Walking the City Streets: The Parisian Promeneur

Mention of the social and literary activities of walking the city streets usually conjures up images of the 19th century Baudelairian flâneur. This figure, however, has very visible traces in the social and literary practices of Ancien Régime France. While the function of the promenade was initially one of aristocratic display (promenades publiques), throughout the 18th century this social practice became individualized, reappropriated as a practice of discovering the city and one's place within it. Through a study of varied narratives generated by ambulatory observers we will consider the relationship these Parisian promeneurs maintain to the urban space they describe, the knowledge they aim to produce, and the bodily relationship between the acts of walking, of observing, and of writing. We will take inventory of the strategies - discursive, literary, and social - devised by these promeneurs as they navigate the streets of Paris. Authors studied will include Rousseau, Diderot, Mercier, Restif de la Bretonne, Certeau, Foucault, and Stierle. (FREN 0221 or by waiver) 3 hrs. lect/disc.