Janet Flanner
Janet Flanner’s Paris Journal is drawn from the author’s celebrated 'Letter from Paris, ' a series that appeared in the New Yorker from 1925 to 1975 over the signature 'Genet.' In this volume of her journal, Miss Flanner records the social, political, and cultural upheaval of the late 1960s, ending her entries with the death of Charles de Gaulle in 1970. Through Flanner’s Journal readers witness the student rebellions of 1968, learn of French concern over the American involvement in Vietnam, and visit the winter Olympic games in Grenoble. Paris reacts to the passing of Alice B. Toklas, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Winston Churchill; Samuel Beckett wins the Nobel Prize; Henri Cartier-Bresson mounts a landmark exhibition; the French issue a new five-franc note; and the horror film is the latest rage in Paris. Miss Flanner’s record of this period is unmatched for its intelligence, authenticity, and elegance of style.Born in Indianapolis in 1892, Janet Flanner became the Paris correspondent for the New Yorker in 1925 -- its first year of publication. Miss Flanner spent the last few years of her life in New York, where she died in 1978. Her Paris Journal covering the years 1944 to 1965 received the National Book Award.
