Written Arts Program Presents
A Reading by Luc Sante
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Bard Hall
7:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Award-winning author Luc Sante, Bard’s visiting professor of writing and photography, reads from his most recent book, The Other Paris.7:00 pm EST/GMT-5
The Other Paris offers a panoramic view of the shadow city within the great French metropolis, drawing on testimony from a great range of witnesses, from Balzac and Hugo to assorted boulevardiers, rabble-rousers, and tramps. Sante scuttles through the knotted streets of pre-Haussmann Paris, through the improvised accommodations of the original bohemians, through the whorehouses and dance halls and hobo shelters of the old city. A lively survey of labor conditions, prostitution, drinking, crime, and popular entertainment, and of the reporters, réaliste singers, pamphleteers, and poets who chronicled their evolution, The Other Paris is a book meant to upend the story of the French capital, to reclaim the city from the bons vivants and the speculators, and to hold a light to the works and lives of those expunged from its center by the forces of profit.
“This brilliant, beautifully written essay is the finest book I have ever read about Paris. Ever. Thank you, Luc Sante.” —Paul Auster
“The Other Paris is a heartbreaking spectacle, immense in intellectual and political scope and emotional reach. Peopled by crooks and movie stars, gamblers and thinkers, the world’s premier city of dreams is rendered, through Luc Sante’s fine hand, historian’s eye, and poet’s heart, into a place we hardly knew-a world of hitherto unknown mysteries and realities. A grand journey in an epic work.” —Hilton Als
The reading takes place on 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 25th, in Bard Hall, and is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are required. Books will be available for sale and signing from Oblong Books & Music.
For more information, call 845-758-7054, or e-mail [email protected].
Time: 7:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Location: Bard Hall