As a writer who has been living in Paris since 1993, thereis no question in my mind that the French capital is.the writer’s quintessential city. It also happens to bethe city of literary pilgrimages--its only other rival beingLondon. Everywhere you look there are statues and monumentsto writers, not to mention house museums. If you are interestedin literature, and in particular French literature, then Pariswarrants at least several visits.
　　My literary tour usually starts on the Left Bank, perhapsbecause this is where some of the most famous 20th-centurywriters made their home. A stone’s throw from Notre DameCathedral is Shakespeare and Company, owned by the learnedand aged George Whitman, whom the French like to refer to as"the grandson of the American poet Walt Whitman." In spiritonly, of course. This crowded, dusty, and friendly bookshopoverlooking the Seine, is redolent with memories of poets andnovelists who have streamed through here for years, includingLaurence Ferlinghetti, GregoryCorso, and Allen Ginsberg. Starvingpoets who aren’t fussy aboutaccommodations can still crash herefor the night. In any case, the store ischock full of books by authors whostarved in Paris, including HenryMiller, Ernest Hemingway andGeorge Orwell, and you may belucky enough to come across a firstedition or two. Prices are reasonable.
　　From there, I like to wander over to the Carrefour del’Odeon in the sixth arrondissement, and head up the ruede l’Odeon where you will still see a plaque in homage tothe original Shakespeare