A Literary Stay in Paris’s Fifth
PARIS — For centuries creatives have flocked to Paris. Its cafe culture, beautiful cobbled streets and joie de vivre have been a magnet for the greatest writers, artists and thinkers of their day.
Among its many neighbourhoods, Paris’s Fifth Arrondissement is its oldest. It is steeped in history, dotted with the remnants of Roman temples and amphitheatres. The city’s oldest and most famous university, the Sorbonne, was founded in the area in the 12th century.
This scholastic heritage also lends the area its name the Latin Quarter. As the predominant language of universities at the time, Latin could be heard spoken by students as they wandered through the streets of the district. The Latin Quarter bleeds into the 6th arrondissement around Saint Michel and Saint Germain, which shares with the 5th some impressive literary credentials.
For many years the Latin Quarter, and its neighbour Montparnasse, was synonymous with the literary and creative ex-pats that frequented the cafes of the area. Amongst them Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Henry James and Picasso rubbed shoulders with Sartre and de Beauvoir at cafes like Les Deux Magots that maintain their allure to visitors today.
The 5th is not only home to many a colourful character and literary mind but has provided the back drop to contemporary French literature. Michel…
