Fraternal greetings and welcome to The Flâneur, official website of La Société des Flâneurs Sans Frontières (Liverpool chapter).
An Open Forum for Anarcho-Absurdists, Revolutionary Sybarites, Alchemical Hazardistas and Urban Arcadians everywhere.
We hope you enjoy the site, and feel moved to contribute to it.
All articles, letters and other contributions may be addressed to the.flaneurZZZ@yahoo.co.uk (omitting the ZZZ).
New on the Flâneur: (Last update: March 2010)
To all our flâneurial comrades, allies, fellow travellers and friends - A very Happy New Year (not to mention New Decade for those for whom aesthetic considerations matter more than mathematical precision).
All our new readers are cordially invited to keep up to date with us by joining us on our 'Farcebook' page: www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/The-Flaneur/57111574557?ref=mf Please scroll down for our explanation of this extraordinary turn of events (of course, this kind of thing would never have happened in my day....)
See Pool of Life - Places and Events for an updated guide to people. places and things in and around the North West for the Liverpolitan flâneur to keep a monocled eye upon.
Groves of Academe and Literature:
The Flâneur is delighted to present the most excellent contribution our library, a thesis entitled Decadent Art and Freedom by Kassim Qureshi - the perfect introduction to decadence, aestheticism, flânerie and related realms.
We continue to espouse the cause of new independent publishers L'OYS Press and Democritus (see Quincey Riddle's webular site to find out more) and to offer such support as we are able to Dedalus Books, purveyors of the finest translations, original fiction, and above all, jewels of decadence (for our review of their Decadent Handbook, click here). In dashed dire straits since the withdrawal of their arts council grant, see www.dedalusbooks.com/savededalus.html for the full story. Dedalus may not quite match the legendary swashbuckling of the ineffable Olympia Press of Paris in its heyday - there has never been a whiff of scandal about Dedalus (who knows, a Story of O rumpus might be just what Dedalus needs to turn its fortunes around?) - but it is the best we've got. Let us rally to the cause!
Degree in the arts of Flânerie enters its fifth triumphant year! Click here and here.
Sartorial Elegance:
Still in search of the ineffable top hat? Click here for new links in Gentlemen's Outfitters.
Or indeed for the perfect pith helmet? We at The Flâneur raise our glasses to the brave stand on civilised head gear taken, against overwhelming odds, by a tiny handful of foolhardy heroes in the Antipodes - The Pith Helmet Appreciation Society. www.facebook.com/... Thrill to the reckless adventures of the Hunting of the Whistling Fiend!
And while we are on the subject, let's remind ourselves of Elemental's exquisite ode to the cuppa: www.youtube.com/...
Allies and Fellow Travellers:
Other new relationships are forged as the international network of flâneurs and their co-conspirators traverses the globe.
We are pleased to announce the establishment of full diplomatic relations with King Wilhelm-Rudolf von Elfberg & Queen Anastasia of Ruritania at www.ruritania.net [not to be confused of course with the Ruritania of www.theflaneur.co.uk/ruritania.html]. Queen Anastasia's invitation that we become her 'loyal subjects' was tactfully deflected by pointing out that as Anarcho-Absurdists it would of course be quite impossible for us to be loyal subjects to anyone. The word chutzpah was not uttered (except very sotto voce) and not a single musket was discharged throughout negotiations, fraught though they were.
To ponder the musings of the inimitable Mr. Ray Frensham, founder of Constructive Apathy - a Lifestyle Philosophy, see rayfrenshamworld.blogspot.com
While we are at it, a propos of nothing in particular, Mycroft's daguerreotypes of the Great Liverpool Penguin Hunt can be viewed on www.facebook.com/...
Our intrepid friend Tom Flemons is hacking his way through the jungles of Java again. To follow Tom's adventures as he demonstrates the art of extreme flânerie, visit his webular log on tominjava.weebly.com/index.html
New Clubs, Parties and the like:
In every true flâneur's favourite city, the delectable Chloé Van Paris [ www.chloevanparis.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com/... ] organiser of Madame Arthur and Rendez Vous Van Paris Burlesque Club sends this message: 'Rendez-vous van Paris. If you are Working in Burlesque and if you are living in Europe, this group is for you. It's a simple way to connect with all the burlesque facebook community in Europa and France. You can also will be informed of all my partys ( Burlesque or DJ sets). Welcome Dandys and Sophisticated Ladies !' And who could resist such a charming invitation?
You can mention the war (and get away with it) at the Blitz Party - see www.theblitzparty.com
Matters Political:
Even at his most lackadaisical, the flâneur never forgets he is a citizen of the world, and, in his own way, a tireless (if bone idle) campaigner against injustice. Dreams of world revolution may be fading, but www.avaaz.org gives us a chance to put our shoulders to the wheel (without even leaving the snug).
In essence, flânerie is the art of wandering at will through the streets of the thronged city, mingling with the crowds, allowing oneself woven into the rich tapestry of urban life, acknowledging no obstacle or hindrance for oneself or indeed for anyone else. As such, true flâneurs, reluctant in themselves to raise a hand against any, of necessity find themselves in profound opposition to all who would impose their own tribal barbarisms onto the world whether in the form of local gangs, sectarian enclaves, racism, homophobia or any other kind of baboonery. Hence we give our full support to Homotopia [www.homotopia.net ; www.facebook.com/...], Hope not Hate[www.hopenothate.org.uk], S.O.P.H.I.E. (Stamp Out Prejudice, Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere) [www.sophielancasterfoundation.com], Unite Against Fascism[www.uaf.org.uk].
