Luc’s Guide to Paris and the Romantics

When I say Paris is the Romantic capital of the world, I’m not talking about picture-postcard clichés from American films or those cheesy black-and-white shots of couples kissing by the Eiffel tower you see in souvenir shops and the bouquinistes’ stalls along the Seine: we’re talking Romanticism with a capital R, the artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement in 19^th-century Europe. Paris was a vibrant centre of Romantic thought, but it wasn’t just a bunch of syphilitics sitting around drinking absinthe and whining about their broken hearts. The Romantics were artistic and literary pioneers and tireless advocates for social change who had a profound and lasting impact on the arts and on society as a whole.