She is a woman. I mean she is female.And she is not just any female. She is of colossal fame.A mythical female she is.And yet she is well alive and exists today.Because she has more presence than you or I have. I am talking about resplendent Paris.For if this woman is outstandingly beautiful and alluring, at times she as also been violent and bloodthirsty and this mix of personas has made her eminently enigmatic and mysterious.Alistair Horne in this book traces the history of Paris through what he sees as her Seven Ages. As he traces her history we see that her life has evolved around a few celebrated men. Or may be it was that these men needed her when pursuing their ambitions and she knew how to position herself as these requirements changed through history. Her Seven Ages succeeded as follows:Lutetia, a young wench from Roman times, was elevated by Philippe-Auguste to the status of a gentle maiden in a chivalrous and First Age. Henri IV stepped in to herald the Second Age and she was the one for whom and in genuine faith and extraordinary credulity, he switched religions. For him this Lady was worth a Mass. She sadly felt neglected in the Third Age when Louis XIV moved all splendor, music and light to that upstart demoiselle of Versailles. But it was Napoleon who, as the hero of the Fourth Age, tamed her when she became a revolutionary and instead raised her to her rightful throne of Empress of all cities. In a characteristic ambitious tone, he had vouched that he would make her the most beautiful city in the world. And even though Horne titles the Fifth Age after the common La Commune who took over and played its jarring tune in her elegant arena, it is still the age of a self-appointed hero, Louis-Napoleon. Nor is the Sixth Age one that can be honorably remembered under one single man. This was a period framed and marked by horrid wars during which her enemies dared to invade her three times, spanning and puncturing the Belle Époque and then adding on a second Thirty Year war. Her politicians had failed her. Horne has identified this age with the invitation to the frivolous upstart from earlier times to come back to stage, this time in strict austerity, and sign the Treaty of Versailles that would supposedly expel Hell but which didn’t. But this long period of no heroes was a period of artists who honored her as their muse. In her final and current Seventh Age we see again a hero, De Gaulle, who once he admitted that he could not be Emperor and put a veil over her past as Empress, gave her, for a fifth and still successful round, the dignified and modern mantle of Lady of the République.But if these five men dominated these Seven Ages, we should not think that these were the only men in her life. There were others, many others. There were those who gave her things, beautiful things. For example, Louis IX gave her the dainty Sainte-Chapelle. Francois I gave her an elegant Renaissance palace to replace the rough Louvre bastion, and invited the inventive Leonardo to visit and pay her homage. She was given many bridges as she grew from the little island and expanded to the two sides of her river. And these were all the gift of cavaliers, for even the Pont Marie was not related to the virgin but designed by the architect Christophe Marie. She certainly offered a fruitful ground for the creations of ingenious architects, national and foreign, all the way to the daring and gaudy Beaubourg conceived by the Italian Renzo Piano.The things she was given were not always strictly material objects. Gabriel Nicolas de La Reynie, the Chief of Police under Louis XIV, gave her street lighting and this was her first step towards becoming the City of Lights. To strengthen her Finances the Banque de France was organized by Napoleon and his bankers and it was also him who realized that hygiene was a sine-qua-non for beauty. A new sewage system and greater access to drinking water were the benefits when she got her Canal de l’Ourcq.In embellishing her some had to mutilate or exert some other traumatic changes. Baron Haussmann, who thanks to this entered the Senate after having been the Prefect of Police, had to demolish areas so as to build avenues plotted according to a regular and structured framework and devised a new kind of housing with façades that would unify long street vistas. The scale of Haussmann’s grid of boulevards, and enduring model for apartment buildings, however, were not entirely new. During the Third Age, both Le Vaux designed the prototype for the beautiful dwellings still surviving in the Marais, and Le Nôtre plotted the Champs-Elysées, well suited and named for our mythical lady. Some reconstructive surgery was later performed by Viollet-le-Duc who thought that Young-Looking-Middle-Ages-Bâtiments were just the thing. And the Would-be-Mutilator Le Corbusier concocted the horrifying and cruel idea of demolishing her center and build in her Right Bank a string of towers like shoeboxes over two hundred meters high. Such an operation would have had a despairing and irremediable damage to this Lady’s beauty. Better and more natural methods were applied by the intellectual André Malraux who prescribed a deep cleansing and whitening treatments as the most appropriate to erase the scars of age in her stone cheeks and skin.It was not always her beauty the main objective. Some of her men were also concerned with her education. It all started with Abelard, who though a friar, had a weakness for women (admittedly educated women with an inclination to epistle-writing) and founded her first University. This University later took on, as her own, the name of another man, Robert de Sorbon, the Confessor of Louis IX. Subsequently François I thought not only of palaces, since he founded the Collège de France, a center of Humanism, and he was followed about a century later by Richelieu who constituted the various Académies (Language, Arts, and