The Decline of the Bouquinistes

The Guardian:

They salvaged books from raids on aristocrats' libraries during the French revolution and hid resistance material during the Nazi occupation. Paris's bouquinistes - the hundreds of booksellers whose open-air stalls along the river Seine carry Unesco world heritage status - have survived four centuries of censorship, floods and political upheaval. But now they are under threat from a new enemy: cheap, plastic Eiffel towers.

Bouquinistes' sales have dived as their carefully collected stocks of rare and out-of-print books face competition from online dealers and a change in Parisians' reading and shopping habits. Many now sell tourist trinkets to stay afloat, cramming their stalls with souvenirs.

I was in Paris a few months ago and these stalls caught my eye after a boat trip down the Seine (don't knock it until you've tried it). Plastic Eiffel Towers are rife in Paris, probably the most common item on show after the cigarette. I don't know what it is about them - hundreds of amateur salesmen with bin bags full of the fucking things accost you and force huge metal loops of Eiffel Tower keyrings into your mush, begging for a sale. All well and good until it starts encroaching on the culture of the city. The demarcation of the city as a focal point for art, Paris being a good example, can be understood through the flourishing of minority interests within its landscape, where culture and creative innovation can garner an audience large enough to sustain itself. When that is repressed, the city dies and becomes a big boat without an ocean to sail on.