141. The flaneur
a new word swims into my ken.
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Flaneur
This new word floated into my world while editing the new episode of the SneakyArt Podcast. Ep 49 releases this Friday.
Flaneur (french) - “… a person, literally meaning stroller, lounger, saunterer, or loafer … representing the ability to wander detached from society with no other purpose than to be an acute observer.” (wiki)
A flaneur is an urban explorer.
The TinyPeople of Summer are very different from the TinyPeople of Winter.
This difference is not only in their clothing. It is also in the things they do in the public spaces they inhabit.
How does public life change with the seasons in your part of the world?
In the world before COVID, I spotted an oil painter working by himself in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
This summer, in Cambie Village (Vancouver), a couple sat on the patio outside a cafe.
Sonder
Here is another beautiful word for you - sonder.
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Such lovely sketches! It's the most different thing I've seen all week.
I love it when worlds meet. Flaneur has got a rich recent history, popularized by Nassim Taleb who's an active writer on the subject and related things. The heart of flaneur-ship is to retain optionality. Like a tourist who doesn't bake a plan because she sees more sense in deciding on the fly as new information comes in.
Thanks for a great talk on Substack Grow this eve. Also very happy to see you've discovered the joys of Le Flâneur. I've lived in Paris for 12 years and it's become an essential part of my life; my job is to flâner with folks and talk about history through the city. A few references if you're interested in the flâneur mythology: https://www.boshemiamagazine.com/blog/the-flaneur-and-the-flaneuse-the-culture-of-women-who-wander-cities + Edmund White's "Flâneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris."
Here's to the living the flâneur lifestyle. Paris awaits your beautiful drawings.