Flâneuse
Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
FINALIST FOR THE PEN/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD FOR THE ART OF THE ESSAY
A New York Times Notable Book of 2017
The flâneur is the quintessentially masculine figure of privilege and leisure who strides the capitals of the world with abandon. But it is the flâneuse who captures the imagination of the cultural critic Lauren Elkin. In her wonderfully gender-bending new book, the flâneuse is a “determined, resourceful individual keenly attuned to the creative potential of the city and the liberating possibilities of a good walk.” Virginia Woolf called it “street haunting”; Holly Golightly epitomized it in Breakfast at Tiffany’s; and Patti Smith did it in her own inimitable style in 1970s New York.
Part cultural meander, part memoir, Flâneuse takes us on a distinctly cosmopolitan jaunt that begins in New York, where Elkin grew up, and transports us to Paris via Venice, Tokyo, and London, all cities in which she’s lived. We are shown the paths beaten by such flâneuses as the cross-dressing nineteenth-century novelist George Sand, the Parisian artist Sophie Calle, the wartime correspondent Martha Gellhorn, and the writer Jean Rhys. With tenacity and insight, Elkin creates a mosaic of what urban settings have meant to women, charting through literature, art, history, and film the sometimes exhilarating, sometimes fraught relationship that women have with the metropolis.
Called “deliciously spiky and seditious” by The Guardian, Flâneuse will inspire you to light out for the great cities yourself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Actor Craden contributes a sprightly reading to the enjoyable audio edition of Elkin's book, which blends memoir with history and cultural criticism. The narrative recounts Elkin's research and travels following in the footsteps of several female creative geniuses who explored major cities of the world, gaining freedom and confidence through their peregrinations. Much of the book is Elkin's memoirs of her own experiences wandering and living in five cities, and Craden successfully stands in for the author; she gamely captures the book's overall tone, which is both sophisticated and youthful. She also uses a convincing French accent, which is valuable for the sections on artist Sophie Calle (b. 1953) and writer George Sand (1804 1876). Less successful is the stilted, not-quite-British voice she uses when quoting Virginia Woolf (1882 1941). It sounds awkward and self-conscious, which is ironic because the book is about women shedding convention and gaining independence and confidence. This misstep aside, the audiobook makes for an enjoyable nine hours of listening time, perfectly suited for traveling listeners who are embarking on a journey of their own. A Farrar, Straus and Giroux paperback.
