Product Description

The name of every Parisian metro station tells a story. In Metrostop Paris Gregor Dallas recounts a series of extraordinary but true tales about the city as he leads his readers around the metro. Both the armchair traveller and the visitor will enjoy an illuminating journey in the company of a compelling storyteller and veteran of the city.

The book includes visits to Paris’s catacombs at ‘Hell’s Gate’, the literary cafés and old jazz cellars of Montparnasse and Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the seventeenth-century alleys of the Marais, along with trips to the Palais-Royal at the time of the Revolution and the world of opera during Claude Debussy’s lifetime. Through the eyes of the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, Dallas describes the German occupation of Paris during the Second World War and the intellectual wars that immediately followed. A visit to the futuristic Cité de la Science at La Villette prompts the story of the Marquis de Morès, the French ‘cowboy’ and anti-Semite, who was eventually murdered by tribesmen of the Sahara Desert in 1896. Outside the Jesuit church of Saint-Paul Dallas tells us about Gabriel de Montgomery – forgotten ancestor of Montgomery of Alamein – who accidentally killed his king just there and, after leading the Protestant armies against Catherine de Medicis, was executed on the Place de Grève. This exciting journey through time and space concludes at the Cemetery Père Lachaise with the unknown tale of Oscar Wilde’s strange involvement in the Dreyfus Affair, the greatest legal scandal of all time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62052 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Not really what I hoped for - heavy on the biography - but very interesting nonetheless
The 'metro' theme in this book is actually just something of a conceit. Instead of giving a potted history of the origins of each metro station's name (which is what I wanted), Dallas chooses 12 stations as settings for a series of vignettes, some of which veer away from discussion of the city itself.

I thought that the writing tended a little too much toward biography. The chapter on Montparnasse, for example, develops into a discussion of the life and work of sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. The chapter on Trocadero is essentially a biography of Anais Nin; likewise the chapter on Opera focuses on the public and private life of Clause Debussy.

Evidently the author wanted to avoid writing 'just another book' about the architecture and urban development of Paris. What he does extremely well, however, is to weave the biography and urban history together in a way that successfully animates the city.

Language Problem
I was very motivated to read this book. It is obviously packed full of facts either about Paris or entertainingly adjacent to that topic. However it is written in a very arch style. The needless complexity of the language put me off completely. I passed it to my wife to try and she gave up after a few pages for the same reason. I suggest you take a look at the text and try it before you purchase.

Intelligently written, and yet a gripping read
Intelligently written, fascinating and well researched tales, and yet a gripping read. I could not put it down!

Well recommended.