Paris Was Yesterday, 1925-1939 | 
| Author: Janet (genet) Flanner
Publisher: Harvest Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy Used: $7.10
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Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 239129
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 264
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0156709902
Dewey Decimal Number: 944.360815
EAN: 9780156709903
ASIN: 0156709902
Publication Date: April 18, 1988
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Product Description
In 1925 Flanner began her New Yorker “Letter from Paris,” from which most of the pieces in this collection are drawn. They give an incomparable view of French life before World War II. Edited by Irving Drutman; Index.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Paris Between the Wars! June 19, 2008
The Paris, France of Janet Flanner's time was quite different then. In between World Wars, Paris probably thought it was on the rise of maintaining the role in attracting the finest artists, writers, and cultural elite. The American expatriate artists flocked to Europe because of the dismal great depression. Janet left before the great depression with another divorcee, Solita Solano. Janet and Solita lived modestly in Paris. Janet would eat at Cafe Deux Magots with the likes of Ernest Hemingway. Janet foresaw Hitler's evil long before anyone else. Janet loved Paris unlike every other city. Paris is quite a feminine city by design. It's pretty and it attracted the likes of lesbian expatriates Natalie Clifford Barney, Romaine Brooks, Rene Vivian, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Sylvia Beach, Adrienne Monnier, Djuna Barnes, Nancy Clare Cunard who were all friends with Janet during this time. In Europe, people like Janet were accepted and tolerated especially in Paris where it was fashionable. Women like Janet and others got to be in control of their destinies. Although the 1920s were simply a time of sexual revolution, the great depression probably was the main reason for many Americans to go abroad. Anyway, Janet was a remarkable writer who worked out every word and sentence before sending it to be published. I would love to have lived in Paris between the wars where being a woman wasn't crime if you weren't married.
Great Wit and Writing February 21, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Janet Flanner's dry sense of humor, combined with her keen reportage, make this a great read on your flight to Paris, or to just pick up and read now and then. The historical perspective and insight is priceless.
 Unreadable October 16, 2006
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
I've sat in front of this book for a week, barely making a dent in it. Flanner purports to tell the story of French culture, but succeeds only in revealing that she is a socialite concerned only with the deaths of famous authors.
The book is organized into one-paragraph snippets summarizing the latest death, of Lindbergh or Monet, for instance. However, instead of reflecting the culture of Paris in the era, Flanner simply summarizes the lives of her subjects. Her description of Monet ends, as do many, with a count of how many people attended his funeral.
Simply put, the book reads like the journal of a socialite who is out of touch with common culture. It is not interesting neither literarily or historically.
A Wordsmith's diary May 24, 2004
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
There are rare pleasures in reading, one of which is stumbling onto a 'new' author. Ms Flanner could craft a detailed word picture almost with a single stroke of her pen. She wrote what she saw, actors, authors, lives and deaths of Knowns and Unknowns. She was there at the events, both great and small in a Paris she knew well and obviously loved. She is able to give the period between the wars a flavor and texture that makes it live and breathe. In some ways it is a gossipy diary, in others a police blotter, a literal whos-who of the literary scene of the time. Entries vary from a few pithy lines to several pages, ranging from light and humorous to somber and serious. And all extremely well written.
C'est superbe March 31, 2003
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
Flanner (nom de plume: Genet), a former New Yorker essayist and who lived in Paris for many years, describes the cultural and social life of Paris in the 20s and 30s. She pens wonderful glimpses into what Parisians were thinking, feeling, and doing -Parisian ways of living, wine, and art. C'est magnifique.
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