Five Nights in Paris: After Dark in the City of Light

by John Baxter

Overview

The preeminent expat writer on Paris and author of The Most Beautiful Walk in the World takes you on an unforgettable nocturnal stroll through five iconic Parisian neighborhoods and his own memories.

John Baxter enchanted readers with his literary tour of Paris in The Most Beautiful Walk in the World. Now, this expat who has lived in the City of Light for more than twenty years introduces you to the city’s streets after dark, revealing hidden treasures and unexpected delights.

As he takes you through five of the city’s greatest neighborhoods—Montmartre, Montparnasse, the Marais, and more—Baxter shares pithy anecdotes about his life in France, as well as fascinating knowledge he has gleaned from leading literary tours of the city by dark. With Baxter as your guide, you will discover the City of Light as never before, walking in the ghostly footsteps of Marcel Proust, the quintessential night owl for whom memory was more vivid than reality; Hungarian photographer Gyula Halász, known as Brassai, who prowled the midnight streets, camera in hand, with his friend Henry Miller; Louis Aragon and Philippe Soupault, who shared the Surrealists’ taste for the city’s shadowed, secret world; and Josephine Baker and other African-American performers who dazzled adventurous Parisians at late-night jazz clubs.

A feast for the mind and the senses, Five Nights in Paris takes you through the haunts of Paris’s most storied artists and writers to the scenes of its most infamous crimes in a lively off-the-beaten-path tour not found in any guidebook.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062296252
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/14/2015
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	265,090
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.12(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

John Baxter has lived in Paris for more than twenty years. He is the author of four acclaimed memoirs about his life in France: The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France; The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris; Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas; and We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light. Baxter, who gives literary walking tours through Paris, is also a film critic and biographer whose subjects have included the directors Fellini, Kubrick, Woody Allen, and most recently, Josef von Sternberg. Born in Australia, he lives with his wife and daughter in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood, in the same building Sylvia Beach called home.

Editorial Reviews

A MAIN SELECTION OF THE QUALITY PAPERBACK BOOK CLUB

*

Charming. ... An entertaining meditation with plenty of digressions and detours into nocturnal Paris that should appeal to France lovers everywhere. ... A sharp-eyed, unsentimental look at the City of Light, its dark corners and midnight blues.

Chicago Tribune

A MAIN SELECTION OF THE QUALITY PAPERBACK BOOK CLUB

An entertaining mix of amusing autobiography and fluent expertise. ... Baxter makes after-dark visits to the sites of once fashionable brothels and jazz clubs, follows the scent of perfume, and sumptuously indulges his passion for food, writing, at each turn, with wit and rapture.

Booklist

★ 04/15/2015
Well-known biographer and film critic Baxter (Paris at the End of the World) has produced a fourth book on his most beloved of cities, this time focusing on the peculiarities of the Paris night. Readers might presume that this is a suggested itinerary of sorts, and though Baxter reveals that he leads literary walking tours in Paris, this volume provides little in the way of practical information. Rather, this is armchair travel at its very best. Baxter, whose knowledge of Paris's recent cultural history is vast, is a worthy guide. Fascinating stories and anecdotes are framed by a tantalizing focus on sight, sound, scent, taste, and touch. As we stroll the crooked streets of the Marais, we can almost hear the faint, tinkling music and rowdy shouting of long-gone cafés. We smell the pissoirs and parfumeries in equal measure. Baxter's poetic language ("the autumn sun's rancid light," "that crocodile of preschoolers, hands linked") packs a punch. VERDICT Readers will emerge from the experience of this book feeling like well-traveled experts on the City of Light's sensual history. Charming personal photographs strewn throughout only increase the sense that one is dipping into delicious secrets.—Erin O. Romanyshyn, Frances Morrison Central Lib., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Library Journal

2015-03-01
Having lived in Paris for more than 20 years, Baxter (The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris, 2011, etc.), a guide to literary walks through the city, won't show you exactly which streets to follow; rather, he'll teach you how to know Paris and truly feel the enjoyment of flânerie. The activity of flânerie encompasses wandering aimlessly, going with the wind, and observing life as you go. One day, a customer asked the author if he did night walks, and the author decided that the five senses should be his guides. The joy of his writing is to realize that, even after living there for two decades, Paris still provides him with new avenues to explore. He divides the book into itineraries guided by the senses, but readers will need to dig deep to appreciate the connections. Readers who love Paris will likely love this book. No one can successfully write about Paris unless they truly love every nuance, oddity, and secret of her life; here, the author shines. Baxter's knowledge of those who have written about Paris—for years, he has collected such work—will lead readers to all sorts of corners that do not show up in any tourist guides. The author cites surrealist Philippe Soupault's Last Nights of Paris (1929) to show that in Paris at night, there may not be as much to see as many believe. Rather, the nighttime is a perfect canvas for thinking, a blank page on which to exercise the imagination, developing ideas in the dark. In closing, Baxter writes, "each of us must, in our own way, as with a new lover, seduce, or allow ourselves to be seduced by the Paris night." This is not a walking guide to Paris, but it is most certainly a guide to seeing and knowing Paris, one no Francophile should be without.

Kirkus Reviews