Chapter 11 (of 20) With Pascin at the Dóme
Chapter 1 (of 20), A Good Café on the Place St-Michael, will take you back in time to the story that began my French culinary experiences while reading A Moveable Feast, chapter by chapter. From there, each chapter will take you to the next chapter and culinary experience.
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway.
Chapter 11 (of 20) With Pascin at the Dóme accompanied by coffee and a macaroon at Ladurée, Burlington Arcade, Picadilly.
Notes From Chapter 11: With Pascin at the Dóme
A WorkLife Book Club For One
When I came to writing notes on this chapter as I have with each chapter that has gone before, by way of making sense of the meaning it held for me in the context of my WorkLife, I found this chapter to be different.
Previous chapters have helped me work through feelings, emotions and reactions to everyday happenings in my WorkLife. They have also helped connect and reinforce learning that I’m experiencing as I go about my daily WorkLife reading books and stories and listening to podcasts.
This chapter was different because it was more of a masterclass in writing. Let me explain what I mean through the notes I made.
Notes on Set Up
My last book WorkLife Book Club takes people on a journey through the streets of Shoreditch, East London as the members share culinary experiences, while discussing WorkLife struggles and successes through the wisdom found in the books they read.
Hemingway is taking people on a journey through the streets of Paris. He talks about restaurants, food and drinks and conversations with fellow artists about struggles and successes in their WorkLives. So, his subject matter is very similar to mine.
When setting up this chapter, his language is spellbinding and draws me into the neighbourhood – the streets, the bakeries, cafés and restaurants with a sense of intrigue. He goes on to describe the interior of the restaurant and the menu, evoking all of my senses. “I read the menu mimeographed in purple ink and saw the plat de jour was cassoulet. It made me hungry to read the name.” Hemingway’s introduction/set-up to this chapter made me hungry to read on and learn more – and also hungry for the food he described! He achieved all of that in one paragraph. It is indeed a masterclass in Set Up, which I know I will return to, time and time again, to help develop my writing style to draw people into my stories.
Notes on WorkLife and Time
This chapter was also a Masterclass on how to weave updates on WorkLife into a story. Learning that Hemingway and his wife, Hadley, now have a baby helped move the story on in the sense of time passing, while he also shared the struggles and successes he experienced on a day-to-day basis, which also kept the story in the moment. In introducing readers to the character, Pascin, he gave an insight into his WorkLife in the present of that moment. At the end of the chapter, the reader learns what happens to Pascin in the future, but in a way that’s connected to the present of the moment in time Hemingway was writing about. The way in which Hemingway brings readers on a journey through time in sharing details about his and Pascin’s WorkLife, is once again a masterclass on WorkLife and time, which I know I will return to, time and time again, to help develop my writing style to keep people engaged in my stories.
Notes on Characters and Dialogue
And finally, this chapter was a Masterclass on how to describe characters in a way that makes them memorable from the outset and then gives further insight into their characteristics through succinct and simple dialogue. Hemingway writes using short sentences with very specific details to achieve this interesting description of the characters, and he keeps the dialogue between the characters short in helping the reader know more about them through their characteristics. I can learn a lot from Hemingway’s style in describing characters and their characteristics and how to write great dialogue. I know I will return time and time again to this Masterclass on Characters and Dialogue.
Words of Wisdom
They say the seeds of what we will do are in all of us, but it always seemed to me that in those who make jokes in life the seeds are covered in better soil and with a higher grade of manure.
These words of wisdom at the end of the chapter demonstrated the beauty in which Hemingway wrote about the people he was remembering from his time in Paris. The beauty came from the poignance in how he shared their story and their truth.
Epilogue
I’m not sure when I’ll read the next chapter of A Moveable Feast over a glass and a plate.
It most likely will be another spontaneous happening. It may take a little planning to keep the French theme going, or as I walk and explore and discover, it may not. …
The Continuing Story …
I can now share where Chapter 12 (of 20)… Ezra Pound and his Bel Esprit took me …
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Today I enjoyed coffee and a macaroon at Ladurée, London Burlington Arcade, Picadilly.
Se souvenir de toi, Norma.
#FUNFACT1 The history of Ladurée began in 1862, when Louis-Ernest Ladurée, a miller from southwest France, opened a boulangerie at 16 Rue Royale. It was Louis-Ernest’s wife, Jeanne, who had the idea of combining a Parisian café with a patisserie, giving birth to one of the first tea salons. The salon de thé was an instant hit, especially with women who, up until then, were prohibited from gathering in Paris cafés! Louis-Ernest Ladurée was a prolific writer and author of plays, poetry, and 20,000 letters! (Source Paris Insiders Guide)
#FUNFACT2 The Burlington Arcade is one of Britain’s longest shopping arcades — 196 yards long to be precise. It was built in 1818/19 at the request of Lord George Cavendish, later Earl of Burlington, for his wife so that she could shop safely amongst other genteel ladies and gentlemen away from the busy, dirty, and crime-ridden open streets of London. (Source Londonist).
#FUNFACT3 Macarons were originally called the “Gerbet” or the “Paris macaron.” Pierre Desfontaines of the French pâtisserie Ladurée has sometimes been credited with its creation in the early part of the 20th century, but another baker, Claude Gerbet, also claims to have invented it. (Source The History of Macarons).
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School of WorkLife helps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
Resources to Help You Self-Direct Your Learning
You may want to self-direct your learning by starting your WorkLife Book Club For One, For Two, or for more people. Guidelines for Starting and Running Your WorkLife Book Club will help you do that.
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Series helpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
How To Live True To Who You Really Are
How To Embrace The Superpower of Self-Awareness
How To Fine-Tune The Superpower of Observation
You can view the complete collection here: The School of WorkLife Book Series.
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Founder of School of WorkLife, Carmel O’ Reilly is a learning practitioner and writer. She creates resources to help people self-direct their WorkLife learning. These include a Collection of Books which originated from her first book, Your WorkLife Your Way and a Learn Through Reading Series of Case Studies. which originated from her latest book WorkLife Book Club.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers), it helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.