Monthly Archives: March 2021

Parisian History Focus: 150-Year Anniversary of the Paris Commune

The date of 18 March marked the 150th anniversary of the Commune de Paris, a two and a half month long insurrection which occurred in 1871, the last of France’s almost century of revolutions. It was sparked due to the instability which arose in the wake of the French defeat during the Franco-Prussian war and led to a power between the socialist “Communards” and the Republican Gard. The bloody episode in French history involved intense fighting in the streets of Paris and other deadly events. There are various sites around Paris which still bear witness to the Paris Commune. Below are some of the more relevant or visually evocative examples of these.

Plaza in front of Sacré-Coeur

The government’s attempt to remove the canons, placed in front of Sacré-Coeur to defend the city during the Franco-Prussian war, was a key factor in the outbreak of the insurrection on 18 March 1871 (see above photo). There were further canons in Menilmontant, Place des Vosges and other venues around the city.

Square Louise Michel

Although this small square at the bottom of Sacré-Coeur was created in the wake of the defeat of the Paris Commune, in 2004 it was renamed after Louise Michel. A school teacher in Montmartre, she became one of the best known figures of the Paris Commune.

Le mur des Fédérés – Cimetière du Père-Lachaise Photo: Roger Viollet

Le mur des Fédérés – Cimetière du Père-Lachaise

There is a memorial here on the spot where one-hundred and forty-seven fédérés, combatants of the Paris Commune, were shot at the foot of the wall and thrown into an open grave at the end of the revolt on 28 May 1871.

Villa des Otages (85 rue Haxo, 75020)

A café-concert at this address had been converted into a command post. On 26 May 1871, 52 hostages from the La Roquette prison, including 34 gendarmes and 11 Jesuits, were taken here and executed. There is a commemorative plaque labeled “villa des otages” on the outside of the building and a memorial is dedicated to them at the nearby Belleville cemetery.

Commune Graffiti in Eglise Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Photo: Un Jour de Plus a Paris

Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis

Few people know that this beautiful Baroque church in the Marais contains an interesting piece of Commune graffiti. Look for the second pillar on the right when entering the church and you can see the faint words “République française ou la mort” (French Republic or death) which were not able to be completely removed.

Hotel de Ville

The Communards set many buildings on fire during the rebellion. Some of these were so badly damaged that they were not rebuilt, like the Tuileries Palace and a palace which stood on the site where the Musée was later built. L’Hotel de Ville, Paris’s City Hall, was among the structures damaged yet restored.

Destruction of the Vendome Column

Colonne Vendome

A group of Communards, led by painter Gustave Courbet, torn down and badly damaged the column erected by Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 1800s. The artist was later forced to pay for it to be rebuilt, which led to his bankruptcy and exile to Switzerland.

You can learn more about the revolt in this recent article on the BBC or in the academic publications on the Digital Libraries site. As it is quite complex you can also get a better grasp of it via this useful Paris Commune timeline.

The Evolving City: a New Life for the Former Petite Ceinture Railway

There are a number of interesting urban renewal projects to study in Paris and one of the most interesting is the rehabilitation of La Petite Ceinture, or “The Little Belt” in French. Over the past few decades, sections of this defunct 32-kilometre rail line which encircled Paris, have been converted into picturesque walkways and some of the former stations have been transformed into bars and cultural centres.

Map of the Petite Ceinture and Paris rail links of the 1800s.

In the mid-19th century a vast network of rail lines was created in and around Paris. Some lines were built for inter-city travel, while others were designed to transport suburban commuters in and out of the city. Certain sections of the latter are still in use, however, when the RER underground suburban train network was developed in the 1960s, most of the above-ground suburban lines within the Paris city limits were phased out. It is only in recent times that parts of these have been rehabilitated.

