Friday, September 25, 2009

Catch me if you can


This is "Le Passe-Muraille" (the walk-through-walls) a character from a very popular short story by Marcel Aymé (1902-1968) that tells the story of a clerk who finds out one day that he is able to walk through walls... and play tricks with his boss and colleagues. This sculpture can be found in Montmartre, at Place Marcel Aymé (of course) very near the Moulin de la galette . It was made by famous French actor Jean Marais. BTW, if you want to read this short story, it's downloadable for free here.

32 comments:

  1. I've seen this and I think it's so clever!  As are you for showing it to us, Eric. And now to the link . . .

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  2. This is awesome! I'm definitely going to have to show this to my daughter during her first time in Paris. It's so creative. I'm off to read the story right now.

    I right-clicked-and-saved a photo of this fella a long time ago - I always thought you took it!!

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  3. Cool, will do! I don't know about going through walls but I' sure wouldn't mind being invisible some times. Wait, I *am* invisible to most people most of the time!

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  4. Now, that would be a great way to leave a boring meeting--just get up and walk through the wall. What better statement could you make? Bof! I'm gone.

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  5. What a marvelous piece, and great tribute to a story! I think my husband will like reading the story this weekend. He has a humorless boss that would be fun to play tricks on.....at least in his imagination!

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  6. HOW did I miss this????? Rats Eric. Well, I guess I must come back to Paris quickly to seek it out. OUi?
    V

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  7. Han Solo? Carbonite?
    No, Paris. Another site to see on my next trip!

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  8. That is really cool. I am looking forward to reading the story. Thank you!

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  9. Parfois, quand je viens ici, je me demande où j'habite vraiment tant j'ai l'impression de ne pas connaître ma ville.

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  10. I think you showed this before right
    but never mind! Good to see him from a different angle.

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  11. Oops. Link didn't go through. It was on July 15th, 05 at this link:

    http://photos1.blogger.com/photoInclude/img/241/3707/1024/PasseMuraille.jpg

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  12. I'm going to read the story to know how to free myself from my personal walls.
    That could be really cool if it works!

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  13. So clever! I'll pay it a little visit next time I'm in Montmartre.

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  14. Love this photo as I do all of your photos. I took a photo of this last year but mine has graffitti all around it! Thanks for including the story.

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  15. Looks like this was a wall too far for our hero. That quick-drying cement is tricky stuff.

    This walking through walls business could be a bit tricky as well, unless you knew what was on the other side. It really needs to be accompanied by the gift of x-ray vision.
    Like love and marriage (unless it's a loveless marriage) or a horse and carriage (unless it's a horseless carriage), you can't have one without the other.

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  16. This would be great....could walk right into the nearest Ferrari dealer after hours. The next morning, they would be like "Wow, why do all the cars on the showroom floor look a bit dirty...and have 100 miles on them!".


    Sean

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  17. Oh I love this status and the story! I came upon it when I was in Paris in March, and did not know what it was all about, so I did my research (thank goodness internet) and discovered the wonderful story. I have pics from a different angle :-)

    http://dwquiltart.blogspot.com/2009/05/parisian-mystery-unraveled.html

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  18. Sean, I think that would be a form of theft, which I'm sure, if you searched your conscience, is not the sort of thing you would want to do.

    PS - Do you want the red or the yellow Ferrari?

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  19. The red one.
    More nervous than the yellow one ;)

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  20. More responsive, sorry...

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  21. lol Drummond

    I shall read it Eric! Sounds good. Really like the sculpture.

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  22. LOL Drummond.
    You are used to tricky stuffs, aren't you?
    Our hero did almost as well as Harry Potter by passing through the brick wall barrier between platforms 9 and 10 !! You know
    the secret platform 9 3/4! Immediately thought of a secret passage like that... when I saw the picture :)

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  23. @ Cécile Qd9 : c'est pas possible de tout connaitre sur Paris. Y'a beaucoup trop de choses à savoir!

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  24. The American poet Robert Frost writes "Something there is that doesn't love a wall...Good fences make good neighbors." I think in this French version one might say, "Good neighbors make good fences." ;-) I do recall you having taken this photo a while ago, Eric, but I certainly don't grow tired seeing it again. Bon weekend! et high five and low five too!

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  25. Cécile Quoi de neuf "Parfois, quand je viens ici, je me demande où j'habite vraiment tant j'ai l'impression de ne pas connaître ma ville." Rire !! Ca me fait la même chose ;-)

    ANonymous. Yes, it's true I showed this already a long long time ago (well 2005...) but I returned recently and I thought it was neat to show again.

    Bon week-end to you. I'm off to the country for a couple of days...

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  26. For folks who would like an English translation of the short story, it is here:
    http://www.google.com/search?q=le+passe-muraille+english+translation&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

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  27. i love this sculpture. I always show it to my tour clients on my Monmartre tours and people love it.

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  28. Yes, Eric thank you for showing it again. It is not in an obvious place and we happened upon it as we strolled a couple of nights to eat near Sacre Coeur from our delightful apartment rental nearby (back in June of '08). We of course took the obligatory photo posing alongside it , but without any idea of its story. Thank you for the picture and the attached tale.

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