Review by Stacey O’Carroll
Editor: Zachary Seager
RRP: $22.99
Release Date: 10 September 2024
“There is a real place called Paris. You can go there, if you like.”
After spending a month immersed in all this Paris while watching the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic games earlier this year, the search to keep diving into French culture lingered. That is until a tiny little pink book appeared in my mailbox. Paris A Literary Anthology, edited by Zachary Seager, is an author and Francofile’s dream. Although flying to and experiencing the cobbled streets, baked treats and artistic creativity in person would be preferential, Seager’s compendium of authors and poets who have lived, worked and written in Paris allows the reader to travel back in time and meander alongside them.
“‘Paris.—At last I have found what I wished for without knowing it. To live means Paris!’ from The Journal of Marie Bashkirtseff”
Seager has gathered together all the authors, artists, poets and creatives in one literary cafe where the reader can learn a little about them and read excerpts from their notable works or journals. From Gustave Eiffel to Victor Hugo to Honore De Balzac to Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette to Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Amy Lowell to Gustave Flaubert to George Orwell and many many more, Seager brings each Arrondissement to life on the page through the evocative descriptions of some of France and the worlds most famous writers. Like any anthology, Paris A Literary Anthology sparks the reader’s imagination and provides a cobbled path to find the works of these writers. Seager’s Paris A Literary Anthology is the perfect travel size and would be a welcome addition to any carry-on luggage. Au revoir!