Eating Europe

Jon Volkmer

Description

Jon and Janet’s European adventure is shattered by world events—not the trip itself, but the telling of it. In a harsh post-9/11 world, the once glib travel writer finds he must take the long road to truth telling, and to rediscovering a woman he thought he knew.

Informations

• Publié par: Parlor Press, LLC
• Date de parution: 08 septembre 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781932559712
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

V o l k m e r e a t i n g e u r o p e E A T I N G

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E U R O P E

AmETA - NONfIcTION lOvEsTORy J O N v O l k m E R

Writing Travel Series Editor, Jeanne Moskal

W T Series Editor, Jeanne Moskal

Te series publises manuscripts related to te new field of travel studies, including works of original travel writing; edi- tions of out-of-print travel books or previously unpublised travel memoirs; Englis translations of important travel books in oter languages; teoretical and istorical treatments of ways in wic travel and travel writing engage suc questions as religion, nationalism/cosmopolitanism, and empire; gender and sexuality; race, etnicity, and immigration; and te is- tory of te book, print culture, and translation; biograpies of significant travelers or groups of travelers (including but not limited to pilgrims, missionaries, antropologists, tour- ists, explorers, immigrants); critical studies of te works of significant travelers or groups of travelers; and pedagogy of travel and travel literature and its place in curricula.

Books in te Series

Eating Europe: A MetaNonfiction Love Story, Jon Volkmer Vienna Voices: A Traveler Listens to the City of Dreams, Jill Knigt Weinberger

Eating Europe

A Meta-Nonfiction Love Story

Jon Volkmer

Parlor Press West Lafayette, Indiana www.parlorpress.com

Parlor Press LLC, West Lafayette, Indiana 490

© 200 by Parlor Press All rigts reserved. Printed in te United States of America

S A N: 2 5 4 - 8 8  9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Volkmer, Jon, 95-  Eating Europe : a meta-nonfiction love story / Jon Volkmer.  p. cm. -- (Writing travel)  ISBN -932559-9-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN -932559-0- (ardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN -932559--X (adobe eb- ook) . Europe--Description and travel. 2. Volkmer, Jon, 95--- Travel. 3. Travel costs--Europe. I. Title.  D923.V 200  94.04’50922--dc22  200025925

“Retro Map of France” © 2005 by Nick Belton. Used by permis- sion. Cover design by David Blakesley. Printed on acid-free paper.

Parlor Press, LLC is an independent publiser of scolarly and trade titles in print and multimedia formats. Tis book is available in paper, clot and Adobe eBook formats from Parlor Press on te World Wide Web at ttp://www.parlorpress.com or troug online and brick-and mortar bookstores. For submission information or to find out about Parlor Press publications, write to Parlor Press, 8 Robinson St., West Lafayette, Indiana, 490, or e-mail [e-mail].

For Janet

Series Editor’s Preface

Parlor Press’s book series, “Writing Travel,” seeks to publis te best works in te field of travel studies. Tis field as been given new urgency by debates about globalization and terror- ism, by fres dialogue between practitioners and scolars of travel writing, and by emerging insigts from many disciplines (postcolonial studies, gender studies, literary studies, geogra- py, religious studies, and antropology) about te ways in wic travel and travel writing engage suc questions as reli- gion, nationalism and cosmopolitanism, and empire; gender and sexuality; race, etnicity, and immigration; and te is- tory of te book, print culture, and translation. Our list will include original travel writing; editions of out-of-print travel books or previously unpublised travel memoirs; Englis translations of important travel books in oter languages; bi- ograpies of significant travelers or groups of travelers (includ- ing but not limited to pilgrims, missionaries, antropologists, tourists, explorers, immigrants); critical studies of te works of significant travelers or groups of travelers; and pedagogy of travel and travel literature and its place in curricula. Eating Europe: A MetaNonfiction Love Storyby Jon Volk- mer raises te curtain on often-idden portions of te travel experience: wo pays te bills and ow travel affects our re- lationsips. Many travel writers give te impression tat tey are independently wealty by omitting any mention of wo pays te bills. But Volkmer’s narrator—like Volkmer imself, an Englis professor—receives a prestigious but limited grant from is college to travel in Europe. Canny about te federal

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viiiEditor’s Preface 

tax provisions for food-and-beverage business expenses, te narrator (or is it te autor imself?) saves nineteen restau- rant receipts to file for reimbursement from is grant. Te receipts, in addition, prompt is poignant and funny medita- tions on topics ranging from European currency –e traveled in “te millennial year, te twiligt of te guilder and te franc,” wen “some receipts also put te price in Euros, in small print, a arbinger”—to a translation of te nineteent- century experience of te sublime into present-day idiom: “Te nuclear power of te Alps being fed into te substa- tion of my eart troug te two-dollar extension cord of my eyes.” Tus Volkmer brings to bear on te experience of travel bot te administrative realities and te love of books tat sape life in today’s academia. Love, too, plays its part, as te narrator traces te ramifi- cations of one missed opportunity to affirm is travel com- panion’s vitality. Tis opportunity takes place at a store—a key venue for travelers’ saping teir new identities for tem- selves and for te folks at ome—as is companion pauses to buy some small memento of te trip. Volkmer’s unfolding of tis missed opportunity illuminates te subtleties of bot souvenir-buying and te vicissitudes of love. Tis book will appeal to anyone wo as ever ended a trip by sorting troug tose pesky receipts and wondered—si- multaneously—wat gets reimbursed and wat to make of te fact tat travel as unexpectedly opened us to evanescent snatces of love and connection. —Jeanne Moskal Series Editor, Writing Travel

Acknowledgments

I would like to tank Ursinus College and te Pearlstine Family Faculty Fellowsip Fund for encouragement and sup- port. Tanks also to Diane and Paul, Eric and Madeline, Margot and Rob, Daniel, Carol, Patti, Ted, Judy, Annette, Laura, Francine, Bet, Jane, David G., Ricard G., Ricard K., Rick D., Roger, Sawn, Jane and Scotty. Special tanks to Jeanne and to David, wose literary vision transcends cat- egory, genre and marketability. Most of all tanks to Janet, for er contributions on pages  to 8 and 93 to 200 and for er inspiration everywere else. Parts of capters 5 to 8 and 2 appeared in tePhiladel phia Inquirer.“An Ugly American in Paris” appeared inThe Bucks County Writer. Everyting in tis book is true, except te parts tat admit to ambiguity, imagination, or deceit. Most of te names ave been canged in consideration of privacy.

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Contents

Series Editor’s Preface vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 3 Part One 7  Golden Tulip Bar: .89 9 2 L’Indocine: 0.4 15 3 Puri Mas: 9.43 18

On Cartograpy and te Sublime 30 4 AC Restaurants: 22.2 41 5 Restaurant le Luxof: 3.20 44  Maison D’Issler: 22.5 53  Tropic Ice: .4 57 8 L’Auberge Alsacienne: 5.9 64 9 Le Grand Duc: 22.0 71

Part Two 79 On Pilgrimage and Tourism 81 0 Le Felibre: 3. 93  Petit Casino: 52.3 101

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