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As part of his enormous literary production, eighteenth-century French writer Rétif de la Bretonne wrote a sprawling, sixteen-volume work called Les Nuits de Paris, a picturesque and moralistic description of life among the Parisian lower classes. Covering the years 1789-93, the last two volumes, often called Les Nuits révolutionnaires, are of particular interest since they narrate the author's daily walks in Paris during the French Revolution. In Rétif's text, written in a journalistic style, history appears only as it is played out, contemplated and interpreted on the street and by the street. The author argues that Rétif reshapes both the "témoignage" and the "promenade" genres by welding them together. The result is a strikingly modern understanding of the importance of reporting history-in-the-making at street level, as ordinary people experience it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides information on the top tourist sites and nightlife destinations in Paris, France. Paris is one of those cities where the street life--shopping, strolling, and hanging out--should claim as much time as sightseeing. The best way to discover Paris is on foot. Walk along the avenue des Champs-Elysées, tour the quays of the Seine, wander the Ile de la Citré and Ile St-Louis, browse the shop and stalls, stroll the squares and parks. A walk at dawn can be enthralling as you see the city come to life.