Through Parisian Eyes: New Library Edition

Praise For
Through Parisian Eyes:
Reflections On Contetemporary French
Arts and Culture
by Melinda Camber Porter

“Melinda Camber Porter is author of Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture. She is no softy, never awed by her illustrious Subjects. Melinda Camber Porter is first and foremost a good listener… Melinda Camber Porter’s criticism sees mind of modern France…”
—Colin Walters/ON BOOKS
Washington Times

The Love Critic:
Françoise Sagan is a love critic-a French specialty [This is from one of many interviews in Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture, by Melinda Camber Porter]: “When people say that they need to be loved, they often mean that they need to be seen. What people often miss most, when a love affair breaks up, is the fact that there is no one to watch them and take an interest in them as they brush their teeth, and walk in the door, and make their phone calls ... that when they die there’ll be no echo left of their existence. That’s the real horror. They feel that their actions don’t have any weight unless someone is there. But that’s not love.”
—Noted With Pleasure
The New York Times

“The voices and ghosts of French intellectuals—artists, dramatists, film makers, actors, writers and philosophers – mingle in this uniquely constructed volume of interviews and commentary. Melinda Camber Porter juxtaposes her subjects’ ideas against one another by carefully arranging the text’s central issues. Diverse attitudes about the Parisian “scene” emerge, from patriots as well as expatriates. Anouilh tries to persuade us that he is no more than an irresponsible child; Truffaut, that only “women and children” are truly responsible carriers of feeling and culture. Duras, Sagan and Montand speak candidly of work and love. Through Parisian Eyes is a particularly readable and brilliantly compiled collection.”
—Susan Monsky (novelist)
Boston Globe

“For those passionate about French arts and culture, Melinda Camber Porter’s Through Parisian Eyes is like a daylong trip to the candy store. It is a collection of essays and interviews with some of the most prominent Parisian writers, philosophers, directors and actors—François Truffaut, Costa-Gavras, Jean Anouilh, Eugène Ionesco, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Louis Malle, Marguerite Duras, Bertrand Tavernier, Breyton Breytenbach, Françoise Sagan, and Yves Montand are all included. Melinda Camber Porter’s eclectic gathering covers topics that include French xenophobia, politics, feminism, creativity, intellectualism, structuralism, imagination and the arts, providing an area of interest for almost every palate. Through Parisian Eyes is a well-rounded, intelligent look at the contemporary Parisian spirit.”
—Steven Barclay
San Francisco Chronicle

Praise for Through Parisian Eyes
“Jean Paul Aron, and to a lesser extent Melinda Camber Porter [in Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture], have done us a service by presenting us with the views of those who set the agenda and determined what was important and what was not and what was politically correct in Paris from around 1944 to 1970.”
—The fall of idols in Paris by David Gross
The New Criterion Volume 5, Number 4
Editor, Hilton Kramer

“Artist and poet Melinda Camber Porter will give a talk about her work at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Alliance Francaise of Chicago, 810 N. Dearborn St. Admission is $5. An exhibition of Porter’s paintings continues at the Alliance through February.”
—Alan G. Artner
Art Notes
Chicago Tribune

“Melinda Camber Porter can be enthused whether she’s talking about French artists or South Dakota wheat combines. She provides a link between South Dakota and the artists and intellectuals who frequent Parisian cafes. She says: ‘France is an amazing country because artists are taken more seriously than anywhere else. In France, art isn’t something for a museum, or something to be in awe of. It’s to be lived and enjoyed. French Live.’ The strength of Through Paris Eyes: Reflections of Contemporary French Arts and Culture lies in the insights Melinda Camber Porter’s subjects offer about themselves, art, and society.”
—Ann Grauvogl
Sioux Falls Argus Leader

Praise for Through Parisian Eyes
“I enjoyed this book, Through Parisian Eyes by Melinda Camber Porter and give it five out of five stars!
Divided into eight sections. Every section and individual is interesting. A knowledgeable and handy reference book that gives an informed introduction to a wide variety of eminent cultural and intellectual contributors to French culture, and to the world for that matter. I have come back to this book many times to refresh my knowledge of somebody that comes up in the news, books, film, or magazine articles etc.
I particularly liked the chapters Melinda Camber Porter writes about on Peter Brook, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Louis Malle, Francois Truffaut, Marguerite Duras, Andre Malraux, Bernard-Henry Levy. My favourite chapters are on Francoise Sagan and Francoise Giroud. There is a wonderful quote by Francoise Sagan which jumped out to me and I have never forgotten. ‘Intelligence is the capacity to be happy. And I define stupidity as unhappiness and depression. Truly intelligent people know how to be happy.’ Gotta love her.”
—Greg Somers
Leading World Reviewer, Goodreads

“One immediately senses what a consistent and quick-witted interviewer Melinda Camber Porter is. I like here presence between the lines. In Through Parisian Eyes she brings out new aspects of French cultural life that are rarely perceived.”
—Catherine David
Nouvel Observateur

“Through Parisian Eyes author Melinda Camber Porter presents insights into the lives and thoughts of 30 celebrated Parisians through interviews with, among others, Marguerite Duras, Louis Malle, Monique Wittig, the late Francois Truffaut and Andre Malraux. Throughout the interviews in prose, with background information, of favorite Parisian topics crop up: France, its future and life in Paris.”
—C.M. Paris Passion:The Magazine of the French Capital

Praise for Through Parisian Eyes
“Through Melinda Camber Porter’s probing interviews, the rich, varied
cultural world of Paris springs to life. No cultural critic has produced more
revealing, more witty portraits of leading French writers, artists, and political
figures. In Through Parisian Eyes they reveal themselves in their brilliance as
well as in their occasional outrageousness.”
—Thomas Bishop
Chairman
Center for French Civilization and Culture
New York University

“... Melinda Camber Porter’s Through Paris Eyes comes as an inviting opportunity
to tap into Paris’ thinking in the winter of its greatness. Melinda Camber
Porter, a British correspondent who covered the city for The Times [London],
has brought together more than 30 interviews with leading cultural figures
that she did between 1975 to 1985. She wrangled in film directors (Truffaut,
Costa-Gavras, Alain-Resnais), novelists (Marguerite Duras, Francoise Sagan),
playwrights (Eugene Ionesco, Jean Annouilh) philosophers (Bernard-Henri
Levy, Edmond Jabes) and more. The pieces read briskly—thanks to Melinda
Camber Porter’s willingness to listen well, and challenge when necessary ...”
—Carlin Romano
Philadelphia Inquirer
“Through Parisian Eyes is a collection of short interviews with 32 members
of the Parisian elite. The resulting chorus gives a vivid impression of the
exciting Babel-like confusion of modern French attitudes to everything under
the sun… to a bright and enterprising foreign journalist, Melinda Camber
Porter of The Times [London].”
—John Weightman
Emeritus Professor of French
London University
The Observer [UK]
Praise for Through Parisian Eyes

Market to all the USA French venues where Melinda Camber Porter’s USA Art of Love Touring Exhibition of her paintings and writings sponsored by French Cultural Services in America has exhibited:

New York French Cultural Center

French Boston Library

Chicago Alliance Francaise

Houston Alliance Francaise

San Francisco Alliance Francaise

Washington DC French Embassy

Miami Alliance Francaise

New Orleans Alliance Francaise

Hartford Alliance Francaise and

The West Hartford Art League

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Civic Art Center

Golden, Colorado Foothills Art Center

Casper, Wyoming Nicolaysen Art Museum

French lecture by Melinda Camber Porter

at La Maison Francaise, New York University