A French-speaking American discovers the soul of France on foot through an extensive network of long-distance walking trails crisscrossing the country.
Statues of Liberty derives its title from the fact that there are at least four of these monuments in Paris, as well as dozens scattered all over the world, all inspired by Bartholdi's original that stands proudly in New York Harbor. It is is a collection of thirty-eight essays written over a period of years documenting the author's experiences and discoveries in France Ranging from the trials and tribulations of a retired American renting an apartment from a dishonest landlady to visits to trade shows and food fairs to walks in the picturesque French countryside and tracking the street artist Space Invader's mosaics, the author's observations are always perceptive and insightful. Inspired by Janet Flanner's "Letters from Paris" published in the New Yorker under the pen name Genêt, the author--who is fluent in French--reveals insights into France and the French that escape more casual observers. While not intended to be a guidebook, Statues of Liberty: Real Stories from France will interest anyone who lives in France or is planning a trip to the world's most popular tourist destination. Table of Contents: 1. Statues of Liberty 2. Apartment Hunting 3. RIF 4. La Traversée de Paris 5. IXXZ-X3 6. Evicted! 7. Le Pays de Thelle 8. Marcial Huggins 9. A Weekend in Normandy 10. Un Vrai Capitaliste 11. Péripatéticiennes and Romanichelles 12. A Day in Monaco 13. The Mystery of Roger Fleming 14. Touched by an Angel 15. “Are You Malcolm Miller?" 16. Le Président du Monde 17. Le Perchay, Gouzangrez, Commeny, Santeuil 18. Isaiah 46:4 19. A Gypsy Camp in the Heart of Paris 20. My Adventure at Uniqlo 21. Réveillon 22. The Third Sock 23. French Ale 24. Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Marie Périer 25. Along the Loing 26. A New Look at Brewster McCloud 27. Space Invader Invades the Rue d’Armaillé 28. Nivernais, Munster, U Casaccone, Neufchâtel 29. Hugo 30. A Gesture of Franco-American Amity 31. “Aimez-vous la Mer?” 32. 873 QGN 75 33. The Great Mayotte Boondoggle 34. Three Films about Fighting and Family 35. An Unsolved Mystery 36. Labios de Fuego 37. Life and Death of Juan Carlos Alsogaray 38. Where are you going?
The seventy-eight poems in this collection--from four lines to six pages in length--were composed over a period of almost forty years and can be considered episodes of a memoir, an autobiography in verse documenting the author's life, loves and travels. The dictionary defines "divagation" as a wandering or a digression. Therefore many of the poems in this collection evoke the author's voyages that have taken him to forty-seven countries around the world. Divagations is also a virtual handbook of poetic forms ranging from the elegance of the Spenserian Stanza to free verse. There are ballads and ballades, odes and ottava rima, rondels and rondeaux. Like many English-language poets, the author has a fondness for the sonnet; included is a sequence of twenty-four love sonnets. He has also included three sestinas, one in French. A long, narrative poem in iambic pentameter recounts the adventures of one Poor Fisher, who travels to the Caribbean and attempts to establish a new religion with himself as its prophet. Included in an appendix are extensive annotations by Catherine Jagor, a Paris-based poet who has known the author for over a quarter of a century and is intimately familiar with his work. "After reading this collection, you will be changed, enriched and inspired." Jean-Pierre Collet, author of Le Chant du Naïf and Harmonies.
