French Literature Reviews - 2026
É. Hazan, A Walk Across Paris
Other Literary Studies
Une traversée de Paris
Éric Hazan
Publication date: 05/06/2016 Publisher: Seuil Collection: Fiction & Cie ISBN: 978-2-02-132037-4 EAN: 9782021320374 Format: Paperback No. of pages: 208 p.
“My journey is primarily a daytime one, running from Ivry to Saint-Denis, roughly following the dividing line between Paris's East and West, or, if you will, the Paris meridian. I chose this route without giving it much thought, but it soon became glaringly obvious that it was no coincidence—that this trace mirrored the meanderings of a life that began near the Luxembourg Garden, unfolded for years opposite the Observatory, and continues now, as I write, further east in Belleville, with long stays in between at Barbès and on the northern slopes of the Montmartre butte. And indeed, stimulated by that incomparable mental exercise which is walking, memories drifted up to the surface street by street, including fragments of a very distant past teetering on the brink of oblivion.”
E. H.
A journey across Paris from south to north, where, step by step, memories awaken—both the author's own (childhood, youth, studies, practicing medicine, and later publishing) and those of the city itself, layered with epochs and events.
Publisher and writer Éric Hazan heads La Fabrique publishing house, which he founded in 1998. His notable works include The Dynamics of Revolt: On Past and Future Insurrections (La Fabrique, 2015), Changement de propriétaire, la guerre civile continue (Seuil, 2007), Chronique de la guerre civile (La Fabrique, 2004), and The Invention of Paris (Seuil, 2002).
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An article on this book can be read at enattendantnadeau.fr:
The practice of the flâneur, or the urban wanderer, has long been a central motif in French literature, particularly in works examining the transformation of the Parisian landscape. This approach emphasizes the subjective experience of geography, where the physical act of walking serves as a catalyst for reflecting on the evolution of urban spaces and the personal associations that define one's relationship to a city.
Une traversée de Paris by Éric Hazan follows a route from Ivry to Saint-Denis, tracing the author's own history alongside the city's past. The text touches upon the author's background in medicine and publishing, connecting his individual biography to the memory of the capital. Readers interested in the intersection of autobiography and urban geography may find this account of the Parisian landscape relevant.