The Shape Of A City

A literary travel essay on the city of Nantes by the great 20th century French novelist, essayist, critic and geographer, Julien Gracq.

The most original book of Julien Gracq's later output is about Nantes. It begins with a quotation from Baudelaire that Gracq repeats and distorts: "The shape of a city, as we all know, changes more quickly than the mortal heart."

Gracq's later work, set provocatively in verifiable land- and cityscapes, seems profoundly challenged by Proust's synthesis of realism, reverie, and remembrance.