The day I became a Parisian

24 août 2007 | Nick Carraway | Aucune réponse

Me voilà installé à Paris. Enfin les immeubles haussmanniens. Enfin les tapis rouges qui mènent devant vos portes. Enfin les petits studios (pléonasme) aux fausses cheminées. Enfin chez soi. Enfin Paris.

Et pourtant, question lancinante, suis-je Parisien ? Il semble au contraire que je me sens encore comme un touriste. Cela viendra avec le temps. Ou peut-être avec un coup de pouce du destin, de ce genre de rencontres fugaces et échevelées qui sont légion dans les romans. Un peu comme celle-ci :

It was lonely for a day or so until one morning some man, more recently arrived than I, stopped me on the road. ‘How do you get to West Egg village?’ he asked helplessly. I told him. And as I walked on I was lonely no longer. I was a guide, a pathfinder, an original settler. He had casually conferred on me the freedom of the neighbourhood.

Et donc, si tu te sens l’âme samaritaine, n’hésite pas à me demander ton chemin. Comment me reconnaître ? I’ll meet you on some corner. I’ll be the man smoking two cigarettes. [1]

Notes

[1] Les citations sont extraites de The Great Gatsby : était-il besoin de le préciser ?

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags - ,

§ Laisser un commentaire

Fiche

Nick Carraway

Miss Baker and I exchanged a short glance consciously devoid of meaning. I was about to speak when she sat up alertly and said “Sh!” in a warning voice. A subdued impassioned murmur was audible in the room beyond, and Miss Baker leaned forward unashamed, trying to hear. The murmur trembled on the verge of coherence, sank down, mounted excitedly, and then ceased altogether.

“This Mr. Gatsby you spoke of is my neighbor——” I said.

“Don’t talk. I want to hear what happens.”

“Is something happening?” I inquired innocently.

“You mean to say you don’t know?” said Miss Baker, honestly surprised. “I thought everybody knew.”

“I don’t.”

“Why——” she said hesitantly, “Tom’s got some woman in New York.”

“Got some woman?” I repeated blankly.

Miss Baker nodded.

“She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don’t you think?”