André Malraux, the novelist and minister of culture under Charles de Gaulle, told a French-American journalist in the 1960s that the Champs-Élysées — then considered the most beautiful avenue in the world — had “an American basement.” Today, American business and its brands are prominently aboveground on a Champs-Élysées that has largely lost its distinctive character and has become far less French.
The subject line is from Baudelaire's Le Cygne:
Le vieux Paris n'est plus (la forme d'une ville
Change plus vite, hélas! que le coeur d'un mortel)
2 comments:
I agree. The last two times I went there, I was horrified. What's the point of having Eurodisney nearby for them to go if the tourists overrun also my town?
Mélanie
I never understand these "Champs Elysées-on-the-decline" articles - does the place possess some sort of natural essence from which it must not deviate?
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