Oxford, Miss. [Le Monde travel guide]
The weekend edition of Le Monde has a pseudo-travel guide written by a local writer about his or her town. It is necessarily partial and subjective, but often interesting. It also sometimes mentions towns one would never dream of visiting. This week (18/02/2012), this tribune most unexpectedly focus on Oxford, Mississippi, that I visited two and a half years ago for MaxEnt 2009. (The writer in charge is Tom Franklin. Not that I ever heard of him…) I find it quite puzzling that Le Monde spends two pages on this little town where the only attraction worth mentioning is Faulkner’s family home, now turned into a museum, and where the (decent) local bookstore is the only place in town one can buy the New York Times. Unsurprisingly, the highlights are local bars and cafés… I wonder if any Le Monde reader will be induced by the guide to travel to this place.
Xi'an's Og 
February 22, 2012 at 5:36 pm
[…] Oxonian post of the week! And second English trip of the year. I will give a seminar lecture this afternoon in […]
February 22, 2012 at 11:14 am
[…] or plan to get those by Friday! (I will be in the train coming back from Oxford. Oxford, England, not Mississippi!) […]
February 19, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Xian, it might very well be the only place in Mississippi where you can find the liberal press.. eheheheh as a college town (and it offers exceptionally good college teams for those who like college sports) it’s more diverse than its neighborhood…
February 18, 2012 at 11:29 pm
I for one am really pleased to hear that Le Monde isn’t so snobbish as to fail to appreciate interesting personal descriptions by a local writer of his/her town—however off-the-beaten track, and however much some might look down their noses at it. In fact, I’m inclined to think it would do Robert good to spend a summer down in Oxford, Miss.
February 19, 2012 at 12:21 am
Ha! I wrote this piece because I had spent three days in Ox., Miss., and could not see the appeal of the place, despite my deep appreciation of Faulkner’s writings, not out of genetic Parisian snobbish-ness… I was actually very glad when Le Monde has a piece on Isak Dinesen’s place in Denmark, Rungstedlund.
February 19, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Also, if you look at the entry, I hope you will agree this coverage is rather shallow…
February 19, 2012 at 7:29 pm
My French isn’t good enough to read it, unfortunately(I should send it to my mother).. Of course, I was mostly teasing you, stemming from my liking the fact that a Tom Franklin, so free of pretentiousness, is getting to talk about his Mississippi town in a posh rag—quite aside from whether the place is appealing. If the piece is shallow, then I agree it is surprising it was chosen. Anyway..I bought one of his thrillers for upcoming travel!