You’ll find it out, and make it yours at last.
Plough up the ground as soon as autumn’s past,
And dig and delve—nor grudge the daily pain;
And when you’ve toiled, return and toil again.”
He died. The sons turned up the field;
Incessant was their toil, and when the year
Was ended, large the produce it did yield,
Though ne’er a hidden treasure did appear.
Wise was the father, ere he died, to show
That labour is the mine whence riches flow.
It was almost too good to be true. For the author of the Republican calendar to live on a street that celebrated the rural virtues and to have the site of his former home marked by a tree—endings didn’t come more fortuitous than that. And when the children gathered under its branches for the Fête de la Musique, what were the odds they sang “Il pleut, bergère”?
Life in France is less about achievement than process. Hours, days, months, seasons, years pass, each with promises honored or thwarted, events celebrated or endured. The world turns, but France, like the pivot of Foucault’s pendulum, remains in its essentials unchanged. For such a culture the Republican calendar, preoccupied with nature and the seasons, may be, for all its faults, an apt metaphor and Philippe-François-Nazaire Fabre, however disreputable, a fitting laureate.
Important Dates and Events
JANUARY
1. Réveillon. The new year is welcomed in various locations, notably the Champs-Élyseés.
6. Nuit des Rois (Night of Kings). The traditional galette is shared.
10–13. The annual winter soldes (sales), at all stores.
17–21. Fashion Week: Men’s.
21–25. Fashion Week: Haute Couture.
FEBRUARY
16–25. Chinese New Year. Parades in the thirteenth arrondissement.
27–March 6. Fashion Week Fall/Winter.
MARCH
Fashion Week Fall/Winter continues.
16–19. Salon du Livre, publishers’ trade fair.
APRIL
Le Mois de la Photo (Month of Photography).
8. Paris Marathon.
11–14. Salon International du Livre Rare (rare book fair), Grand Palais.
MAY
19. Nuit des Musées (Night of Museums). Many Paris museums stay open late.
27–June 10. French Open tennis championship, Stade Roland-Garros.
JUNE
French Open continues.
21. Fête de la Musique. Amateur and professional musicians perform in public all night.
20–24. Fashion Week: Men’s.
30. La Marche des Fiertés LGBT (LGBT pride march).
JULY
1–4. Fête du Cinéma. Reduced prices at participating cinemas.
1–5. Fashion Week: Haute Couture.
6. Paris Plages open (until September).
14. Bastille Day. France’s national day, celebrated with a military parade down the Champs-Élysées and fireworks at night.
29. Climax of the Tour de France bicycle race. Final sprint down Champs-Élyseés.
AUGUST
Paris Plages remain open.
Outdoor film screenings at La Villette.
SEPTEMBER
8–16. Design Week.
16–17. Journées du Patrimoine. Open houses at various historic sites.
23–24. Fête des Jardins. Visits to private gardens.
OCTOBER
6. Nuit Blanche. Shops and cafés stay open all night. The mayor welcomes visitors to Hôtel de Ville.
11–14. Vendange of Montmartre vineyard. Montmartre Wine Festival.
19–22. FIAC (art fair for professional art dealers and gallerists), Grand Palais.
28–November 1. Salon du Chocolat.
NOVEMBER
15. Opening of the ski season at certain resorts.
DECEMBER
2. Opening of the ski season at certain resorts.
First weekend, through February or March. Ice skating at Hôtel de Ville and other venues.
Acknowledgments
MY THANKS TO MY EDITOR, PETER HUBBARD, WHOSE IDEA THIS was; to Nick Amphlett, and to everyone at Harper Perennial who helped bring this book and many others to a successful completion. Also to my agent, Jonathan Lloyd of Curtis Brown; to my wife, Marie-Dominique, and daughter, Louise; to Neil Hornick for his reminiscences of busking around Europe, Ann Mah for permission to quote from her blog, and Janice Battiste, for her indispensable ability to retain her sanity and sense of humor when all about are losing theirs.
Photography and Art Credits
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.
Page 76. Original document dated Fructidor 8, Year 11. Author’s collection.
Page 110. Khan, Yaseen. Les Feuilles mortes. Author’s collection.
