 First edition (French) | |
| Author | Paul Morand |
|---|---|
| Translator | Hamish Miles |
| Language | French |
| Publisher | Flammarion |
Publication date | 1930 |
| Publication place | France |
Published in English | 1930 |
| Pages | 281 |
New York is a 1930 French language travel book by the French writer Paul Morand. Morand visited New York four times between 1925 and 1929 and shares his experiences from those trips, with a non-native reader in mind. An English translation by Hamish Miles was published in 1930. [1]
Morand's impressions of New York are both positive and negative. He disapproves of the upper class, the fashion, speakeasies and the area around Times Square. He is impressed by the City Hall and the buildings around Washington Square, which he regards as genuinely American and not false imitations of historical styles. He makes recurring references to the contemporary saying that "the Jews own New York, the Irish run it, and the Negroes enjoy it". In his conclusion, he writes: "I love New York because it is the greatest city of the universe and because its people are the toughest, the only people who, after the war, went on building, and who do not merely live on the capital of the past, the only ones, besides Italy, who do not demolish but construct." [2]
The Saturday Review's Theodore Purdy Jr. wrote about the book: "There is a good deal in it that is inaccurate, and the spellings of American names are confused as only a French proofreader can confuse them, yet on the whole M. Morand has seen New York well and truly, as well as in the impeccable perspective of modernity which is so characteristic of all his work." Purdy wrote that the book, in 1930, already was out of date as a guide book, as the skyline, night clubs and fashions all had changed since the author's visits, but wrote: "Yet the talent for assimilation, which has always been M. Morand's chief charm, as well as the great obstacle to his chance of writing anything lasting, is in this book ideally employed. Both the native and the passenger on an incoming liner may find things in his book which will bring the life of the city nearer and render it more understandable. In any case, M. Morand's interest in America is liable to repay both himself and the casual reader of his deceptively facile but extremely clever book." [3]
Harry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first author from the United States to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was awarded "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters." Lewis wrote six popular novels: Main Street (1920), Babbitt (1922), Arrowsmith (1925), Elmer Gantry (1927), Dodsworth (1929), and It Can't Happen Here (1935).
John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr., often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American attorney, journalist, socialite, and magazine publisher. He was a son of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
Samuel Lionel "Roxy" Rothafel was an American theatrical impresario and entrepreneur. He is noted for developing the lavish presentation of silent films in the deluxe movie palace theaters of the 1910s and 1920s.
Clement Clarke Moore was an American writer, scholar and real estate developer. He is best known as author of the Christmas poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", which first named each of Santa Claus's reindeer.
The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of Manhattan above Houston Street and below 155th Street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets and lots that has defined Manhattan on its march uptown until the current day. It has been called "the single most important document in New York City's development," and the plan has been described as encompassing the "republican predilection for control and balance ... [and] distrust of nature". It was described by the Commission that created it as combining "beauty, order and convenience."
New York is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City.
Harry Emerson Fosdick was an American pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the fundamentalist–modernist controversy within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominent liberal ministers of the early 20th century. Although a Baptist, he was called to serve as pastor, in New York City, at First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan's West Village, and then at the historic, inter-denominational Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, Manhattan.
Paul Morand was a French author whose short stories and novellas were lauded for their style, wit and descriptive power. His most productive literary period was the interwar period of the 1920s and 1930s. He was much admired by the upper echelons of society and the artistic avant-garde who made him a cult favorite. He has been categorized as an early Modernist and Imagist.
James Otis Purdy was an American novelist, short-story writer, poet, and playwright who, from his debut in 1956, published over a dozen novels, and many collections of poetry, short stories, and plays. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages and in 2013 his short stories were collected in The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy.
Theodore Roosevelt Sr. was an American businessman and philanthropist from the Roosevelt family. Roosevelt was also the father of President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandfather of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. He served as a member of the plate-glass importing business Roosevelt & Son.