Coulée Verte Réné-Dumont (Promenade Plantée)

This urban renewal project started with an impressive 1.5 km long viaduct extending east from Place de la Bastille, La Coulée Verte René-Dumont, also known as the Promenade Plantée. In the late 1980s a path and garden was created atop the viaduct and the large space beneath its 64 arch was encased in massive panels of glass and turned into art galleries, artisanal workshops and design boutiques. A beautiful example of architectural preservation and repurposing, the Coulée Verte was the inspiration for numerous other projects like this, both in Paris and around the world, namely the High Line in New York.

The success of the Coulée Verte sparked the refurbishment of other disused rail lines, starting of the sections the Petite Ceinture. While the totality of the former network has not been revamped, there are a number of stretches which can be walked, or visited in some capacity.

La Petite Ceinture du 15eme

A 1.3-kilometre stretch can be walked in the 15th, starting via an entrance across from 99 rue Olivier de Serres and ending in Place Ballard. This section of tracks is one of the newer ones refurbished, opening in 2013. As you amble along the peaceful pathway, you will pass alongside the walls of buildings, examples of street art and some unique vantage points of the arrondissement. The 16th district has a revamped section called le Sentier Nature and the 12th has a nice section which connects with the Coulée-Verte Réné-Dumont.

La Recyclerie, former Petite Ceinture station

Various former stations have also been reinvented. The first of these was La Fleche d’Or, opened as an alternative concert venue and bar in the mid 1990s. Closed then reopened, then closed again, it’s since reopened as a neighborhood association and has a bar, with very reasonable prices, open to everyone (closed currently due to Covid restrictions). Two of the former stations in the 18th have been refurbished into cool contemporary venues. La Recyclerie, is an eco-responsible bar and restaurant which also has seating and a garden down by the train tracks (it is currently open and you can get takeaway food or drinks). A little further west is Le Hasard Ludique, which also has relaxed seating alongside the tracks, in addition to food prepared by refugee chefs and a great programme of workshops and concerts (currently closed due to covid restrictions). Two refurbished stations have a chicer appeal: Le Poincon in the 14th and La Gare in the 16th.

Photo Credits:

1st image: La Petite Ceinture. Photo: Vincent Anderlucci / Flickr

Other photos by Lily Heise

Modern French Women Writers to Add to your Reading List

Over the course of the last century French female writers have succeeded in forging a solid place for themselves in ranks of modern French literature, often by being innovative, expressing a female perspective or constructing new narrative forms. Their engaging works should be celebrated every day, however, in honour of International Women’s Day on 8 March, we are highlighting a selection of French women writers chosen by Dr Carine Fréville, a professor of French and literature at the Paris School of Arts and Culture. Fear not if your French language skills aren’t up to snuff, all of these authors have at least one book translated into English.

Violette Leduc

The subject of Dr Fréville’s Master’s thesis, novelist Violette Leduc was born in the northern French city of Arras in 1907, the illegitimate daughter of a servant and the son of a rich bourgeois family. She attended a boarding school from the age of 11, where she was introduced to literature and where she also had her first lesbian experience, an affair which would later inspire her 1955 novel Ravages. After failing her baccalaureate exam in 1926, she got a job as a press cuttings clerk and secretary at the Pion publishing house; a role that transitioned into her writing news pieces about their publications. She wrote her first novel, L’Asphyxie, in 1946 (translated into English in 1970 as In the Prison of Her Skin). Prior to its publication, she met and gave a manuscript of the book to Simone de Beauvoir, the beginning of their lifetime friendship. Leduc is best-known for her 1964 autobiographical novel La Bâtarde (The Bastard), a bestseller in France and shortlisted for le Prix Goncourt, one of the country’s most prestigious literary prize. Leduc was also the subject of the 2013 film Violette directed by Martin Provost.

