Gleanings in Europe : $b France, vol. 2 of 2
| Language | en |
|---|---|
| First published | 2025-11-23 |
| Rights | Public domain in the USA. |
| Gutenberg ID | #77305 |
Description
"Sultane française au Maroc" by Noël Amaudru is a travelogue of letters written in the early 19th century. It offers an American observer’s sharp, conversational portraits of Parisian society, literature, industry, and the arts, using encounters with notable figures to frame broader reflections on France, England, and America. Expect urbane comparisons of national character, salons and theaters, exhibitions and the press, and an ongoing meditation on taste, comfort, and cultural progress. The opening of the work recounts the sudden appearance of Sir Walter Scott in Paris and an intimate visit to the narrator’s lodgings, followed by a breakfast, salon anecdotes, and shrewd impressions of Scott’s humor, reserve, authorship, and views on Anglo‑American relations and copyright. It then pivots to a grand industrial exhibition at the Louvre, contrasting France’s dazzling luxury arts (Sèvres porcelain, Gobelins tapestry, velvetized wallpapers, picture transfers from wood to canvas) with its clumsier utilitarian tools, and urges America to cultivate the fine arts alongside naval strength and a national gallery. Subsequent letters sketch Parisian physiques and manners, debunk Anglo‑American clichés about French women, and reflect on the army’s short, sturdy effectiveness. A visit to the French Academy highlights intrigue behind literary honors, balanced by admiration for France’s sciences and arts and a ruminative digression on astronomy’s moral vastness. The theatrical pages praise Mademoiselle Mars and French finesse in comedy and vaudeville, question the inflated tone of tragedy, and critique the sentimental morality of popular plots, before turning toward differences between European and American journalism. (This is an automatically generated summary.)