September 20/21, 2018 (Paris)

September 20/21, 2018

We just got back from Paris.  Yesterday we spent the day at Passage des Panoramas (11 Boulevard Montmartre).  This is the arcade that Walter Benjamin wrote about in his major (unfinished) book "Arcade Project."  What's interesting about this arcade is that it opened in 1800, and its the first role model or attempt to make an indoor shopping center in an urban area, in other words, a city.  Paris in 1800 was dirty streets that were not friendly to the retail space, due to the lack of electricity and their various plumbing problems, where citizens would throw their shit and piss on the streets.  The Passage des Panoramas is the oldest covered shopping area in Paris.   Going there was a moving experience for me.

I have great admiration for Walter Benjamin's writing, as well as his interest in culture and city-living.  He openly admired Charles Baudelaire not only for his poetry but also his appreciation for the aesthetic and nature of a city (Paris).   Passage des Panoramas was invented for the sole purpose of shopping, which one comes to think of it, a somewhat original 19th century thought.  But why is it fascinating now?

Well, for one, I'm a consumer.  I can't help it. Without a doubt, it's an addiction of great importance to me, as a person, and writer.  I'm sure those who read my posts have a good indication that I love records and books.  But I also have a deep secretive (even to myself) love for other's childhood culture.  For instance, I'm fascinated with TinTin, yet though I have to admit I'm not French or Belgium (the home of TinTin).  There was a tote bag we saw through the window that seemed to me to be a perfect purchase, but alas, the store was closed.  I find the independent stores in Paris a mystery due to their hours. Some are open from 1 pm to 6 pm, and I get the impression that they don't want to change their lives too much due to the success of the tourist demand.  Still, I'm amazed at the beauty of a culture that's expressed in a retail shop.  People tend to not to look up to the retail place as something as important as a museum.   Often I think it is even more critical, because there are people who open shops that are devoted to the past, and they do so with great passion.  When I go into a good shop, I feel obsession, love, sensuality, and pleasure.  I feel this when I enter the Passage des Panoramas

"The Factory of Facts" by Luc Sante (Memoir/Cultural History)

ISBN: 0-679-42410-5 Pantheon Books

The Factory Facts by Luc Sante

One of the most unique memoirs I've ever read, but then again, Luc Sante is one idiosyncratic and special writer.   "The Factory of Facts" deal with Sante's childhood in his native country Belgium as well as New Jersey, his adopted home with his family.  The beauty of the book is that Sante writes about culture as the foreground to his life.  Although our lives are quite different, we are almost the exact age.   Both of us were born in 1954, and I recognize his cultural posts throughout the book.  Whatever it's a candy company that doesn't exist anymore, or a TV show/Film - I understand the importance of items that surround one's life. 

More of a collection of essays than a running narrative, Luc Sante came from a hardcore working class world, where I believe he's the only one who went on to college.  A brilliant observer of things around him, he is also sensitive to the fact that he is one from two cultures - Belgium and the United States.  Both are complex and multi-cultural locations as well.  One chapter he discusses what it is like to live in America and think/talk in French.   A lot of people think of translation as something easy as a Google app, but the fact the thinking is different, which conveys the 'fact' that language is a big part of our make-up.  Signage in a department store can be something obscure and totally odd, because it doesn't really make sense in a French context.  

"The Factory of Facts" is cultural history more than a straight ahead memoir, but the surroundings can tell a great narrative, when it is placed behind an individual.  I have to imagine writers will find this book fascinating.  I, who know very little of Belgium and its culture (only TinTin I'm afraid) I learn a lot through the eyes and mind of Sante.  As a writer myself, I'm consistently reminded how important my surroundings and things are to me.  Especially as a writer, and this is a great book that is suitable for those who want to write and those who do the job. 

- Tosh Berman

"TinTin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece" 1961 film

The original film poster

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7


Part 8


Part 9

The Adventures of TinTin "The Secret of the Unicorn" by Hergé

Ah I always do things half-assed backwards.  Ok, so this is the first part of the two part story and I sort of gave a review for the second part.   What's amazing and interesting is how much research Hergé did for his stories.  Besides clothing, he had a good eye for architecture as well as weapons, automobiles, etc.  These young reader editions all have additional information regarding the story - and overall its very interesting. Similar to a bonus on a DVD set.   The world of TinTin is very very rich.

The narrative doesn't impress me that much, but the detail work of his Hergé's illustrations is really impressive.  And as I mentioned before I am really attracted to his drawings.  And I think I got that bug ever since I was a child.

The Adventures of TinTin/"Red Rackham's Treasure" by Hergé, plus Documentary on TinTin

I have known TinTin all my life and i must have read the series as a very very young tot, or my mom read them to me.   For the past 40 something years I have been avoiding re-reading the books, while at the same time being very attracted to the author/artist Hergé's artwork.  in fact I am totally nuts about it.

It is fascinating that Hergé did a remarkable amount of research for his narrative/artwork.  He made models of locations/ships, and in many ways they are sort of like little films or at the very least visual film treatments - but alas, that doesn't really matter, because the work really does it best on the printed page.  "Red Rackham's Treasure" is the second TinTin book, and my understanding is that it is sort of attached to the first adventure "The Secret of the Unicorn" which I will read next.  Nevertheless "Red Rakham's Treasure" stands up on its own, and all the eccentric characters are fully exposed and explained.  What we have here is a boy's adventure,  but with very well dressed characters.  And that alone is worth the attention, and seeing how Hergé works and thinks, this has to be an important aspect to the aesthetic of TinTin.

This book as well as the others I will read shortly are young reader's edition's, which is exactly (at least I have been told that) the same as the original, except the images are bigger, and each title has an additional 20 pages of bonus material, which is quite interesting.

Down below is a documentary on Hergé and his invention TinTin.


"TinTin & I Documentary Part 1


"TinTin & I" Documentary Part 2


"TinTin & I" Documentary Part 3


"TinTin & I" Documentary Part 4


"TinTin & I" Documentary Part 5

"The Adventues of Hergé" by Bocquet, Fromental, and Stanislas

Hergé has always been a mysterious figure to me. What interests me more is not TinTin, but the research that went into his work. The fact that he was a depressive personality and sort of in murky waters with respect to politics -makes him a fascinating subject for a biography. As far as I know there are two biographies in English (one of them is coming out next month) and of course, this graphic biography by Boucquet, Fromental and the remarkable illustrator Stanislas. 
I am a total sucker for the typical design for graphic novels in France. And the great publishing house Drawn and Quarterly keeps the same design. And if you looked at it fast enough at a bookstore, you think it was part of the TinTin series. So, yes, a very elegant book. But I also feel that this book was edited down, because it jumps around a lot. And I did enjoy reading it in one sitting (well I am in a bed with a cold), but still, i wished it lingered in certain parts of the narrative. But for sure, I am going to dwell into the world of TinTin. This book wet my hunger for boy reporters who get themselves in jams