Subject: Re: international reading habits
From: Valérie Aron (miss_vertigo18@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Jul 23 2001 - 04:43:54 GMT
--- Tim O'Connor <oconnort@nyu.edu> wrote:
>
> I live in another city many people seem to love (as
> I do, myself),
> but I envy you that you've lived in Paris your whole
> life. When I
> first went there, all I knew were the Truffaut
> movies and Hemingway.
> I was startled to find that much of the city still
> looks the way it
> does in Truffaut, and not surprised to find that
> much of it is not
> the same as it was in A MOVEABLE FEAST, a book I
> quite like.
I guess I'm lucky to live here even I'd like to
move out later: I say that but when I'm out, I just
want to come back here!!! Except New York: I went to
the Big Apple 6 years ago with my parents but it
didn't struck me that much... but then I read
Salinger, and Paul Auster (fucking wonderful New York
trilogy...) and I just became crazy about this city
(the power of books...), so they sent me there last
september (a full month AHAHAHAHAHA!!!), hoping my
obsession would (will? my grammar is crappy) end. Nice
shot, but it doesn't work at all: I was walking around
the city all the day with a big stupid smile on my
face (one guy in Washington Square said: "Wow, you
look happy!!". HE himself looked pretty sad...). I
attempt to get a green card with the Lottery but it
didn't work, I attempt to go to Columbia University
thanks to the exchange program of my school but it
didn't work either. Lucky me!!!
How long have you lived (are you living? do you live?
have you been living?? damn it!) in NY? I don't
compell you to answer, of course, if you want to keep
it for yourself..
About Paris: I often hear that Parisian might be
NewYorker and that New Yorker might be Parisian. It's
strange because these 2 cities look like the same but
that medias (TV, movies) show them as if they were
very different: Paris is always a bit old-fashioned,
retro, like a house for dolls, whereas New York is
flirting with blood and dirty boroughs (which makes it
strangely attractive for a little bourgeoise like me:
I was looking for a serial killer). Of course, the
reality is quite different: let's see where I live,
you would prefer to be in Old Alphabet city (maybe you
are...).
> I always say that if there were another city I could
> see myself living
> in aside from NY, it would be Paris. But I don't
> think that will
> ever happen. I have very little confidence in my
> ability to learn
> the language sufficiently to survive. The idea
> survives as a dream,
> however. And I visit whenever I can. I love to
> visit there.
Why such a little confidence? (OK, I'm not the right
person to talk about confidence...). My english is
quite bad ( and if you think the opposite, it's just
because you didn't hear me yet), and I got some
problems in NY: I was saying something and the guy
reacted: "Hein?". I repeated my sentence with the
exact same accent, and then he strangely understood
and said: "OK". The miracle of the repeat... Of
course, you will need more than the simple
"voulez-vous coucher avec moi?" you hear every month
in a new song. Paul Auster did it and he was surely
the shiest (?) man in Paris .
> > We're all TV-addicted.
>
> Oh, no: a scandale! 8-)
Yes, we are. I even watch things I'm not interested
in. I should throw this TV, but my father would not
agree with that...
Valérie
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