Index
The pagination of this digital edition does not match the print edition from which the index was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your ebook reader’s search tools.
Page references in italics refer to illustrations.
Adams, John Quincy, 181
Aérosol, Jef, 161
À la recherche du temps perdu, or In Search of Lost Time (Proust), 11, 244
Allen, Woody, 32, 269
Amalric, Mathieu, 32
Amélie, 229
American in Paris, An, 32
“America the Beautiful,” xvi
L’ami du peuple, 143
Amuse-Gueules, Les, 271
anarchist impulse:
Commune of 1871 and, 160, 197–98, 217, 225
surrealists and, 192
anonymity, freedom equated with, 139–40
anticipation, satisfaction sharpened by, 252
antiquaires, 220, 222
Apollinaire, Guillaume, 31–32, 104, 272
apples:
as Chirac’s emblem, 254, 255, 256
EU policies and, 254–56
L’Après-midi d’un faune, 203
April in Paris (film), 124
“April in Paris” (song), 121–26
April in Paris, a melancholy vision of (Gorguet), 123
Aragon, Louis, 218, 269, 274
Arbeau, Thoinot (pen name of Jehan Tabourot), 127–28
Arc de Triomphe, xv, xvi, 276
Aufray, Hugues, 463
August, heat of, 13–14, 15, 136–40
Australia, 225
Christmas in, 24–25
filmmakers and intellectuals in, 37–42
reverence for lost British Empire in, 25
seasonal variation in, 23–24
sense of inferiority, or “cultural cringe,” in, 36–38
Southerly Buster in, 238
autumn, 109, 285
Lafitte’s image for Messidor, 259, 260
poems about, 259–61
autumnal equinox, as first day of Republican year, 107–8
“Autumn in New York,” 122
autumn leaves:
allowed to accumulate, 112
on floor of La Souris Verte, 113, 114
Avignon festival, 67
Aznavour, Charles, 13–14
Baker, Josephine, 174, 205
Bakst, Léon, 203
Baldwin, James, 270
Balladur, Édouard, 256
Ballantine, Poe, 23–24
Ballard, J. G., 188, 190–91, 192–93
Ballard, Mary, 191
Ballets Russes, 200, 201–6
bals and bals musettes, 139–40
Bana, Eric, 32
Barbarella, 189, 190
Barenboim, Daniel, 211
Barnes, Djuna, 161
Barnes, Julian, 88
BashÅ, 103
Basie, Count, 279
Bastille, 68, 73, 166, 207–8
“Bateau ivre, Le,” or “The Drunken Boat” (Rimbaud), 160–62, 163
bateaux mouches, 32, 55
Bates, Katharine Lee, xvi
Baxter, L
ouise (daughter), 2, 7, 50, 52, 57, 170, 237
Beaujolais nouveau, 108, 114–16
Beauvoir, Simone de, 271
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 211
Belle Aurore, La, 30
Benois, Alexandre, 203
Bérard, Christian, 286–87
Bernardini, Alain, 173
Bernardini, Micheline, 173, 175
Biennais, Martin-Guillaume, 179
bikini, first, 173, 175
blackberries, 183
Bleak House (Dickens), 184
Blonde Venue, 38, 39
Boot, Das, 277
Borges, Jorge Luis, 5
Borodin, Alexander, 203
Bourbon monarchy, 75, 95
Bowles, Paul, 116
Brando, Marlon, 32
Brassaï (Gyula Halász), 269
Breton, André, 19–20, 192, 218, 236
brocantes (secondhand markets), 219–26, 221
Brooke, Rupert, 46
Browning, Robert, 126
Bruant, Aristide, 150
Brueghel, Pieter, 6
Bruins, Jan Willem, 161, 163
Brumaire, 46, 119, 181, 217
Buckingham Palace, 69
Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de, 130–32
Burgh brothers, 171
buskers, 146–52, 148, 149, 235
auditions and permits for, 150
foreigners as, 147–49, 149, 151–52
Parisians as, 149–50
risks faced by, 150–51
cadenas d’amour (love locks), 31
