One of the things that makes Paris exceptional is that in the more poetic neighborhoods such as the Latin Quarter the streets sometimes seem haunted by ghosts of the people who have lived there.
This guide book by Lorraine Liscio evokes Paris from the MIddle Ages through the twentieth century by tracing sixteen exceptional women whose lives intersected with Paris in remarkable ways. Their stories bring to life medieval culture, Enlightenment ideas, the court of Louis XiV, the chaos of the Revolution, the nineteenth-century art scene, and twentieth-century breakthroughs in science and fashion.
The sites associated with each of these women are located in the central parts of Paris that most visitors explore. When visiting Notre Dame, the reader will see the tragic figures of Abélard and Héloise in its shadows, and know to look for the enigmatic sculpture of Genevieve on the cathedral’s facade. Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun’s paintings in the Louvre and Camille Claudel’s sculptures in the Rodin Museum will be all the more fascinating after readers have learned of the controversy they provoked.
Lorraine Liscio will be speaking about her book Jan 21, 7pm, 2010 at the Village Voice Bookshop, 6, rue Princesse, Paris 75006