The Amazing City

This selection from the writings of the late John F. Macdonald—between 1907 and 1913—find, naturally, and without any arbitrary arrangement, its unity of character. In order to convey a clear idea of the motive and ruling method that gives literary and spiritual unity to this long book, which stands for the accomplished desire for a brief life, let me quote the author's own account of this desire given in his Preface to Paris of the Parisians, where, at twenty years of age, he described himself as «a student of human life, still in his humanities»: «The purpose of these sketches is not political nor yet didactic. No charge is laid upon me to teach the French nation its duties, to reprove it for its follies. Nor yet is it my design to hold up Paris of the Parisians as an example of naughtiness, nor even of virtue, to English readers. I would endeavor to translate into English some Paris scenes, in such a way as to give a true impression of the movement, personages, sounds, colors, and atmosphere pervaded with the joy of living which belongs to them.»