Caesar, Julius, 77, 105
cafard, 137, 191
Café de la Mairie, 161
Café des Deux Moulins, 229
cafés, 124, 147, 228, 270
bals at, 139–40
Caflisch, Chasper, 245–46
calendars:
naming of children and, 129, 134
pack of playing cards serving purpose of, 128–29
Republican, see Calendrier républicain
solar, proposed by Comte, 198–99
see also Gregorian calendar
Calendrier républicain (Republican calendar), 10, 13, 46–47, 76–83, 105–8, 129–35, 142–43, 153–57, 180, 190, 217
abolishment of, 186
adopted by Convention, 143
almanac function of, 129
commission convened to explore options for, 77–83, 105–6
Cubières’s ode in celebration of, 143
day left over at end of each year in, 119
day names in, 107
first day of year in, 107–8
holidays in, 119–20, 182–85
impetus for, 46, 76–77
Lafitte’s illustrations for, 154–57, 158, 181, 215, 259, 260
metric system imposed on, 106–7, 117
mocked outside France, 181
month names in, 118–19, 201, 263
naming of children and, 134
“The new Republic rewrites the calendar,” 156
plant and animal names in, 130–34, 214–15
poets, musicians, and artists seizing on nature imagery of, 258–64
purged of religious doctrine and lingering church influence, 118, 198, 237
restoration of, during Commune, 198
transposing dates between Gregorian calendar and, 185
unpopularity of, 134–35, 181
Callaghan, Harry, 222–26
Calle, Sophie, 32–34, 33
Camus, Albert, 271
Canal Saint-Martin, 175–78
Candide (Voltaire), 133
canicule, le (dog days), 14
Canterbury Tales, The (Chaucer), 201
Caron, Leslie, 32
Carrefour (crossroads) de l’Odéon, 288–91, 290
Carter, Jimmy, 8
Cassidy, Eva, 262
Catacombs, 75, 180
Céline, 46
Centre des Finances Publiques (tax office), 159, 160–61
Centre Pompidou, 235
Chamade, La (Sagan), 284
Champagne, 154, 237, 249
Champs-Élysées, 208, 275
under wheat, xiv–xvii, xv
Chandler, Raymond, 238, 270
“Chanson d’automne,” or “Autumn Song” (Verlaine), 261, 281–82
Charade, 32
Charente, 86, 136, 252, 277, 285–86
Charnay, Geoffroy de, 35
Chaucer, William, 201
Chesterton, G. K., 162–63
chestnut flowers, as first sign of spring, 125
chestnut sellers, 109, 116
Chevalier, Maurice, 145
chineurs, 220–26
Chirac, Jacques, 253–54, 255, 256
Christmas, 44
in Australia, 24–25
in Richebourg, Île-de-France, 1–3, 6–7
Christopher, John, 187
Christopher, Saint, 33
church:
Calendrier républicain purged of lingering influence of, 118, 198, 237
confiscation of property of, 197
decline of, 7
First Estate and, 2
imprisonment of clergy and, 117–18
Michaelmas and Martinmas and, 182
restored as official institution, 186
Churchill, Winston, 275
Cimitière de Montmartre, 179
Cimitière des Errancis, 180
Citizens (Schama), 80, 82
City of Paris Fine Arts Museum, 99
Civil War, U.S., 73
Clair, René, 149
Clarke, Arthur C., 41
Club des Cordeliers, 82, 141, 144
Cocaine Nights (Ballard), 191
Coco soft-drink sellers, 137, 138
Cocteau, Jean, 200, 202, 202, 206, 286, 287
Code Napoléon, 186
Cohen, Leonard, 249–50
Cohn-Bendit, Daniel, 225
Comédie-Italienne, 68
“coming out” rituals, 69–70
Committee of Public Safety, 143, 144, 167
Commune (1871), 160, 197–98, 217, 225
Communists, 216
Compagnie Française des Indes Orientales, 142, 144, 166
Compot or Manual Calendar, The (Tabourot), 128
Comte, Auguste, 198–99
