The Parisian Cafe: A Literary Companion - Hardcover

Val Clark is a writer and photographer who lives in Washington, DC. She frequents cafes whenever possible throughout the United States and abroad.

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.