Architecture). But as we know, education is dangerous, and in May 1968, it was in some of these centers of knowledge that trouble brewed for this bluestocking.And it was not all things, beauty and centers of learning; she also needed some occupations on which she could spend and enjoy her time. For her culinary interests some cooks established delicious centers, such as those set up by Boulanger or Beauvilliers, and many palates desired restaurants like Chez Noudet or Maxim’s. The Cafés fashion was quickly developed so that most people would have sat around the Café de la Paix, Café de Paris, Café des Aveugles. Her interest in music welcomed many locals such as Berlioz, Debussy, or Ravel, or attracted ethereal virtuosos from Poland, or offered a venue for the celebration of a demonic Rite of Spring for the exotic Russian. And since music beckons her temples, she had her Opera designed by Charles Garnier, a building that became such an exemplary model that replicas sprouted later in Hanoi and Buenos Aires. Knowing that obvious symbols of social differences could breed trouble she proceeded to have the Opera of the People and build, in a place with no lesser emblematic meaning than the Bastille, her second grand music hall. Of course it was not all grand music that tuned the ears of those men who were always orbiting nervously around her. She had to provide a special entertainment for those. Her Moulin Rouge, or the Folies Bergère, or Le Chat noir became world famous as centers of naughty fun and in so doing became also sources of inspiration for her painters, with Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, or Picasso, to name just a few of those who left unforgettable images. For if she has had an innumerable string of painters that have left us with a history of her countenance, in particular those who exalted the richness of her city life, like Pissarro or Caillebotte, she has also had a series of bards who wrote copiously having falling prey to their fascination. Eugène Sue, Balzac, the Goncourts, Zola, Proust, and a long etcetera, have left volumes and volumes of her splendor and squalor and luxury and vice and mythical grandeur. And it is for this never-ending string of men that she has taken care to present herself in an exquisite toilette. For even if the concept of Haute Couture had its inception in her secluded royal courts, it was thanks to her Couturiers that her style would rank as the most elegant that would set the fashions openly. The English Charles Worth had to establish his business there if he wanted to drape the right model, but plenty of locals, Paquin, Poiret, Dior and Gautier, later exported her allure to the rest of the world. And since dress nicely but with no “parures” could seem that she was displaying a nudity of elegance, thanks to the Cartier males (father and three sons) and their innovative use of platinum for jewellery, she set a trend that most of the European Royals would copy in their tiaras, forgetting the Republican nature of their inspirational model.As we close this book after reading about her Seven Ages, we are left with a whiff of her perfume, for she, the Eve of very many Adams, could only use a scent named Le Fruit Défendu.Evoking her mystery...
This is a fascinating history of the city of Paris, from its origins as a Roman stronghold to the Cold War 1960s. It's a bit slow to read at first, but easier to sink into eventually as the author turns his historical eye toward more modern events (i.e., after the 1789 Revolution). As the epigraph for Chapter 18 says, "Paris is a bitch... one should not become infatuated with bitches, particularly when they have wit, imagination, experience and tradition behind their ruthlessness." Prepare for this kind of stuff. You'll read about the beauty of the Belle Epoque and the moral ambiguity of the Occupation; about the riches of Versailles & the artistic squalor of Montmartre; about food shortages that drove Parisiennes to eat their horses and dogs, but where fine wine was still in good supply; about the seemingly unending back-and-forth wars with Germany in the 19th & 20th centuries; about streets used as open sewers, renovated as wide tree-lined boulevards; about the Kings and Queens, the prostitutes & mistresses, painters & poets, hangings & beheadings, coronations & regicides; and tortures & masquerade balls. Here are the vivid descriptions of the culture and extravagance of Paris, side-by-side with its muck & slime - the dichotomy that has attracted imaginations for centuries.The author has a tendency to keep valuable French phrases in the francaise, leading the non-French readers (like myself) puzzled as to what a key quote really means; quite odd, since at other times he translates it to get at what is being said. A working knowledge of French geography is also useful before beginning this book. Mr. Horne will casually mention the Invalides, or the Tuileries, or the Champs des Mars, often without a guide as to where these are in the city, and what functions they serve (again, in contrast to other vivid descriptions he lays out for sites like Notre-Dame & the Hotel de Ville). When reading this book, supplement it with a good map of Paris & some quick Wikipedia references to understand what he's referring to.The author really hits his stride when describing the Siege of Paris during the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, and the subsequent Commune standoff (I assume partly because he's written a separate book on this time period, and so has done much more research). The book really flows well from this point, often spending time on what life was like in Paris at the time, and skipping over details not related to "la ville lumiere." I learned a lot about Parisian history that I never knew about before. I look forward to reading more books on France by Mr. Horne (specifically on the Fall of Paris, and the Algerian War).
