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MANUAL OF ST-GERMAIN-DES-PRES After World War Two, the Parisian neighborhood of Saint-Germain-des-Prés became a Mecca for intellectual life and innovative social thought. This first English translation of French author Boris Vian's "Manual of St-Germain-des-Prés" is a walking tour of the Left Bank cafés, galleries, underground jazz clubs, theatres, and apartment salons that were the center of existentialist and post-surrealistic circles. Provocateur, novelist, playwright, jazz musician and singer, Boris Vian ran with luminaries including Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Jean Cocteau, Jean Genet, Alberto Giacometti, Juliette Greco, Raymond Queneau, Jacques Prévert, and Jean-Paul Sartre. "Manual of St-Germain-des-Prés" is a mosaic of their memories and anecdotes, as much as it is a collection of Vian's impressions. 200 sumptuous black-and-white photographs by Georges Dudognon capture the exciting and provocative spirit of post-war Paris. "Manual of St-Germain-des-Prés" documents the first time legendary African-American jazz musicians rubbed shoulders with French writers, artists, musicians, and intellectuals who wanted to shake the conservative grip and dance. The interactions amongst a cast of characters who lived exuberantly active and diverse lives make for a captivating read, and vividly illustrate the irresistible, anything-is-possible spirit that made the Left Bank the place to be in the 1950s.
Bleecker, MacDougal-say wha? Return rather to the thrilling days of the 6éme Arrondissement circa 1948, samedi soir with Jean-Paul and Simone at Les Deux Magots. In this priceless mock Baedeker, the 20th century's coolest Frenchman, novelist/jazzman/boho bon vivant Boris Vian, explains the Commandments of Cellar Club Existentialism and how to distinguish between the various dancing, strident, inert, misunderstood, panhandling, brawling, and megalomaniac "troglodytes" inhabiting the jazz-club catacombs. The Manual is passionately introduced by Tosh Berman (who has single-handedly restored Vian's American rep), charmingly translated by Paul Knobloch, and rich with Georges Dudognon's photographs of visiting celebs-Garbo, Faulkner, Monsieur Orson Welles-come to swill Sperm of Flamant Rose and faire un boeuf with Miss Vice, Hot d'Dee, Timsy Pimsy, and the other Rats de Cave at Le Tabou. It looks like one helluva party and I treasure the image of existential chanteuse Juliette Gréco waking up damp and tousled in her dumpy Hotel Louisiana room. It must be four in the afternoon and, even before lighting a Pall Mall, she extends a bare arm to drop the needle on the little phonograph that waits to wail some Coleman Hawkins amid the detritus of half-empty bottles and stale coffees beside her bed. - J. Hoberman, Village Voice (December 5, 2005)
Go to the place where the Big Bang of Bohemianism took place and you'll find chichi cafés and an Emporio Armani. It's a funny business, evolution. But 40 years ago, in post-Occupation Paris, when French philosophy and high literature met American jazz, movies and popular fiction, and started shagging each other senseless, the Rive Gauche was a cauldron of new, artistic-intellectual thought. Vian was one of its prime movers: a singer, songwriter, jazz musician, record producer and novelist (yes he did influence Serge Gainsbourg) who also translated Raymond Chandler and arranged Paris gigs for previously-banned black American jazzmen. Understandably he was a bit busy to take detailed notes. So this is not much of a travel guide, more a collection of smart, caustic, entertaining observations for his fellow insiders. There's particular venom for the press, drawn by the scene's decadence and celebrities. And there are plenty of both in the excellent black and white photos. - Sylvie Simmons, 4 Star review **** Mojo (April 2006)
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