The Park Theatre, originally known as the New Theatre, was a playhouse in New York City, located at 21–25 Park Row in the present Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan, about 200 feet (61 m) east of Ann Street and backing Theatre Alley. The location, at the north end of the city, overlooked the park that would soon house City Hall. French architect Marc Isambard Brunel collaborated with fellow émigré Joseph-François Mangin and his brother Charles on the design of the building in the 1790s. Construction costs mounted to precipitous levels, and changes were made in the design; the resulting theatre had a rather plain exterior. The doors opened in January 1798.
Lincoln Square is the name of both a square and the surrounding neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Lincoln Square is centered on the intersection of Broadway and Columbus Avenue, between West 65th and 66th streets. The neighborhood is bounded by Columbus and Amsterdam avenues to the east and west, and 66th and 63rd streets to the north and south, respectively. However, the term can be extended to refer to the neighborhood between 59th and 72nd streets. It is bounded by Hell's Kitchen, Riverside South, Central Park, and the Upper West Side proper. The Walt Disney Company’s New York City campus is located here, including ABC News, ESPN, Hulu, and studios for WABC-TV.
Atheneum Books was a New York City publishing house established in 1959 by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., Simon Michael Bessie and Hiram Haydn. Simon & Schuster has owned Atheneum properties since its acquisition of Macmillan in 1994 and it created Atheneum Books for Young Readers as an imprint for children's books in the 2000s.
Colline is a 1929 novel by the French writer Jean Giono. It has also been published as Hill of Destiny. It tells the story of a small hamlet in Provence where the superstitious residents struggle against nature, as their settlement is struck by several misfortunes. Colline was Giono's debut novel. It is the first installment in the author's Pan trilogy; it was followed by the standalone novels Lovers are Never Losers and Second Harvest.
Theodore Lothrop Stoddard was an American historian, journalist, political scientist and white supremacist. Stoddard wrote several books which advocated eugenics, white supremacy, Nordicism, and scientific racism, including The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy (1920). He advocated a racial hierarchy which he believed needed to be preserved through anti-miscegenation laws. Stoddard's books were once widely read both inside and outside the United States.
Charles Cooper Nott Jr. was an American attorney and jurist. He served as judge of the New York General Sessions Court from 1913 to 1939. In 1919 anarchists were planting a bomb on his doorstep when it prematurely exploded killing both of the bombers. In 1922 he presided over the obscenity case of James Branch Cabell and Robert Medill McBride for the novel, Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice. In 1939 he presided over the second trial of James Joseph Hines.
The Naval War of 1812 is Theodore Roosevelt's first book, published in 1882. It covers the naval battles and technology used during the War of 1812. It is considered a seminal work in its field, and had a massive impact on the formation of the modern American Navy.
The Living Buddha is a 1927 novel by the French writer Paul Morand. It tells the story of Jali, the hereditary prince of an East Asian kingdom, who travels to the Europe where he lives as a beggar in London and Paris, before he falls in love with the daughter of a Ku Klux Klan leader and follows her to America. The book was published in English in 1927, translated by Eric Sutton.
Luke Theodore Upshure (1885–1969) was a disabled musician, composer, and music teacher who lived in New York's Greenwich Village. The son of a former slave, he received musical training at the Institute of Musical Art, a forerunner of the Juilliard School, as well as formal education at Columbia University, City College of New York, and the Rand School of Social Science. Although he earned his living doing menial jobs, music was his real vocation. He performed on and taught piano and composed for that instrument, voice, and orchestra. Believing in cultural attainment as an antidote to the social evils of his time, he hosted colorblind parties for artists, actors, musicians, and writers that featured readings, performances, and political discussion as well as dancing, food, and drink. Artists of his time captured his likeness in paintings and sculptures and one contemporary author has described him as a famous African-American entertainer.
World Champions is a 1930 novel by the French writer Paul Morand. It is set in the United States and follows four men who graduate from Columbia University in 1909, and decide to each become the world champion in his respective discipline. The book was published in English in 1931, translated by Hamish Miles.