Photo (left): Marguerite Duras, Chateau de Duras

Marguerite Duras

The author of dozens of novels, plays and screenplays, Marguerite Duras is one of France’s most international recognized female writers. Born in 1914 in French Indochine (now Vietnam) to teacher parents, she came to France to complete her studies at age 17. Obtaining a degree in Political Science, she originally pursued a career in the French civil service. Nevertheless, she was writing on the side and published her first novel, Les Impudents, in 1943 – coincidentally with Pion, the same publisher where Leduc worked. Thanks to her third novel, Un barrage contre le Pacifique (The See Wall, published in 1950 and adapted to cinema in 2007 by director Rithy Panh), Duras’s writing began to garner more attention and she began to establish herself as a prominent pillar of modern French literature. Among her other works are the best-selling, autobiographical novel L’Amant which won the Prix Goncourt in 1984 (also adapted to film in 1992 by Claude Berri) and her screenplay for the 1959 New Wave film Hiroshima mon Amour, directed by Alain Resnais, which was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards.

Photo (left): Annie Ernaux by Catherine Hélie, Gallimard.

Annie Ernaux

Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2022, Annie Ernaux is one of France’s most renowned modern writers. Born into a working-class family in Normandy in 1940, she pursued a degree in literature and began a career in teaching. In 1974 she published her first novel, Les Armoires Vides (Cleaned Out), inspired by her childhood in Normandy and exploring the condition of her parents’ generation, women’s issues and the struggle between social classes – themes which frequently come up in her writing. She became better know abroad after her 2008 memoir, Les Années, was translated into English and subsequently long-listed for the Man Booker international prize. She has earned many other national and international distinctions including having her complete body of work awarded the Marguerite Yourcenar prize in 2017.

Gisèle Pineau

Born in Paris in 1956, Gisele Pineau’s family roots in Guadeloupe and the struggles of French people of colour are important themes in her writing. In 1975 she began studying literature, which she gave up to pursue a career as a psychiatric nurse. In 1993 she published her first novel, La Grande Drive des Esprits, which shed light on the difficulties, suffering and violence women endure in the French West Indies. The book was awarded Elle France’s Reader’s Choice Award and the Carbet de la Caraïbe prize, making her its first female laureate. She has since written over 20 novels including the critically-acclaimed autobiographical novel, L’Exil selon Julia (Exile According to Julia, 1996), which is studied in Dr Fréville’s Diaspora and Exile class.

Marie Darrieussecq

One of the authors covered in Dr Fréville’s PhD, Marie Darrieussecq’s work often revolves around gender issues, the body and transformation as seen through the eyes of female characters. Born in 1969, Darrieussecq studied modern literature at the Sorbonne Nouvelle and obtained her PhD from the Université Paris VII. She became an instant success at 27 with the publication of her first book and international best-seller, Truismes (Pig Tales), which describes the metamorphosis of a woman into a sow. Her 2013 novel Il Faut beaucoup Aimer les Hommes (A Novel of Cinema and Desire) was taken from a sentence from Marguerite Duras’s La Vie Matérielle: “We have to love men a lot”, and won her the Prix Médicis and the Prix des Prix. In 2017 we had the pleasure of welcoming the author at our Paris campus as the guest of a conference hosted by Dr Fréville.

Photo: Faïza Guène, Hachette

Faïza Guène

One of France’s rising literary stars, Faïza Guène’s published her debut novel, Kiffe Kiffe Demain (Just Like Tomorrow) in 2004 when she was only 19. Selling over 400,000 copies and translated into 26 languages, the book portrays the realities of the life of a teen of immigrant parents growing up in the Parisian suburbs, it is also covered in Dr Fréville’s Diaspora and Exile class. She has since published four other novels, which further explore issues of identity and contemporary French society. She has also written and directed several short films and writes for or appears regularly in French press, radio and TV.

Graduate Profile: Filmmaker Ece Ger

In this edition of our Paris School of Arts and Culture (PSAC) Alumni Spotlight series we connect with Ece Ger, a graduate of our Film MA. The Turkish filmmaker tells us how she ended up studying abroad in Paris and how the experience at PSAC led to the making of her first film, Meeting Jim, a moving documentary on Jim Haynes, an important figure in the Paris cultural and expat community. Jim Haynes sadly passed away at the beginning of 2021 and a tribute screening of the film will be held virtually, via the film’s website and on BBC Scotland ,from 5 to 8 March, 2021. Further details on this at the end of Ece’s interview below.

