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Paris: The city's sweet seduction
Entranced by all things Parisian, are Canadians in the grip of a Gigi complex?
By Patricia Robertson
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But Paris is not just for women. It also seduces men. Former Ottawa Citizen crime reporter Jeremy Mercer first went to Paris in 1999 following a job-related death threat. Mercer's stint at the legendary bookstore Shakespeare and Company proved restorative, inspiring his recently published memoir Time Was Soft There. Although Mercer now lives in Marseille, in southern France, he was charmed by Paris, attributing its appeal to the mix of lifestyle and culture. "My favourite thing about Paris is the use of the word ‘profit.' In North America, it's a fiscal term related to making money. In Paris, profiter is a verb used to describe making the most of your life. Like, if you have an afternoon off, you ‘profit' by having a nap, going to the beach, cooking a three-course meal with a few bottles of wine and then making love to your girlfriend. That is life."
Mercer also appreciates the unique qualities of Parisian women. "You want to know what I really love about them?" he asks. "Their ability to flirt and accept an appreciative glance and to transmit an air of seduction with the briefest moment of eye contact when you pass them on the street. I want to start wearing a fedora just so I can tip my hat to the women there."
Former Paris correspondent to The New Yorker and author of Paris to the Moon, Adam Gopnik describes two sides to the city. "There is the upscale Paris of Edith Wharton, and then the Left Bank Paris frequented by 'poor' Canadian writers like Mordecai Richler, Morley Callaghan and Mavis Gallant." The Canadian writers, according to Gopnik, were seeking a form of self-reinvention, fleeing what he calls the parched, parochial world of Upper Canada. "They needed to escape that kind of cultural smallness," explains Gopnik, who, at 11, moved to Montreal from Philadelphia. "Paris has always been a place where you have a certain kind of anonymity."
Above all, Paris is exciting and unpredictable. When you walk out the door, says Calgary-based writer Gordon Cope in A Paris Moment, you don't know what -- or who -- you're going to encounter. "Cherry blossoms, riot patrols, or Chinese lanterns hanging on the lampposts. The day springs to life as a full-blown performance, and if you are not part of the audience, you are part of the cast."
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