A Corner in the Marais: Memoir of a Paris Neighborhood [Hardcover]

Alex Karmel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1567920748 | ISBN-13: 978-1567920741

For anyone who loves Paris and the mysterious allure of old houses, this charming, personal and informed memoir makes for perfect reading. In a knowledgeable, literate style that conveys (and makes contagious) Karmel s love of his subject, A Corner in the Marais traces the architectural and social development of the City of Lights, from its origins as a Roman settlement, through major redevelopments brought about by Henry IV and Baron Haussmann, through the recent, and sensitive, renovation and restoration of its old neighborhoods.

The story begins with Karmel and his French wife fulfilling a long-standing dream: buying an apartment in the Marais, Paris s celebrated historic district, the site of some of city s oldest and most picturesque buildings. It soon becomes clear that their new home, which has witnessed six centuries of Parisian life, provides not only a refuge but a fresh and lively vantage point from which to view the city s history, revealing information that will surprise even the most confirmed Francophile.

The book concludes with a walking tour of Marais, in which the principal buildings are discussed with brisk authority. Although Karmel takes pains to fill in historical lacunae from town records, he never loses sight of the fascinating human details whether royal squabbles, commercial transactions, or family chicanery that have played their role in shaping Paris as we now know it.

Illustrated throughout with photographs and period engravings, A Corner in the Marais is ideal reading for anyone who loves exploring the hidden byways of vieux Paris and experiencing history from a personal and singularly engaging viewpoint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

There is a self-indulgent charm about this mini-history of the Marais (former marshes), corresponding to Paris's third arrondissement, that is hard to resist. Karmel, who fell in love with the city in his teens and later married a Frenchwoman, owns a fifth-floor walk-up in the Marais at the corner of rue des Rosiers and rue Vieille-du-Temple. He invites us to share his delight in the neighborhood and his delving into its history. But despite his affection for the Marais and his elegant, leisured prose, this is not a book for the armchair traveler. You have to be there with this slim, illustrated volume in hand. Turning the pages, you could stroll past the house where Beaumarchais wrote The Marriage of Figaro or visit the Museum of the History of Paris in the H?tel Carnavalet, knowing that the greatest literary gossip of all France, Madame de S?vign?, made it her home. The area has gone through a number of misguided attempts at modernization, the author reports, but a combination of chance and economics has preserved its character and some of its great mansions. In the end, the reader is left with envy for anyone with a pied ? terre in such a wonderful placeAand a feeling that the narrow streets remain just out of reach.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The shelf of fond American memoirs of Paris might seem overcrowded, but for those with a weakness for the place, there's always room for more. Karmel has written a part-memoir that is really the history of the charming walk-up he and his French wife bought in Paris's Marais district in 1982. "I have centered this memoir on a specific building," he writes, "and built the history of the neighborhood (and to some extent, the city) from the standpoint of that one spot." That spot in the Marais ("swamp") is the constant?through plagues, Terrors, and architectural adjustments, from Roman settlement to jazz cellars. For all its history, though, Karmel's (My Revolution, LJ 9/15/70) elegant, brief volume resembles a deeply researched, digressive travel guide. It might have been better had Karmel interspersed his own personal account of life in postwar Paris with the less evocative chapters on French history. Recommended for larger public libraries.?Nathan Ward, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 149 pages
• Publisher: David R Godine (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567920748
• ISBN-13: 978-1567920741
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,253,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Marais Memoir, December 19, 2003

By 

takingadayoff "takingadayoff" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: A Corner in the Marais: Memoir of a Paris Neighborhood (Paperback)

This book reminded me of William Murray's City of Soul, about Rome. Karmel is obviously in love with his Paris and it is infectious.

The narrative about Karmel's first trip to Paris, then how he moved to Paris and bought an apartment in the Marais was intriguing, although his detours into the history of the neighborhood were less interesting. I found I wanted to know more about Karmel and his wife than about who had lived in his street two hundred years ago.

And the photographs! There are some marvelous black and white Atget photos in this book and although there really isn't much going on in them, these studies of shadow and light are worth the price of the book alone.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacularly satsfying, a real "keeper", September 17, 1998

By 

Betsy Parker - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Corner in the Marais: Memoir of a Paris Neighborhood (Hardcover)

A Corner in the Marais is one of those books you don't need to read, but having read it, you feel better about life. It's a book to be treasured and passed along to family and friends. It traces the architectural and social history of one of Paris's most interesting neighborhoods. It reads like a novel because you also learn how the neighborhood touches the life of the author. In an over-commercialized world where evidence of a publisher's passion for quality is often absent, A Corner in the Marais stands for quality writing, quality layout, quality typography and quality paper and printing. A wonderful read.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A walk through the neighborhood, March 31, 2003

By A Customer

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This review is from: A Corner in the Marais: Memoir of a Paris Neighborhood (Paperback)

I read this book on the train coming home from Paris and could picture the building, the neighborhood and really got a feeling for the area. I only wish the book had been longer and had delved into the author's personal life in Paris a bit more. Maybe in Volume Two, one can hope.