What do You think about Seven Ages Of Paris (2004)?
I read this as background for my class on the literature of Paris. It is an excellent overview of the history and culture of the city. Covering the history from the foundation of the city the author blends the cultural development with history. The impact of art from the Renaissance to the age of Impressionism that ushered in the twentieth century helped offset the intermittent devastation of war and revolution. Over the centuries is was home to Peace conferences and Art exhibits. Nearest to my passions is the influence that Paris has had as a center of music over more than two centuries. The result of the events chronicled is a unique portrait of what many consider the most beautiful city in the world.
—James
From Julius Caesar to the student riots of 1968, Paris has been many things, but never boring. Historian Horne begins with an introduction which covers the founding of Paris , the Roman city of Lutetia, and ends with the Age of Abelard in the 12th century. He then divides the remaining eight centuries into seven "ages:" 1180-1314: Philippe Auguste; 1314-1643: Henri IV; 1643-1795: Louis XIV; 1795-1815: Napoleon; 1815-1871: The Commune; 1871-1940: Belle Epoque.The Great War.The Phoney War; 1940-1969: De Gaulle. It soon becomes clear that, for Horne at least, the history of France and the history of Paris are one and the same. That doesn't stop this book from being full of fascinating detail, however. I especially loved the epilogue, which was set in Pere Lachaise Cemetery.
—Deb
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's very dense with information on how the omnipresent relationships between Paris, her rulers, her people and her country at large has formed her over her long history, but is written in a very easy flowing, conversational way. Allistair Horne is a master of descriptive language and transitions, but the book is not burdened with fancy language for its own sake.Horne is a Francophile, and writes lovingly of the storied, often tempestuous history of Paris — and thereby France at large — but he does a great job of explaining the political and social contexts without being biased toward one pure ideology or another, which is helpful when one tries to understand what happened and why, sans filtration of a political bias. (The one exception is, of course, the Nazis, though he is academic in his description of their depravity.) All is geared toward events' and people's effects on Paris, and Horne's many often hilarious details are illuminating. He pokes fun, lovingly, at the quirks of the French and their propensity for drama, as well as indexing details of individual lives that truly make this much more than a history book.I happened to be reading on Bastille Day about the Nazi occupation, and Horne's evocative writing nearly brought me to tears. Overall, I would say this book will give a reader a much deeper and more sophisticated understanding of the French, though I would recommend for those unfamiliar with the history at large, to keep a time line of French and some European history or something handy, as Horne handles his subject topically within the larger, well organized chronology, and skips around just a bit. (Names are particularly difficult to keep track of.) Also, Horne sprinkles his writing (without translation) with French phrases, not all of which have made the jump into mainstream English usage, which may be difficult for those who don't speak it, or are just beginning. So, I would recommend a little French-English dictionary to help if you really want to understand it all. (Some of those French phrases are pretty funny, so they're worth the effort!)Though I don't regard this book as difficult, I would describe it more as an "upper-division" French history book. It may help to read "Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong," a much quicker glance at why the French do what they do, to get the juices flowing. Together, they will, hopefully, help a reader truly feel sympathique with the French.To anyone who feels an affinity with France, your heart will swell over and over throughout this glorious history.
—Barbie
