All Roads Lead to Paris

In today's mail was a large manila envelope. Inside, my handwritten final take-home exam, dated 1997, from Isabelle, a former professor of mine. When I had contacted her last month while researching the name of an illustration, she kindly offered to send me some old papers she'd found that I'd written for her 19th Century French Novel course.

Below is what I wrote about Paris in an answer to one of six "short-answer" questions. At first reading, I think, "Hmm, this is not bad, not bad at all," recalling the frantic panic of finals while being a full-time mother of two school-age kids. Then I re-read and criticize, "Ew, how embarrassing; it's too superficial; any French lycéen writing like this would flunk." Both points hold some truth.

Of course, in any exam there is a fine balance to find between explaining in depth and painting with a broad stroke -- strutting your stuff for the prof so she at least knows that you've actually read and digested the works. We had 24 hours for the take-home; we could use our books and a dictionary; we had to write one long essay and the six shorter answers. Surprisingly, this is my shortest of the shorts!

Memory is a curious, capricious faculty. I had largely forgotten the plots and characters of many of these novels. But by re-reading the decade-old essays, I time-traveled back to some inner part of my brain, to a time when I was living in a swirl of deep literary analysis, with intense ideas I was too often inept at articulating. By revisiting my thought process (rather than the works themselves), the characters and actions awoke for me.

P.S. I got a very generous A- for a course grade, so I can't complain. Merci, Isabelle!

P.P.S. A prize to anyone who can guess which work I read in the abridged version.

Finally, I'm posting this mostly for the perspective on Paris. Has Paris changed from the 19th to the 21st century? Time to reflect on that one...


Quel rôle joue Paris dans les romans que nous avons lus?

Paris joue le rôle d'un centre aimanté où règnent l'argent et le pouvoir dans certains romans. Chez Balzac, Paris est le carrefour -- une ville pleine d'activité, permettant des rencontres (et, donc, l'action) de tous ses personnages. C'est une ville passionnante et corrompue, avec son propre système social qu'il faut conquérir.

Dans L'Education sentimentale, par contre, Flaubert décrit un Paris ou il y a de nombreuses rencontres, mais l'un de ses rôles majeurs est d'être le lieu ou l'on trouve beaucoup d'objets, y compris Madame Arnoux. Paris est un lieu ou il y a des évènements, donc une impression de temps qui passe.

Il me semble que Paris est la maîtresse de Victor Hugo. Il adore chaque pierre, il la connaît par coeur. Paris, comme ville, donne une unité de lieu à l'action des Misérables.

Chez Sand, Paris représente un milieu hermétique et étouffant. C'est un lieu de richesse et d'oisiveté. Marcelle, tout au début, veut quitter Paris et le genre de vie à laquelle elle était astreinte. C'est en quittant Paris qu'elle peut trouver le parfum des arbres, l'eau, et la liberté.

Dans Germinal, Paris est le siège des dieux invisibles. On ne voit jamais la ville, mais les pouvoirs émanent d'elle. A Paris il y a le propriétaire de la Régie, le siège de l'Empire, et -- force opposée -- il y a Pluchart. Etienne reconnaît le source du pouvoir, et quitte Montsou pour Paris à la fin du roman.

You all got this, right? Just in case you missed a leetle word or two, now I translate for you...

What role does Paris play in the novels we have read?

In certain novels, Paris plays the role of a magnetic space ruled by power and money. For Balzac, Paris is a crossroads: a city full of criss-crossing activity, giving way to encounters (and hence, to the action) of all his characters. Paris is an enthralling and corrupt city, with its own social system which everyone must conquer.

By comparison, in Sentimental Education Flaubert describes a Paris where there are numerous encounters; but one of the major purposes of Paris is as a place where one finds many objects, including [the protagonist's object of desire] Madame Arnoux. Paris is a place where one event succeeds another, thus giving an impression of the passage of time.

Paris seems to be Victor Hugo's mistress. He adores each stone; he knows her by heart. Paris, as a city, provides the spatial unity to the action in Les Miserables.

For George Sand, Paris is a suffocating, hermetically closed environment. It is a place of idle wealth. From the begininng Marcelle wants to flee from Paris and the restrained life she experienced there. It is only by leaving Paris that she can revel in the fragrance of trees, flowing water, and freedom.

In Germinal, Paris is a center of invisible gods. We never see Paris, but power emanates from the city. Paris is where the company owner lives, the seat of the Empire and -- an opposing force -- there is Pluchart [a union organizer]. Etienne recognizes the source of power, and leaves his town of Montsou for Paris in the end.