Free Tibet The Flâneur offers its heartiest support to all organisations and movements committed to liberating Tibet from Beijing's domination (and while we are at it, liberating the Chinese from Beijing's domination too).
The Flâneur on Farcebuke - a confession:
Time goes on, and even flâneurs have to move with it (well, at least twitch the odd muscle and languidly glance at one's fob-watch every now and then), and so, here we are, four years after our launch, making a modification to our presence in this electronic webular world . But despair not, the modification is by no means serious surgery. The Flâneur website that you are now perusing will continue its meanderings as the repository of the cultural, the aesthetic ,the literary, the peculiar and the downright unintelligable as it has always done. But from now on, our (always rather haphazard) coverage of what is afoot, hitherto to be found in 'Places and Events', will be replanted on (dare I say it?) 'Facebook': www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/The-Flaneur/57111574557?ref=mf [Should this link not work, then you will recognise our page on 'Farcebook' easily enough, despite the plethora of paltry imitations, by the noble profile of Baron Robert de Montesquieu who has graced our website since its inception.] Much to our regret, we find that we must invite you to become 'fans' (such vulgar language! - We can think of many more dignified terms) of The Flâneur on 'Farcebook' , but once the deed is done, then you will be party to a site on which all that is truly worthy of the attention of the cultured connoisseur, locally in Liverpool, but also nationally, internationally and beyond, is on display, and to which you are cordially invited to contribute.
The webular presence of the Central Organ of Anarcho-Dandyism. Irrefutable filmed evidence of derring-do and goings-on at the 2007 Chap Olympics, click here and here. For the 2009 Olympiad, see here.
Liverpolitan music writer, founding editor of Mojo, co-founder of Q, Heat and The Word, author of Liverpool, Wondrous City (Virgin) [more than a history of Liverpool music, this is one of the great texts about the city itself, capturing it in all its amazing maddening glory] and all round good egg.
Albion is an unforgettable sight at The Chap Olympics (see also their cinematic masterclass in top hole caddishness) Albion opens emporium: click here and here.
Lord Shuteye and his comrades at the 18th Century Society, committed against all the odds to face ”the tedious banality of the post-modern condition with the vigour and elegance of half-pay Victorian colonels" (a particularly impressive feat in the 18th century).
By now the idea of the flâneur is well enough known in the English speaking world. The 19th century Parisian boulevardier, the bohemian, strolling the city, frequenting the cafés, digesting the urban spectacle, exemplified by Baudelaire (whose exquisite prose poem, Les Foules - The Crowds - is included, in a new translation, on this site), defined by Walter Benjamin as 'he who botanises upon the asphalt', has at last gained a foothold in Anglo-Saxon awareness.
No more need be said in explaining le flâneur and la flâneuse in themselves. However, perhaps a few words are required to explain this specific project.
In 1961, Maurice Gerodias of Olympia Press in Paris, bold publisher of such masterpieces as Tropic of Capricorn, Lolita, The Ginger Man, Story of O, Candy, Our Lady of the Flowers and many others, launched a literary magazine entitled Olympia, a monthly publication which managed an awe-inspiring total of four issues in two years and then packed up.
Inspired by this, a group of us gathered in Liverpool in early 1995, determined to launch our own organ, yclept The Flâneur, and to match or, if possible, even surpass Olympia's heroic record. We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. In ten years not a single issue of our publication saw the light of day.
Realising we were onto something, a small gathering in Arles, Provence, in August 2003, formally constituted itself as La Société des Flâneurs Sans Frontières (SFSF). In keeping with the bohemian spirit of flânerie, we then did absolutely nothing about it for another two years, until finally, in April 2005, incarnated as a webular site, The Flâneur finally made its entrance, its top hat at a rakish angle, its goatee trimmed to perfection, plucking off its white gloves with an insouciant air.
Our stated intention was to provide an idiosyncratic guide to the cultural and artistic side of life in north west England, events, people, places and things in and around Merseyside, as Liverpool approached its year as Capital of Culture 2008. We certainly succeeded in providing a thoroughly idiosyncratic guide to something, but no-one seems entirely sure of what. Despite our interest in things Liverpolitan, it was always our intention to avoid being a merely 'local' site. In this, we seem to have been successful. If anything, the establishment of sister chapters around the world has ensured that The Flâneur has avoided any stifling provincial flavour, and has flourished rather as an arena of gratuitous twaddle on a truly international scale.
We continue to offer free advertising to anyone and anything interesting, and welcome contributions - news, reviews, letters, original writing and art-work, objets trouvés, gossip, scandal, japes and wheezes, strange tales, home-made jam, etc.
Membership of this illustrious Société, which would doubtless by now run to lots and lots (if we'd bothered to keep count), continues to be determined by quality of contribution(s).
Once again, the address for any articles and contributions:
the.flaneurZZZ@yahoo.co.uk (omitting the ZZZ).
De Vouvray,
on behalf of La Société des Flâneurs Sans Frontières (SFSF)
