When I arrived in Paris, I was in shedding. I had auto-uprooted, self-exiled, applied and agreed to an arrangement in which I found myself —5’9 frame and wannabe Françoise Hardy bangs with a wobbly textbook French — in a modern apartment in Neuilly with a woman who had a refrigerator full of elixirs.
What a fantastic introduction to this new project. Can't help but think of James Baldwin's opening to Giovanni's Room, which I also can't seem to ever stop thinking about:
"Perhaps, as we say in America, I wanted to find myself. This is an interesting phrase, which certainly does not mean what it says but betrays a nagging suspicion that something has been misplaced."
What a fantastic introduction to this new project. Can't help but think of James Baldwin's opening to Giovanni's Room, which I also can't seem to ever stop thinking about:
"Perhaps, as we say in America, I wanted to find myself. This is an interesting phrase, which certainly does not mean what it says but betrays a nagging suspicion that something has been misplaced."
Thank you, Samuél! And, god, yes, these lines from Baldwin. They are with me, too.