Around and About Paris,
by Thirza Vallois
A Glimpse at the 17th Arrondissement
A vast, elongated territory stretches across the north-western edge of Paris...
...young Colette was put off by the whitewashed cleanliness of the middle-class
area west of the tracks. Criss-crossed by broad, well-ventilated arteries,
which had mushroomed overnight, it
still bore the smell of fresh paint.
At the turn of the century, her aunt was
living in the new Avenue Wagram, "in a magnificent, unattractive new block of
flats' with a rapid lift.
'I rather disliked all those white walls,' remarked Colette. 'The drawing room...
desperately carried on the whiteness of the staircase. White-painted woodwork,
frail white furniture, white cushions with light-coloured flowers, white chimney piece.
Good heavens, there wasn't one single dark corner!'
Needless to say, Aunt Wilhelmine Coeur greatly disapproved of Papa's living with
17-year-old Colette on the narrow, dark rue Jacob on the Left Bank. 'My dear,'
she said to her brother, 'the new neighbourhoods are far healthier, far airier and
far better built.'
Of course propriety and respectability were the underlying virtues of these virginal
beaux quartiers of western Paris, as against 'that dirty Left Bank where no
nice people live'.
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thirzavallois@iliadbooks.demon.co.uk
URL http://www.thirzavallois.com/
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