Farrar, Straus and Giroux: Rosecrans Baldwin on French Seduction

fsgbooks:

There was a lot to observe in Paris about seduction, about the Parisian manner of seduction. If only because seduction was the base syrup of most exchanges, business or otherwise, along with confrontation.

I found more lessons in my coworkers’ social-media updates than in watching lovers make out along the Seine—most of those lovers being tourists. Of course, plenty of French people still made out along the Seine; they simply had more company these days, Paris having so many goldfish in the privacy of their bowls …

Anyway, my French coworkers used the Web pretty much the same as Americans did, but with greater respect for individual privacy—I never saw photos of any coworkers shotgunning beers, though perhaps shotgunning beers wasn’t the best test case—and, in almost all exchanges, with flirtation.

There was also greater tolerance for sexy material. Men, and plenty of women, would get up from their desks to cluster around what ever nude flesh was trending on the Web. Of course, it was excused as a business exercise; we worked in an ad agency, and we required inspiration. And French advertising didn’t lack for nudity. Like one condom TV spot that got passed around. Six of us clustered around Josette’s computer. The video showed a woman’s face and bare breasts responding to something being done to her offscreen—a lot of tickling, perhaps, during an earthquake.

“What I like is the music,” Josette said. The soundtrack had a young Wayne Newton saying thanks in German. “That and the joy that is presented by the contrast, rather than anything nasty.”

The men chimed in, Ah oui, la musique …

From Paris, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down by Rosecrans Baldwin

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