Eric Hazan's 'L'Invention de Paris' Celebrates the City's Rebellious Spirit

Eric Hazan's 'L'Invention de Paris', published by Éditions du Seuil in the Fiction & Cie collection, is a passionate exploration of the French capital. The book strikes a balance between erudition and subjectivity, avoiding nostalgia by celebrating Paris's growth and movement rather than a fixed past. Hazan, likened to Léon-Paul Fargue as a 'piéton de Paris', describes the city in terms of flows and displacements, eschewing postcard clichés. The narrative includes sketches drawn from the author's urban wanderings, evoking vanished neighborhoods like the Carrousel quarter and the barricades of the Saint-Martin and Saint-Denis districts during the June 1832 insurrection. A central theme is Paris's 'force de rupture' and rebellious nature, with heroes including Louise Michel, Blanqui, and Courbet, alongside anonymous angry crowds facing repression. The review by Jean-Yves Jouannais highlights the book's vivid, faithful account of the flâneur's movement.