Book Review: "Paris Stories" ed. by Shaun Whiteside

I was cleaning out parts of my room recently and I came across a stack of dusty books beneath my bed. They've probably been there for around 3-4 years and so, I decided to pick some of them out. I recall reading these books but honestly, there is no reason why I can't revisit them, especially when they are part of the Everyman series. I was quite surprised the first time I read it because the book definitely took all of the things you think about when you hear 'Paris' and initially it goes 'no, not really'. But I've got used to it and I've been able to analyse the way in which the extract which depicts a massacre fits into the whole history of Paris. Let's take a look...

The first extract I want to talk about is the 'Massacre' as it was probably the most violent part of the whole book. It talks about people being killed, prisoners being slaughtered (all except for those in debt) and the voice of the text is clearly sickened. There's plenty of examples of him being terrified and just ill from watching the bloodshed. In one instance he sees an aristocrat led to his death and he thinks the man doesn't know he's going to be killed. But in fact, he just goes quietly and doesn't even resist being murdered. There's one particular part though in which a woman is murdered atop a pile of corpses and my eyes just widened as I read it. It was angry, it was atmospheric and it was dreadfully frightening. I'll attach a photograph of the extract I'm talking about below.

Another extract that got me the first time I read this book was the one from Les Miserables. Now, I love the novel Les Miserables, but the editor goes above and beyond by including the imagery and atmosphere of Paris underground. The extract comes from the Paris sewers and is just as gross and dark as you think it is. It talks of people being lost down there and how the sewers flow directly underneath a statue of the king. For some reason, it made me think of those parts of Hamlet where he talks about worms, beggars and kings. It just seems so massively metaphorical that I couldn't take my eyes from it for a while.

I also enjoyed a story about a woman who lives outside Paris but wants to go into the city. She eventually gets the courage to lie to everyone and spend a few days searching the capital city for transgressive behaviours. After all her life of being the 'good girl', she wants to experience some "wickedness" as she calls it. Walking around the streets, she doesn't seem to find any and eventually comes into contact with a man in a shop. She is hoping that this man, who she will accompany to the theatre, will show her some of this wickedness before the night is out. But, the ending is an anti-climax of hopelessness and a strange realisation.

There's a diary as well, one about meeting a whole host of people - mostly authors. The person in question meets Dumas and other incredible names but one of the most iconic people he meets is the writer Emile Zola who tells him about how he writer. Zola writes one hundred lines a day. He often gets drunk and doesn't listen to others very well. But one thing I did find is that there is a beautiful extract from his book L'Assomoir in this book too. It sometimes concerns the way in which the main character contemplates suicide and it is one of the most powerful things he has ever written in my opinion. Once you read the diary in which an on-looker records his situation, you can understand more about his writing, especially how it is included within this book. I have attached part of Zola's exploits below...

There are many things within this book to appreciate but I think I've given you a great overview of them. Of course, this goes in time order, but I think there is more to say about the older, more explicit depictions of Paris than there are of the newer ones. That's just my opinion though.