that, Jane Austen!). Were I to explain the plot to someone, it would come out sounding boringly trite at best: a frivolous girl is with an older rich man and falls for a younger poor man and problems ensue. I'm glad I wasn't in charge of writing the blurb to this book. 

For some odd reason I would have preferred seeing this set in Paris of the 1920s, rather than the 1960s. No real reason for this, but there you go. 

I look forward to reading more of Sagan's novels. 

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Review: Memoirs of Montparnasse

Memoirs of Montparnasse by John Glassco
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“O Paris dawns, you are always beautiful, I think, no matter what the weather, but there was never one more beautiful than on that bitter morning in early March in 1928, with a sky of ashes and the tall houses grey and cold, the streets wet and only a few lights showing in the little cafés where the chauffeurs take their breakfasts and brandy. It was all too soon when I arrived at the Jules-César and staggered up the stairs to our windowless little room, where I vomited in the bidet and fell into bed with a sensation of pure happiness.” 

I was extremely ready not to like this book. An obviously overly-privileged college student decides he wants to become a poet, so he quits school and has his father cover his trip to Paris to "write poetry" with a friend. In fact, I expected to read a chapter or two and toss it aside. 

I ended up not only reading the whole thing, but spent a lot of time online researching the people and places he mentions. Glassco fully describes a lost era in Paris, when artists, writers and others mingled together, from royalty to prostitutes, all partying together, drinking too much, mooching off each other, and discussing literature and poetry. Aside from Hemingway and Joyce, we encounter Man Ray, Kiki, Ford Maddox Ford, Peggy Guggenheim, and many others (many with pseudonyms). The conversation is both scintillating and extremely trite, while the author goes around Paris, Luxembourg, Nice and Montecarlo, living both the high life and being homeless and working as a prostitute. 

I was somewhat surprised at how little overlap there seemed to be with Giacometti's biography, which I recently finished. He also lived in Paris in the 1920s, and interacted with plenty of artists, like Picasso, Max Ernst, etc. But I guess there were enough famous people for there to be many different circles. 

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Review: Giacometti: A Biography

Giacometti: A Biography by James Lord
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Giacometti is not working for his contemporaries, nor for the future generations: he is creating statues to at last delight the dead". - Jean Genet. The Studio of Alberto Giacometti

A fascinating look at an odd but very talented man, as well as into the life of an artist in Paris during the 1930's, 40's, 50's and 60s. 

Giacometti these days would have been diagnosed with severe OCD and likely put on some sort of medication, which probably would have done wonders in terms of rendering his life more "normal", but would have deprived us of his art. Actually, he probably would have refused the medication regardless. 

The author seems very knowledgable (almost suspiciously so) of the comings, goings, inner thoughts and private actions not only of Alberto, but those close to him. There are some odd lacunas, such as stating that Caroline's real last name "does not matter", but regardless, I doubt anyone else could have give us as much information about this man and his family. Oddly missing was any reference to the author himself, despite having had a portrait made of himself (and a photo of him and the artist on the back cover). I can't help but wonder how he fits into Alberto's story. 

Also missing was further mention of Hans Bechtler, aside from being a Swiss who decided not to buy Giacometti's work. I live in Charlotte, where the Bechtler museum is chock full of Giacometti works, so I assume he changed his mind at some point and brought the works to North Carolina for some reason. 

In fact, I would have appreciated quite a bit more follow-up information. What happened to Annette? To Caroline? To the brother(s)? Did they have issues due to his dying intestate? 

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Review: The Private Lives of the Impressionists

The Private Lives of the Impressionists by Sue Roe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. I'm only on page 23 but this is already fascinating. Monet came to Paris from Normandy and enrolled in an art school where his classmate was Pissarro (a Portuguese Jew born in the Dutch West Indies), and they became friends. After a while another student joins, called Cezanne (who came to Paris with his good friend Emile Zola). After going back for a visit to Normandy and returning, Monet enrolls with another teacher and is classmates with Renoir. They then room together to save on rent, with Cezanne stopping by often. They're also hanging out with Sisley and Bazille. Affaire à suivre...

*****
Well, I finished the book, and I honestly can't believe they haven't made a movie or TV drama about these people. I have no interest in art, know next to nothing about Impressionism, and frankly just thought I ought to tackle this book because I've had it for over ten years collecting dust. However, I found the entire thing interesting. It certainly had some less than enthralling sections, but then again, it is basically a biography of a group of painters who banded together, were ridiculed, were often immature, often not, found spouses, had children, and finally, after decades, gained recognition. Given that, I'm amazed at how much of it was actually really riveting.

If you're not sure, check out the second (long) paragraph on page 91 (in the paperback version), about how Renoir, before he was famous, was almost killed by a firing squad and how he got out of it. The book seems full of little gems like that.

Recommended for anyone who is interested in Art, Art history, Impressionism, or in none of all that, like I was.



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Review: Zazie in the Metro

Zazie in the Metro by Raymond Queneau
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was going to give up on this at first, since it seemed like the translation was pretty bad, then I realized what was going on and that actually it was quite good and the translator's job must've been a huge undertaking, then I was going to give up on it once more because I wanted to read it in the original French. In the end I stuck with it. It was strange but definitely kept me interested. The Paris it portrays is oddly captivating. I still want to read it in the original at some point. 4.5 stars, and I'll give it time to see if I want to round it up or down.

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