Monday, March 3, 2008
'A digital-age fairytale in Paris'
Travel writing is a broad church. On its pews gather Bill Bryson, Redmond O'Hanlon and Bruce Chatwin (his notebook filled with imaginative fancies). In its chancel, hymns are sung to the humanity of Colin Thubron, the esprit of Nicolas Bouvier and the erudite historical narratives of William Dalrymple. Its young bloods – including Philip Marsden, Sara Wheeler, Jason Elliot and Rory Stewart – pray alongside its dead champions: Freya Stark, Gertrude Bell and Roger Deakin. Suddenly a cheeky, young Francophile wheels a pram into the nave, startling the congregation with a digital-age fairytale set in Paris.
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