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Reading Wednesday
Apr. 30th, 2025 06:10 pmCurrently reading Paris in Ruins: Love, War and the Birth of Impressionism by Sebastian Smee, which I'd acquired after seeing the Paris 1874: the Impressionist Moment exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in December and then just... never actually picked up. Glad I finally did! So far (about halfway through) it's mostly about the 1870-71 Prussian siege of Paris, although it's not not about the Impressionist art movement, as it centers the experiences of Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot, and other artists. It's the type of narrative non-fiction that reads like a novel, which irks me slightly because there are some details, or feelings that he ascribes to the historical figures he's writing about, that have me like okay, but how do we KNOW this? - not even in a "I'm doubting this account" way! I just want to know if someone had written it in a letter or what! - but also makes for a compelling read, so I don't mind too much.
I don't actually know a lot about the Franco-Prussian war or the Paris Commune, so it's been interesting to learn more about that period. In particular, the use of hot air balloons during the siege of Paris— during my 2023 re-read of Les Mis, I was struck by a reference to hot air balloons in Enjolras' "the 19th century was great, but the 20th century will be happy" speech - "we are on the point of taking the griffin, we already have him, and he is called the balloon" - and this book has added an interesting twist to that. For one thing, apparently Victor Hugo was super interested in hot air balloons! Also, although Les Mis was written about a decade before Nadar's balloons played a vital role in getting letters (and politician Léon Gambetta) out of Paris during the siege, it sort of lends a new significance to the quote, while at the time I'd been like— hot air balloons? How adorably quaint! Just over a century after Hugo wrote this speech, humanity landed on the moon! So, yeah, my apologies to the humble balloon.
I don't actually know a lot about the Franco-Prussian war or the Paris Commune, so it's been interesting to learn more about that period. In particular, the use of hot air balloons during the siege of Paris— during my 2023 re-read of Les Mis, I was struck by a reference to hot air balloons in Enjolras' "the 19th century was great, but the 20th century will be happy" speech - "we are on the point of taking the griffin, we already have him, and he is called the balloon" - and this book has added an interesting twist to that. For one thing, apparently Victor Hugo was super interested in hot air balloons! Also, although Les Mis was written about a decade before Nadar's balloons played a vital role in getting letters (and politician Léon Gambetta) out of Paris during the siege, it sort of lends a new significance to the quote, while at the time I'd been like— hot air balloons? How adorably quaint! Just over a century after Hugo wrote this speech, humanity landed on the moon! So, yeah, my apologies to the humble balloon.
