Let's Talk About Flâneurs

I'm sure a lot of writers already do this, but I figured it would be worth mentioning. I've been thinking about what it means to be a writer and the process of writing. Particularly, I've been having trouble writing emotion into my stories. In my search for a solution, my mind started to turn to literary theory. Today, I thought I would discuss one a term from one of my favorite theorists, Charles Baudelaire.

Baudelaire, in his literary theory, uses the term flâneur as a means to explain, at least partly, the writing process. The flâneur is a strange creature. It means "stroller" or "wanderer." The flâneur would stroll the streets of city he/she lives in, play witness to it, and ponder what he/she experiences. It is the job of this person to become part of the city he/she is immersed in: the understand, participate, and portray it in their art(s). By participating in this stroll, it was hoped that the artist would be able to better understand his/her craft.

Whenever I'm out and about, I find that it is always worthwhile to pay attention to the world around you. I'll never forget this time when I was going to a movie with a friend at the theater a few years ago. I picked up the tickets ahead of time, and realized I had time to kill. As I left the theater, I remember seeing a mother and her daughter. The daughter, who was probably no older than sixteen, was covering her mouth with her sleeves. The only thing I heard came from the mother, who seemed terribly exasperated. She said "you don't have swine flu" as she sighed and rolled her eyes. This was during the big swine flu epidemic when people were more afraid and uncertain of the sickness.

It was at that point, I realized I became the flâneur. I couldn't realize at the time how swine flu would progress - whether it would all blow over or become something much more serious. This conversation, I believe, encapsulates this uncertainty.The mother/daughter conversation is a product of its time.


It's something to think about as writers. We all bear witness to our time and cannot possibly know what it was like outside our time. We cannot witness the fear, anxiety, happiness, anger, sadness, optimism, disappointment of events prior to us. And yet, we can witness all those emotions in our time by observing the world around us. For writers having trouble with emotion in their stories, all you need to do is take a stroll downtown and see the city come alive.