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The most important monument
of the High Intelligentsia is of course the tomb of JEAN-PAUL-SARTRE (and SIMONE
DE BEAUVOIR) at the cemetery of Montparnasse, right after the entrance at the
boulevard Edgard Quinet. At least it used to be, but lately the adoration
diminished. A simple tombstone without any religious sign like it should be for
an atheist. Exit the cemetery, cross the boulevard and take the rue Huygens. At
the corner of the street and the square Delambre stands the building of the
editor ALBIN MICHEL. Maybe some known and famous authors (at least for French
journalists) will run out of the building. They will turn left, take the avenue
Raspail, a left again to have a lunch at LA COUPOLE (see 14th arrondissement
).
You can meet other journalists of the weekly magazine “LE POINT”, housing on
the rue de Rennes 140, just in front of the FNAC for books and records.
Did I already tell you about the DOME? I guess I did, but let’s remind that it
was the meeting place of pre-war Americans, not counted as French literature
heritage. Look inside at the pictures of HEMINGWAY and SCOTT FITZGERALD,
etc….and ask yourself if you want to lunch or dine here.
Cross the boulevard to have a peek at the SELECT with its 1925 décor. A known
place for rendez vous, everybody in Paris knows the SELECT.
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Closerie des Lilas |
Now continue in your
heavy pace eastwards on the boulevard de Montparnasse to arrive at the CLOSERIE
DES LILAS. HEMINGWAY who lived just around the corner, tells in his book “A
moveable feast” how the simple café it was became a luxury and chic place.
The waiters had to shave their moustaches and wear white jackets. Together with
his friend JOHN DOS PASSOS, he declaimed her out of the Old Testament with a
loud voice. SCOTT FITZGERALD asked HEMINGWAY to read the manuscript of “The
Great Gatsby” (1925).
Exit, left, up on the avenue de l’Observatoire, where MITTERAND dived behind a
hedge in 1959 avoiding a murder attempt on his life. Bad tongues say he directed
the whole thing for its publicity, which gave this politician in the future a
bad reputation of a man you cannot trust. But he became president for 16 years
in 1981.
Continue, straight across the Parc du Luxembourg. The big building on your left
is the French Senate, unable to stop any law since it is the National Assembly
who has the last word.
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Jardins du Luxembourg |
Leave the park in the rue de Vaugirard in
front of the rue
de Fleurus knowing that GERTRUDE STEIN lived there on no 27 from 1903 to 1937
and received here the whole French pre war avant-garde (APOLLINAIRE, MAX JACOB,
JEAN COCTEAU, ERNEST HEMINGWAY, T.S.ELLIOT, MATISSE, PICASSO )
We continue the promenade in
next article.
Bibliography
Guide Bleu
Paris-Hachette--Guide du Routard Paris--Americans in Paris--An anecdotal Street
Guide by Brian Morton.
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