Frankly speaking
by Joanne Dandres

Lovers of renegade literature and engaging art – in Paris and abroad – are bound to come across a curious but enlightening publication called Frank. The journal, which is based in the rap and art-studded suburb of Montreuil, first came to life in 1983 in Boston, and has enjoyed a constant, yet sporadic existence in Paris ever since. Called Frank because “things frank are direct, and the name implies freedom... While, the journal’s website adds: “That’s what writing and publishing in this city is all about – creating beyond the pressures to conform.
From the start, Frank had its own brand of international expansion in mind. One of the journal’s distinctive features is its “Foreign Dossier,” which editor/publisher David Applefield sees as his personal contribution to the battle against cultural ethnocentricity. Each issue of Frank explores the culture of countries as diverse as China, Pakistan, Wallonia and now Switzerland. Back copies of Frank are to be found in bookshops from Peshawar to Reykjavik, and submissions stream in from little towns in Montana, East Timor and “every arrondissement of Paris.”
Prominent literary figures have put in an appearance in Frank, notably in the form of exclusive cultural interviews. Among those whose voices have graced the pages of this gutsy periodical... Pulitzer Prize-winner poet Rita Dove, Czech president and playwright Vaclav Havel and New York Paris Review icon, George Plimpton who stated that “Frank’s brilliance is that you’re never sure what it is.“
Guest-edited by Kristin Schnider who lives on a mountaintop near Zurich and comes to Paris regularly, Frank 18’s Foreign Dossier is devoted to Switzerland because, as Applefield, puts it, “We’re always attracted to culturally-complicated places. It’s a small but wealthy country better known for its clichés than its four languages and cultures (French, German, Italian and Romansh).”
Further Frank 18 content includes an excerpt from The Bone, Turkish writer Bedri Baykam’s controversial and now illegal novel, a chat — dubbed “Knowing God in Paris” — with spiritual thinker and popular writer Deepak Chopra, who, well before September 11, predicts horrible “information wars,” a short but striking poem by America’s newly-appointed Poet Laureate Billy Collins, and a host of unusual texts grouped in a bubbling cauldron of great stuff known as “In Other Words.”
In today’s world of fresh turbulence, racial and religious conflict, and geo-political turmoil it’s reassuring that journals like Frank stoically remain devoted to helping readers in all directions understand and accept each other through literature, art and culture’s power-to-convince.
Frank 18 is available at all English-language bookshops, as well as at www.ReadFrank.com. 256 pages. 10 Euros.
Joanne Dandres is a freelance journalist working in Paris and the Middle East.

Book Briefs

To Find a Green Peacock” by Eugénie Kerouguel (Éditions des Écrivains)
Salmon Rushdie once said that youth passionately embraces difficult causes and ideals because it hasn’t yet stocked up enough of its own trials and tribulations.
Eugénie Kerouguel’s novel, To Find a Green Peacock, is a case in point. Its main character, Marie-Louise, a widow, is settled into her Golden Years in her rambling French farmhouse. Memories of the war, of youthful passions and adventures, and of friends and family lost along the way, are old concerns and are now born with the same easy familiarity as that of a well-worn sweater.
But one day, Marie-Louise decides to find a mate for her green peacock, and discovers the only one available is out in Brittany, not far from where she grew up. And while she has never deliberately shut out the memories of those years — the loss of her parents during the London Blitz and a heart-wrenching decision she had to make because of a wartime love affair — she experiences on setting out toward her childhood home a surprising upsurge of emotions she believed she had left far behind.
But as she found herself reliving her past, nothing could have prepared her for what would happen upon meeting a young man whose life, in intriguing and increasingly disturbing ways, echoed her own. With a beautiful feel for setting and tone, conveying the muted colors and atmosphere of Brittany as a backdrop, Eugénie Kerouguel develops this quietly told story of a past not only remembered, but coming back to life. MH

Guidebooks
“Larousse Paris”
Paris finally has its own “Larousse,” in two versions: francophone and anglophone. Founded in 1852, Larousse is France’s reference book specialist par excellence — its standard dictionary “le Petit Larousse” is present in 80% of French households. Six out of every ten dictionaries sold in France are Larousse publications. Until now, the firm had never issued an edition in both French and English at the same time. Both massive encyclopedia-cum-coffee table-books, the French version of “Larousse Paris” and its English translation embark on an exhaustive historic tour of ten neighborhoods before shifting into thematic mode and zeroing in on roofs, arcades, lighting, fountains and other city fixtures. Some 800 images — some archive material, others current — make for hours of visual dawdling. KH

“Artists in Residence” — a guide to the homes and studios of eight 19th century artists in and around Paris — by Dana Micucci with photos by Marina Faust, The Little Bookroom
This antidotal book provides the reader with a peek behind the doors of some of the most illustrious 19th century French painters. The guide not only lists directions, hotels and choice restaurants, but includes lyrical descriptions of such places as Monet’s Giverny, Auver sur-Oise — where van Gogh created many of his key canvases — and Delacroix’s Paris studio. With its elegant slipcase and finely reproduced photos, this slim volume would make a fine gift for anyone who loves French art. BR

“Living and Working in Paris” — Your first-hand introduction to this capital city by Alan Hart, How To Books 2001
Like many expats, Alan Hart, who has lived in Paris since 1991, meant to spend just one year in France on a post-university stint, but ended up staying on and making this city his home. Living and Working in Paris, his second “how-to” book for English-speakers in France, is filled with practical information for people considering — and those who have already made — that same big move. Divided into 22 user-friendly chapters dealing with apartment hunting, finding employment, the social security system — and everything “in between” those topics — the book’s greatest asset is its success in demystifying the various facets of French bureaucracy that foreigners find so baffling. GP