Where are you from and what originally brought you to Paris?

I am from Istanbul, Turkey, but was born in Wien, Austria. My initial plan was to apply for the Kent MA programme which takes place in Canterbury for the whole three terms. However, an alumni friend of mine shared his own Paris experience with me and advised me to choose the Paris MA programme to submit. I am so glad that I listened to his advice and had the opportunity to study film in Paris at Reid Hall.

What attracted you most about studying at PSAC?

Diving into the history of French Cinema, having the chance to observe the connections between one of the most cinematic cities in the world and cinema, discovering how they influenced each other… exploring all these new aspects is what attracted me the most about studying at PSAC.

“The Burghers of Calais” by Rodin, photo by Tommy O’Donogue

What were some of the highlights of your experience?

The most important highlight of my experience was the lecture of Frances Guerin called “Modernism and Paris”. I remember being so inspired not only by learning about the early history of cinema but also by starting to perceive the cinematographic connections between the past and the present time in the city of Paris.

As Kent film students, we had access to the Cinémathèque Française. Going there several times a week to work on my thesis was one of the highlights of my time in Paris. Spending time at the Cinémathèque inspired and motivated me to learn more about my research topic, to discover a tiny bit of the film ocean while enjoying the delicious tartines at Les 400 Coups, the restaurant of the Cinémathèque.

I also remember the day which our art professor took us to the Rodin Museum. That day, my classmate Tommy O’Donogue took a photo of “The Burghers of Calais”, which won the photography award at the end of the year. While listening to the story of those burghers waiting to be executed, I saw the photograph Tommy took. In the frame, there was only the sculpture and the gaze of one of our classmates. Suddenly, that photograph became a bridge in my mind than connected those hopeless people and our classmate. It was one of those moments to realise how the information was transmitted between generations through any medium of art. The past and the present moment could get really close to each other, even intertwine through one image, through one story or a film. I never forgot that moment of realisation which was a true inspiration for me.

Last but not least, I met Jim Haynes through the guest professor Dina Iordinova who gave a seminar at Reid Hall. Frances Guerin introduced me to her after the seminar and Dina Iordinova introduced me to Jim Haynes, who was going to become the subject of my first feature-length documentary.

Excerpts from the Q&A and screening of Meeting Jim held at Reid Hall in March 2019

What are you currently doing and how did that opportunity come about?

I am writing a comedy story full of spontaneous encounters that take place in Paris and a few more cities. During these difficult pandemic days, it’s the best way for me to stay optimistic.

Do you think that your studies at PSAC helped with your career prospects?

The word help is not enough to describe the influence of PSAC on me and on my journey as a filmmaker. If I would have to come up with one sentence with the word “career”, I’d say, my career came to life at Reid Hall. All the adventure started there back in 2015.

Would you recommend PSAC to potential students and if so what would you tell them?

I would recommend to all the potential students to leave everything else and run to PSAC to feel inspired, to get connected, to gain deeper knowledge in their own fields and to discover their true passions and interests.

Meeting Jim – Free Screening 5-8 March, 2021

To mark the two-month anniversary of Jim Haynes passing, a screening of the film is being organised. Here’s how you can view it:

IF YOU ARE BASED IN THE UK, the broadcast will take place at 21:00 (London time) 6 March simultaneously on BBC Scotland, Freeview/YouView, Freesat, Sky, Virgin Media and BBC iPlayer. After that, the documentary will be available on BBC iPlayer for a limited period of time.
FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD, the film will be available to watch for free here on www.meetingjim.com for 72 hours, starting from 19:00 Paris time on Friday, 5 March until 19:00 Paris time on Monday, 8 March.

Merci beaucoup Ece!

Connect with or follow Ece and her projects on:

Ece Ger’s Instagram

Meeting Jim – Official Website

Meeting Jim – Instagram

Meeting Jim – Facebook Page

Meeting Jim – Twitter

Paris News

The Blog of Kent University's Paris School of Arts and Culture