LEADER
Samuél Lopez-Barrantes has lived in Paris since 2010 as a novelist, musician, and literary tour guide. He will be leading the Paris walks on the May 2027 Classical Pursuits tour Art and Resistance in WWII Paris and Champagne.
A former Sorbonne professor, he holds an MA in social theory and an MFA in creative writing. He is fiction editor at SOUVENIR Magazine, and is the co-founder of Kingdom Anywhere, an English-language publisher in Paris. His latest novel, The Requisitions, is a historical metafiction set during the Nazi occupation of Poland, and was called, “a strangely and luminously hopeful novel” by The Metropolitan Review. Find out more about Samuél’s writing and literary walks at samuellopezbarrantes.com
RECOMMENDED READINGS
- Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War by Jane Rogoyska (Norton, 2026)
- And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris by Alan Riding (Penguin, 2010)
- Is Paris Burning? by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre (Penguin, 1965)
SEMINAR DESCRIPTION
Following up on our previous three-part seminar series covering literature written during the Nazi occupation of France, this seminar will move from a general focus of the history of occupied France to a more specific story of life in Paris from 1940 to 1944.
Jane Rogoyska’s Hotel Exile (2026) recounts the largely untold story of the Hotel Lutetia’s complex history before, during, and after the war, illuminating how and why certain narratives are told and others are forgotten. The second week of this three-week seminar covers Alan Riding’s And the Show Went On (2010), which illuminates the flourishing nightlife and social life for the privileged in Nazi Occupied Paris. Finally, part III covers the story of Paris’ liberation with Is Paris Burning? (1965), written by an American, Larry Collins, and a Frenchman, Dominique Lapierre, bringing up important questions about the ways in which historical writing is first and foremost about the politics of memory and the narrativization of the past.
Led by author Samuél Lopez-Barrantes, whose 2024 historical metafiction novel, The Requisitions, was called, “vivid in a way that is almost tangible … a strangely and luminously hopeful novel” by The Metropolitan Review, this interdisciplinary seminar combines readings, historical lectures, and philosophical discussion, and will accommodate a larger group than our standard online seminars.
Each session will start with a 45-minute presentation by Samuél, followed by 45 minutes of open discussion.
PRACTICAL DETAILS
All online programs are priced in Canadian dollars.
Once you register, you’ll get an order confirmation. We’ll send you the Zoom link and a welcome letter about 3 weeks before the course starts.
This seminar is a great way to deepen your tour experience! Thinking about joining our May 2027 tour Art and Resistance in WWII Paris and Champagne? Book the tour and we’ll apply the seminar cost toward your booking.
Classical Pursuits will record this series, and make each session privately available to registered participants for up to two weeks after that session.
Online seminar payments are nonrefundable. Discount codes must be used at the time of purchase.
This online seminar is open to a maximum of 50 registrants. See full terms and conditions for Classical Pursuits online seminars. By registering for a seminar, you agree to abide by our code of conduct.
Image credit: Is Paris Burning? English first edition, Wikimedia Commons