Conciergerie, 18
Convention, 80, 82, 106, 118, 129, 141, 142, 143, 144, 154, 166–167, 168–69
Corday, Charlotte, 143, 164
Cordeliers Club, 82, 141, 144
Count of Monte Cristo, The (Dumas), 196
Cour du Commerce Saint-André, 75
Crane, Hart, 32, 270
Crazy Horse Saloon, 173
Crillon, Hôtel de, 45
crocodiles, in Canal Saint-Martin, 176–78
Cruikshank, George, 183, 184
Crusades, 162
Crystal World, The (Ballard), 188
Cubières, Michel de, 143
Curie, Marie and Pierre, 60
Dadaists, 218
D’Annunzio, Gabriele, 244
Danton, Georges, 78–80, 79, 118, 142, 143, 165, 166–67, 225, 264, 291
burial of, 180
death of, 168–69
Fabre as protégé of, 78, 80, 82–83, 142, 167
statue of, 73–75
Darin, Bobby, 262–63
date palms, moved indoors for winter, 111–12
David, Jacques-Louis, 215
Davis, Miles, 271
Day, Doris, 124
Day for Night, 59
Debord, Guy, 35
Debucourt, Philibert-Louis, 155
Debussy, Claude, 203
débutantes, 69–70
décades (weeks), 107, 182
naming of, 130, 133
“Deck of Cards, The,” 128
Decroux, Étienne, 235
Delvaux, Paul, 192
demi-décades (former fortnight), naming of, 130, 133
Denis, Saint, 230, 233
Desailly, Jean, 18
Desmoulins, Camille, 83, 167–68, 180, 29
1
Desremond, Catherine (Catiche), 93–94
Diaghilev, Sergei, 201–6
Dickens, Charles, 72–73, 165, 184, 195
Dietrich, Marlene, 38, 39
Dior, Christian, Atelier, 258
Directoire, 180, 185
Divorce, Le (Johnson), 12–13
Dorade, 171
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, 187
Dreyfus, Alfred, 50, 51
Drought, The (Ballard), 188
Drowned World, The (Ballard), 188
Dukakis, Michael, xvi
Duke, Vernon, 122–24, 125, 126
Dumas, Alexandre, 60, 196
Duse, Eleanora, 244, 246
East India Company, 142, 144, 166
Eco, Umberto, 38–42, 40, 58, 59, 61
École Militaire, 50
Einstein, Albert, 49
Eleanore, the crocodile of Pont Neuf, 177–78
Elementary Particles (Houellebecq), 87
Elington, Duke, 279
Eliot, T. S., 191, 216
Elizabeth, queen of England, 25
Ellis, George, 181
Élysée, 75
Ernestine, 68
Escoffier, Auguste, 218
euro, 73
Europe, James Reese, 206
European Union (EU), 211, 254–56
événements de ’68, les, 208, 217, 224–26
Everyone Says I Love You, 32
existentialism, 271
Exposition Universelle (1900), 99
Fabre d’Églantine, Philippe-François-Nazaire, 47, 74, 80–83, 81, 91–97, 116, 118, 141–44, 190, 197, 291, 292
burial of, 180
Calendrier républicain and, 13, 78, 105–8, 117, 120, 129–30, 133–35, 142–43, 154, 157, 181, 185, 186, 198, 201, 214–15, 258, 264
childhood and education of, 92
as Danton’s protégé, 78, 80, 82–83, 142, 167
death of, 164, 167, 168
debts of, 94, 95, 96–97
family background of, 91–92
female conquests of, 93–94, 95
golden rose as emblem of, 80–82, 81, 95, 111, 210, 214
Greuze’s portrait of, 141–42
“Il pleut, bergère” written by, 95–96, 168, 292
shady business deals of, 142, 144, 166
street named for, 218
theater career of, 78, 92–94, 95
Farewell to Arms, A (Hemingway), 4
farmers:
Calendrier républicain and, 107–8, 118, 129, 130, 153–54, 181–85
influence of, 2
rural decline and, 6–7
wheat in Champs-Élysées and, xiv–xvii, xv
Faulks, Sebastian, 277
“Fern Hill” (Thomas), 17
Fête de la Révolution, La, 119
Fête de la Vertu, La, 119
Fête de l’Opinion, La, 120
Fête des Récompenses, La, 119
Fête du Génie, La, 119