The Flaneur

About this book

**From Amazon.com:** “One has the impression, reading *The Flâneur*, of having fallen into the hands of a highly distractible, somewhat eccentric poet and professor who is determined to show you a Paris you wouldn’t otherwise see…Edmund White tells such a good story that I’m ready to listen to anything he wants to talk about.”—*New York Times Book Review* A flâneur is a stroller, a loiterer, someone who ambles through city streets in search of adventure and fulfillment. Edmund White, who lived in Paris for sixteen years, wanders through the streets and avenues and along the quays, into parts of Paris virtually unknown to visitors and indeed to many Parisians. In the hands of the learned White, a walk through Paris is both a tour of its lush, sometimes prurient history and an evocation of the city’s spirit. The Flâneur leads us to bookshops and boutiques, monuments and palaces, giving us a glimpse into the inner human drama. Along the way we learn everything from the latest debates among French lawmakers to the juicy details of Colette’s life.

Themes & subjects

About the author

Edmund White

1940-01-13 – 2025-06-03

Edmund Valentine White III is a patriarch of modern gay American literature, having contributed novels, memoirs, short stories, and essays, non-fiction as well as fiction, dealing with a range of social topics, frequently involving same-sex love. His best-known works include *The Joy of Gay Sex* (with Charles Silverstein) and his autobiographic-fiction trilogy *A Boy's Own Story*, *The Beautiful Room Is Empty*, and *The Farewell Symphony*.