The Secret Life Of The Seine - Softcover

Rosenblum, Mort

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0201489414 ISBN 13: 9780201489415

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 1995

Synopsis

The Secret of the Seine is a rich and quirky travelogue that guides its reader through the history and the heart of France. Mort Rosenblum, world-weary foreign correspondent, takes us aboard his 54-foot launch made of Burmese teak and brass, tied up alongside the barges in the center of Paris. He introduces us to the characters who share his life along the river, ranging from eccentric movie stars and reclusive novelists to the barge families still trying to earn a living moving freight through the canals of Europe. He then hauls in the bow line for an unforgettable tour of the river itself from its source to its mouth. Along the way his focus shifts from the art of navigation to the art of wooden boats to the art of Monet. But above all, The Secret Life of the Seine is about pleasure, a love story between man and boat and the river they live on, a discourse on the sensual beauty of France and the art of living well.

About this title

About the Author

Mort Rosenblum, a special correspondent for the Associated Press and former editor-in-chief of the International Herald Tribune, is the author of Mission to Civilize, Back Home, Who Stole the News?, and, most recently, A Goose in Toulouse and Other Culinary Adventures in France. He lives in Paris.

From Kirkus Reviews

A lively insider's look at life on the Seine from seasoned Associated Press correspondent Rosenblum (Who Stole the News?, 1993, etc.). When Rosenblum finds himself kicked out of his apartment on the Ile Saint-Louis, he buys a houseboat and explores the river that harbors France's soul. He begins at the source in Burgundy, where water wells up unspectacularly from three cracks among the remains of a Gallo-Roman temple, and ends at the mouth at Le Havre, where the Germans made a last stand in 1944. Along the way, he offers history as far back as the Paleocene period when the bed of the Seine was the floor of a shallow inland sea, investigates river towns like Giverny, which inspired Monet to realize those radiant panels of water lilies, laments pollution by nuclear power plants that generate 75 percent of France's electricity, and explains the economic evolution of a waterway that once flourished as mom-and- pop-run barges busily transported freight only to lose out when state-owned rails and roads undercut rates. Peppered throughout are anecdotal asides: a sampling of items that float by his launch in one half-hour period includes ``one mattress, countless Styrofoam containers, a bloated pig, several condoms, dead fish, live ducks, a television set, someone's jacket, someone else's trousers, many people's lunch.'' He also presents an astounding collection of river dwellers that makes one wonder ``if the Seine manufactures characters or merely attracts them.'' And despite his obvious Francophile tendencies, he recognizes that the homeless huddling in camps under the bridges represent ``the flotsam of a society headed for trouble.'' Rosenblum's prose brilliantly captures the spirit of the Seine--the name originates from the Gallic Sequana, meaning twisting or tranquil. Alternating romantic and acerbic tones inspire admiration, if not always envy, for a historically revered culture. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0201489414
• ISBN 13: 9780201489415
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304