What is a Parisian café? A Renoir painting, a passage from Hemingway, a photograph by Brassao. All help to define the romantic but elusive idea that is the Parisian cafe in the minds of people the world over. The art and literature presented in this charming volume add up to a seductive presentation of the cafe experience, capturing the ideal of grace and sophisticated leisure that is the Parisian cafe. The wide range of writing from renowned authors such as Marguerite Duras, Albert Camus, M. Somerset Maugham, and Ernest Hemingway together create a vivid impression of this icon of Western, indeed, world culture. Art in a variety of media, from painting and photography to drawings, etchings, and posters from an array of artists including Brassao, Man Ray, Kertesz, Monet, Renoir, Seurat, and van Gogh complements the writings to bring the reader a complete portrait of one of the most charming aspects of the city of light.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This little giftbook with a big price tag looks a bit like a collection of postcards, and perhaps it's too bad that it isn't: the pictures of Parisian cafes, as rendered by Manet in oils, Robert Doisneau in black and white photographs and Ludwig Bemelmans in water colors, beg to be clipped and sent off to a fellow appreciator of smoky rooms, strong coffee and copious amounts of wine. Clark offers a brief slice of the Parisian cafe's legendary history-Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Satre "practically lived" in the Cafe de Flore; Alberto Giacometti fashioned miniature sculptures in the back of a cafe called the Dome-before offering pairings of a cafe picture with a cafe-relevant quote. Paris is "the city of waiters," writes E.V. Lucas, while Henry Miller, in a letter to Anais Nin, notes that for breakfast he has "Oranges first, and then porridge at the Coupole." Neither the quotes nor the pictures are extremely interesting, but those who long for late nights in the City of Light may find something to spark their nostalgia.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Val Clark is a writer and photographer who lives in Washington, DC. She frequents cafes whenever possible throughout the United States and abroad.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everyone has two countries - his own and Paris,
By Bernard M. Patten "Book worm" (Seabrook, TX United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Parisian Cafe: A Literary Companion (Hardcover)
Wow! I found this little gem at the bookstore at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. The cover attracted me because it looked like a scene I had seen many times when I lived and wrote in Paris. Any writer who has spent time in Cafe le Dome or Le Select will get multiple nostalgia attacks looking over the pictures and reading the quotes from Shaw, Papa Hemingway, Camus and the other greats. The review title above about everyone having two countries comes from Thomas Jefferson who loved Paris. Too bad he is dead, for he too would have also loved Val Clark's wonderful little book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Transport yourself to the Parisian Cafe,
This review is from: The Parisian Cafe: A Literary Companion (Hardcover)
This is an artistic and literary presentation of the Parisian café. The beautiful photographs and matching quotes are an inspiration to the reader who readily senses the author's knowledge of the subject and her devotion to those cafes that were the haven for great painters, photographers, and writers. As one traverses the pages of this elegant, petite volume, one becomes, in one's imagination, a frequenter of those cafes, enjoying their seductive ambiance, while sipping coffee, chatting with artists and friends, admiring the decor without and within, and hoping to find, in this world, a café that can bestow upon him such joy and offer him a home away from home.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Celebrating the fullness of being,
By M. Hebert (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Parisian Cafe: A Literary Companion (Hardcover)
A Literary Companion, indeed! As a writer, lover of Paris and cafes--I found this book delightful, and the perfect companion for a cold winter day. For like the cafe it celebrates, it has the ability to lift my spirits the moment I "enter" its sumptuous pages. Val Clark has done a masterful job in matching up the evocative photographs of Doisneau and Brassai, the art of Van Gogh, Manet, Bemelmans and much more--with the words of writers and artists that endure because they resonate with that fullness of being that the cafe nurtures. This little book pays loving homage to that sensibility. Thank you Val Clark!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
