A flaneur is a stroller, a loiterer, someone who ambles through a city without a
pparent purpose but is secretly attuned to the history of the place and in cover
t search of adventure, esthetic or erotic. Edmund White, who lived in Paris for
sixteen years, wanders through the streets and avenues and along the quays, taki
ng us into parts of Paris virtually unknown to visitors and indeed to many Paris
ians.