A Winter in the Middle of Two Seas: Real Stories from Bahrain was written during and after the author's four-month stay in the Middle Eastern island kingdom of Bahrain. With a photographer's eye, a journalist's nose for news and a poet's way with words, Ronald W. Kenyon recounts his observations and displays his insightful understanding of Arab and Islamic culture, customs and religion with particular emphasis on Bahrain. In a wide-ranging series of vignettes and anecdotes, the author takes the reader from the temples and towns of the 5,000-year old Dilmun civilization to the glitz of twenty-first century shopping malls. He offers vivid descriptions of sanguinary religious rites, the tribulations of haggling with a taxi driver whose fare has to be paid in three different currencies and his body clock's disorientation from dealing with three different weekends. While not a guidebook, A Winter in the Middle of Two Seas is a meticulously-researched primer for anyone visiting or working in Bahrain or the armchair traveler who wants to learn more about current events in the Middle East than what appears in the mainstream media. In the last chapter of the book, entitled "The Truth about Bahrain," the author strives for objectivity, attempting to set the record straight by placing the current events in Bahrain in their historical, geopolitical and religious context. The author is optimistic about the future of Bahrain and dedicates his book to the people of Bahrain "in the earnest hope that they may, with God's grace, achieve everlasting harmony.
The greatest influences on Ronald W. Kenyon's photography have been painters, not photographers. Historically, the earliest influences derive from the landscape painters of the Barbizon School such as Corot, Daubigny and Théodore Rousseau who, in the mid-19th century, dared to move their easels outdoors and, along with Eugène Boudin, were precursors of Impressionism. Next come the Impressionists themselves, notably Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Pissarro, who produced a large corpus of landscapes. The landscapes in this book are most directly influenced by Impressionism and abstract expressionism. Among the photographers who have influenced Kenyon's work are André Martin in France who created impressionistic landscapes using super telephoto lenses, the Italian Luigi Ghirri—a master of composition—and Americans such as Walker Evans and William Eggleston. Instead of just glancing at the pictures in this book, the photographer asks you to interact with them. Wonder where they were taken, the season, the time of day, the temperature, why he composed the picture in such a way or why he decided that a particular subject was worthy of capturing permanently. Most important of all, was a picture pleasing to look at and, if so, why?
Statues of Liberty derives its title from the fact that there are at least four of these monuments in Paris, as well as dozens scattered all over the world, all inspired by Bartholdi's original that stands proudly in New York Harbor. It is is a collection of thirty-eight essays written over a period of years documenting the author's experiences and discoveries in France Ranging from the trials and tribulations of a retired American renting an apartment from a dishonest landlady to visits to trade shows and food fairs to walks in the picturesque French countryside and tracking the street artist Space Invader's mosaics, the author's observations are always perceptive and insightful. Inspired by Janet Flanner's "Letters from Paris" published in the New Yorker under the pen name Genêt, the author--who is fluent in French--reveals insights into France and the French that escape more casual observers. While not intended to be a guidebook, Statues of Liberty: Real Stories from France will interest anyone who lives in France or is planning a trip to the world's most popular tourist destination. Table of Contents: 1. Statues of Liberty 2. Apartment Hunting 3. RIF 4. La Traversée de Paris 5. IXXZ-X3 6. Evicted! 7. Le Pays de Thelle 8. Marcial Huggins 9. A Weekend in Normandy 10. Un Vrai Capitaliste 11. Péripatéticiennes and Romanichelles 12. A Day in Monaco 13. The Mystery of Roger Fleming 14. Touched by an Angel 15. “Are You Malcolm Miller?" 16. Le Président du Monde 17. Le Perchay, Gouzangrez, Commeny, Santeuil 18. Isaiah 46:4 19. A Gypsy Camp in the Heart of Paris 20. My Adventure at Uniqlo 21. Réveillon 22. The Third Sock 23. French Ale 24. Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Marie Périer 25. Along the Loing 26. A New Look at Brewster McCloud 27. Space Invader Invades the Rue d’Armaillé 28. Nivernais, Munster, U Casaccone, Neufchâtel 29. Hugo 30. A Gesture of Franco-American Amity 31. “Aimez-vous la Mer?” 32. 873 QGN 75 33. The Great Mayotte Boondoggle 34. Three Films about Fighting and Family 35. An Unsolved Mystery 36. Labios de Fuego 37. Life and Death of Juan Carlos Alsogaray 38. Where are you going?
