A review by callymd
Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London by Lauren Elkin

5.0

My initial thought: I have found my people! Apparently wandering around through cities alone by foot for no other real reason than enjoying walking and experiencing life as an observer is a thing. And of course the French have a word for such a person, a “flâneur” (masculine). This book by Lauren Elkin is about the mythical “flâneuse” (feminine). History did not always permit women to wander around alone as freely as the archetypal man (even think about today and the male gaze), but some achieved it anyway and/or wrote of characters that did. This book was a well researched, heady dive into famous women authors and other artists and their formation around solitary city walking.