Dreaming in French is principally an exploration of what Kaplan calls the "fantasy" of France. What is it about France, and Paris in particular, that is so fantastical to the expatriates that were (and continue to be) drawn there? For the three women discussed in this text, what is in about France and French culture that cultivates this "confidence" and "freedom," and how does it contrast so starkly against the culture they leave behind in America? In the same way, how does learning and speaking French create dimensions within the lives of each woman? Jacqueline Bouvier emphasizes the "Frenchness" of her name in much the same way that her ancestors romanticized their origins. For Sontag, "much of her own power and prestige in the United States — her aura — was connected to what she learned, then learned to transmit, from France."
What are the implications of this American romanticization of Paris (something that Baldwin discusses in his essays in Notes of a Native Son), and what can it reveal about the individuals presented as well as the disparate cultures of each place?
No comments:
Post a Comment