Subject: international reading habits
From: Valérie Aron (miss_vertigo18@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Jul 22 2001 - 15:51:08 GMT
--- Will Hochman <hochman@southernct.edu> wrote:
> I'm also curious...are you in France? Do they not
> read Salinger there?
>
> will
>
> PS: That's an innocent q--I just want to know.
> Balzac is one of my
> favorite writers but I've been told the French don't
> read him
> anymore. I'm always wondering what others
> read...perhaps because
> there's a stack of papers for me to read right now
> and I'd rather
> dive into Lost Illusions anytime!
> --
> Will Hochman
I know it's an innocent question... what else could
it be? you 're looking for an address for a stay in
France?
Yes, I'm in France: I've lived in Paris for 21 years
(my whole long life...). About writers the French
read: ....do the French read???????? Let's see: I'm
looking at the top-25 best-sellers of the week: n.1:
Mary Higgins Clark, n.4: J. Grisham, n.5: P.D. James,
n.20: Paulo Coelho... Exciting!!!!!!! We also have
n.3: a french book written by a 50-year-old bourgeoise
woman, where she tells with details her sexual life
with about...100 men (she doesn't really know ...),
and there are some pictures of her naked taken by his
husband inside the book. It's the last "chic" in
Paris.
However, Paul Auster is n.25 with "I thought my
father was God", and William Boyd is n.24.
To sum up, you can Lost your Illusions about the
French culture...Or maybe not, but, you know, people
don't read Balzac anymore because all his books are
movies today!!! Well, I can speak, I only read "Les
Chouans"...
More seriously, I know that the new french generation
of writers turns to say that the american literature
is today more interesting than ours. The most popular
(so ggod-sellers) american writers (except Higgins
Clark and cie)are Paul Auster, Bret Easton Ellis,
Frank Mc Court, Henry Miller, James Ellroy, and
Hemingway. Salinger is not famous at all, though all
his books have been translated. He has a little group
of readers like me, but it's nothing compare to
Hemingway or Fitzgerald.
I can't say more about French habits about books. My
friends or my family are not huge readers (my brother
reads only historic or politic books, and my father
computer magazines!!!!!!!!), and none of them (me
neither: I'm a poor little amateur...) are student or
teacher in literature...We're all TV-addicted.
I hope it helps.
Valérie
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