The seventy-eight poems in this collection--from four lines to six pages in length--were composed over a period of almost forty years and can be considered episodes of a memoir, an autobiography in verse documenting the author's life, loves and travels. The dictionary defines "divagation" as a wandering or a digression. Therefore many of the poems in this collection evoke the author's voyages that have taken him to forty-seven countries around the world. Divagations is also a virtual handbook of poetic forms ranging from the elegance of the Spenserian Stanza to free verse. There are ballads and ballades, odes and ottava rima, rondels and rondeaux. Like many English-language poets, the author has a fondness for the sonnet; included is a sequence of twenty-four love sonnets. He has also included three sestinas, one in French. A long, narrative poem in iambic pentameter recounts the adventures of one Poor Fisher, who travels to the Caribbean and attempts to establish a new religion with himself as its prophet. Included in an appendix are extensive annotations by Catherine Jagor, a Paris-based poet who has known the author for over a quarter of a century and is intimately familiar with his work. "After reading this collection, you will be changed, enriched and inspired." Jean-Pierre Collet, author of Le Chant du Naïf and Harmonies.
François Racine de Monville (1734-1797), a virtuoso musician, sportsman, architect and epicurean, was a quintessential representative of the French Enlightenment, a luminary among a constellation of luminaries. Unlike many of his contemporaries, however, Monsieur de Monville fell into oblivion. The author has conducted extensive research to paint a portrait of Monville and place him in the context of the political, social and artistic movements at the end of the 18th century. The pages of this book are populated with Monville's friends and acquaintances. The reader will discover princes and paupers, playwrights and prostitutes, philosophers and pirates, ambassadors and actresses, feminists and Freemasons. The author also focuses on the Americans living in Paris at the end of the 18th century—including four future presidents of the United States—who traveled in the circles Monville frequented. Many celebrities were Monville's guests at his sumptuous Paris townhouse or at his country estate, the Désert de Retz, at Chambourcy, with its unique Column House, considered "the most interesting building of the eighteenth century." The text is enhanced with three engravings of the Désert de Retz by Constant Bourgeois dating from 1808. A hitherto unpublished poem by Beaumarchais dedicated to Monville is included in an appendix. This new edition incorporates additional anecdotes from the life of Monville, recounted by his contemporaries and unpublished for over a century. The index has been expanded to twelve pages and the bibliography now contains over three score references. Praise for the first edition of Monville: Forgotten Luminary of the French Enlightenment A reader in the United States: “The ironic last sentence was perfect. One thing for sure is that I'm even more determined to visit the Desert because of the book. What an incredibly interesting man and what a life." Readers in France: “Je voulais vous dire toute mon admiration pour le travail fabuleux que vous avez effectué ainsi que pour la qualité de cette œuvre que je parcours avec le plus grand intérêt.” “Votre livre est pétri de tendresse pour la France.” A reader in the United Kingdom:“You are giving me lots of micro-biographies of people I'd never heard of and therefore ought not to be interested in; logically I should be bored stiff, but in fact not at all. Don't know how you do it but the damn thing is highly readable!” A reader in Mexico: "I finished your wonderful book yesterday and I am truly delighted. I really adored it! It was like a trip in Time and Space. I could imagine myself in those places with the people you talk about.
FRANÇAIS France Images & Messages, une nouvelle collection de photographies en couleurs, est une expansion à la fois en taille et en portée de Metro Portraits et Metro Messages, publiés en 2012. Contrairement à la disposition horizontale, le format carré de ce livre facilite la publication de clichés verticaux et panoramiques. Les images ont été réalisées en France entre 1998 et 2015, avec plusieurs appareils photographiques : argentiques et numériques. Ce recueil se compose de sept groupes de clichés ainsi que d'un polyptyque et d’un envoi. Aux portraits, graffitis et art trouvé des affiches déconstruites comme dans les albums précédents, s’ajoutent des photos de plaques de rue, de portes, de fenêtres et des hommages à des artistes de rue français. Cette collection de photographies dépeint une France ambiguë, absurde et éphémère, pleine d'humour et parfois mélancolique. Annotations et traductions anglaises en annexe. ENGLISH France Images & Messages, a new collection of color photographs, is an expansion both in size and scope of Metro Portraits and Metro Messages, published in 2012. Instead of the horizontal layout, the square size of this book facilitates the inclusion of vertical and panoramic photographs. The pictures were taken in France between 1998 and 2015 with both film and digital cameras. The collection is composed of seven groups of illustrations as well as a polyptych and an envoi. In addition to portraits, graffiti and found art from deconstructed posters as documented in the previous albums, there are sections illustrating street signs, doors and windows and tributes to French street artists. The photographs in the collection portray a France that is ambiguous, absurd and ephemeral—and often wistful and humorous. English translations and annotations included in an appendix.
