Cafes

Cafes

"In 1757 there were only three cafes in Paris" 
(AP 108)

 

Chat rooms--script originally known as "Java" a term that by no accident is related to the idea of coffee/cafes. Shared thresholds where passing strangers can pause for a word, destinations where evenings are spent...the cafe in both the real and the virtual sense has the capacity for intimacy or aloofness. A place where it is okay to sit alone and watch, without participating....more on this.

Cafes function as thresholds where the right to pause can be purchased for the price of a cup of coffee. Little is expected from those who dwell there. There is no event, such as a meal in a restaurant, to endure or lapse--there are just the posted hours of operation and one's capacity to imbibe.

Photographs of Parisian cafes 1920 vs present day.

Include bibliography of Lost Generation cafe sources.

Parisian cafes as amphitheatres, converting the boulevard into a theatre, a spectacle: humanity en masse. Don't forget, you are one of many. See Hardt and Negri's multitudes

Internet cafes as a phenomenon in Europe--a place where travelers can go to meet each other and to maintain their connections at home.