Paris: Between measure and event

Abstract

The following paper aims to explore, in view of a study of writer Italo Calvino's description of the metaphorical city of Zaira, how the fluid relationship between 'measurements of space' and 'events of the past' is revealed through inhabitations of a city, both real and imagined. The paper aims to do this by focusing on one city in particular to illustrate this notion, the city of Paris. It explores a series of understandings and articulations of Paris, both theoretical and practical, spanning predominantly the era of the nineteenth century through to Modernism. It is hoped that the theories articulated here will be read in light of the ideas posed by Calvino's evocation of Zaira, and will enrich an understanding of the universal concept of the revelation of time in space within the cities in which we dwell. © 2008 Taylor & Francis.