A French-speaking American discovers the soul of France on foot through an extensive network of long-distance walking trails crisscrossing the country.
The forty-three found portraits in this collection are pictures of pictures, taken in the Paris Metro between September 24, 2003, and June 1, 2007, using the built-in camera in a Palm Zire 71 personal digital assistant (PDA). Some of the persons in the portraits are recognizable; among them are celebrities living and dead, some named and some nameless. Basketball player Tony Parker's portrait appears as well as that of Marilyn Monroe. Three French film stars, Lætitia Casta, Sophie Marceau and Monica Bellucci, share a triptych. Pierre-Auguste Renoir's wife and model Aline Charigot, Alphonsine Fournaise, the actress Angèle and the Impressionist painter Gustave Caillebotte populate a four-panel polyptych. The Chevalier de Saint George, an 18th century composer and equestrian, appears, as well as the Lady of the Unicorn from the medieval tapestry. Portraits of Agnès Sorel, mistress of French King Charles VII, and Madame Tallien, la plus grande putain de Paris, grace these pages. Superman's here too, appearing as Brandon Routh, and so is the late Jean Gabin. Everyone is free to guess who's who. The photographer comments, "What is intriguing about Metro Portraits is that I don't know who a lot of the people are, but from time to time I identify somebody. So I am a participant in the game as much as my readers are. I also like the idea that they are pictures of pictures--art imitating art. Or, rather, the photographer deconstructing advertising posters whose purpose is to convince people to spend money and reconstructing them into art whose purpose is only beauty." Finally, I like the idea that the posters in the Metro were ephemeral, since they are stripped down and destroyed after only a couple of weeks. So I may be the only person who ever the portraits that appear in this book.
“Curiosity and intelligence run deep in Ronald W. Kenyon’s writing. He’s a tireless world traveler with a real knack for looking at wherever he is and finding reasons to be fascinated by it.” Frank Cerabino, columnist, The Palm Beach Post The cast of characters in these seventeen stories of fascinating Floridians includes the living and the dead, the famous and the infamous—murderers, imposters, royal pretenders, a supermarket cashier, a housekeeper, a homeless former crack addict rescued by an anonymous benefactor, the woman who was elected chief of the Seminoles, a Jordanian Cordon Bleu chef, a chess champion who founded a city and the first two Jewish senators. Even John Lennon makes an appearance. A road trip across the state results in the shocking revelation that, in the 1920’s, Seminole children were prohibited from attending either “white” or “colored” schools, but ends with an unexpected surprise: the Seminole Tribe of Florida, grown wealthy by the profits of its casinos, now owns the worldwide Hard Rock Café chain Some of the essays involved extensive research, often sparked by an apparently trivial observation; thus the story of the phony count and the fake countess begins when I noticed a sign with an inappropriate ampersand and leaps around the world to France, the former Belgian Congo, Yemen, the Emirate of Sharjah and Tangier. The people in this book are Floridians, all, and some were even born in the Sunshine State. Yet most are transplants like me, native-born Americans migrating from elsewhere in the United States or immigrants fleeing Hitler’s Germany, Castro’s Cuba and the poverty of Guatemala. Each of them—each of us—possesses Real Stories to tell, and in this book the reader will discover some of them.
Marine mammals are among the most fascinating and most watched of Earth's many animal species, particularly for their many adaptations for life in and around the water and their unique methods of communication. This comprehensive guide to the order is for experts and enthusiasts alike.
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