A Little Fiction About the Truth I Felt in Paris 2012 – “Slumming in Paris Part 6”

The recent tragic loss in Paris at Notre Dame, and the heroic efforts that helped mitigate it, has torn at our emotions and reminded me I had sensed and seen the mettle of the French culture and people via the beauty and monuments to their past when my wife and I stayed in the Latin Quarter for over a month into the holidays late in 2012.

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View my Collection of Paris images @FineArtAmerica at –
https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/felipeadan-lerma.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=642805 .

I first originally partially conveyed these observations in a series of photo-memoirs beginning in 2012, including one of Notre Dame – see my prev post, “Paris in 5 1/2 Weeks : Around Notre Dame – Day 3.”

But I also created a seven part novella series, tongue-in-check titled, “Slumming in Paris.” I say tongue-in-check because, really, how can one slum the center of Paris in the midst of so much beauty and history? Not saying it can’t be done, just saying not something I’d do other than as a twinkly-eyed misdirection (smiles).

So Part 6 covers a visit by my large cast of young folks and a few adults to the Musee dOrsay, where the artwork, particularly a sculpture of what appears to be three gladiators, sparks a ranging lingering discussion among the characters about war, including the Nazi occupation of Paris.

That the sculpture was titled, “Gérôme Executing The Gladiators,” did not, in the context of my fictional narrative, help the unknowing visiting family of Americans from misunderstanding the historical art context of the piece, though the focal question re war remained.

Each novella in the series is under a hundred pages, and if you’d like to hear a wonderful audio excerpt by the talented voice-artist narrator, Paul Woodson, just click the audio sample button below the image of my kindle book’s cover – https://amzn.to/2SLByDJ .

Paris has often been and continues to be a beacon of light and encouragement to the world we all live within. These last few posts since the fire at Notre Dame have been a very small effort to show that the City of Light has also influenced me, particularly so since our second and much longer stay in late 2012 when my wife and I were able to relax, even if still as outsiders, into the city and absorb more of life among the current Parisians (smiles).

Adan

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