To copy as in the old days, a reterritorialization of Flaubert’s Bouvard & Pécuchet (1881) and Newman’s Orange Mall (1971), in progress.
Epigraphs Pictures of an ideal Chavignolles pursued him in his dreams. Flaubert, Bouvard & Pécuchet (1881)
Below the cobblestones, the beach! Unknown graffiti artist (1968)
We moved from store to store, rejecting not only items in certain departments, not only entire departments but whole stores, mammoth corporations that did not strike our fancy for one reason or another. Don DeLillo, White Noise (1985)
Product description Two Orange County Californians meet by chance in Paris. Their chemistry transcends their past experiences of friendship. «Fraternité!» proposes Bill, raising a glass of 1970 Château Margaux. Both are 47. Both are screen printers. Both wear Eagles t-shirts and have scored every one of the band’s albums to date, while resembling older versions of Seals and Crofts. Phil (Seals) toasts, «To Ripley’s Believe it or Not!» A French pop song heard in a taxi in the Rue de Verneuil tests their compatibility. They write down «Serge Gainsbourg», followed by a question mark. Tour-guided into the capital’s Passages, ancestors of America’s suburban shopping centers, the seasoned consumers are captivated by a description of Passage de l’Opéra, destroyed in World War I. Under one roof were the Théâtre Moderne, Caron (gun smith), Marguerie (music publisher), a philatelist, a cane and walking-stick shop, Café Certa (HQ of Breton and Aragon), a hairdresser for ladies, a hairdresser for gentlemen (Courbet would pay with a painting), Lemonnier (funeral items made of hair), two art galleries (du Thermomètre and du Baromètre) and a public bath. «Groovy!» (Bill) «Far out!» (Phil). They leave with a «peaceful, easy feeling» (Eagles, Asylum, 1972). At Orly Airport, the travelers use flyers advertising the haunts of novelists, painters and philosophers as mats to absorb the condensation dripping from their Coca-Colas. On souvenir postcards, under blurbs in six languages, they scrawl caricatures of Citroën Amis. Back in the Golden State, reunited at a scrimmage at Norwalk’s Falcon Field, the boys in Beach Boys tees hear bossy Huntington, mall developer and poet, give a sermon on stocks and bonds to Rev. Tustin, Norwalk’s high school football coach. After allotting six days for soul-searching market analyses, Bill and Phil shake hands and cross fingers at OC Zoo. «Bad!» Chavignol Mall tenants are in their investment portfolio. The shareholders proceed to exasperate franchise owners and store managers by taking a proprietary interest in B. Dalton, La Fiesta, Chavignol Mall 6, Radio Shack, Russo’s Pets, Sears, Spencer Gifts, Sweats n Surf, Woolworth’s, et al. They see room for improvement.
Copy Characters Barberou, Bill’s surf board
Clemente, tennis player and doctor
Costa, Bill’s 1955 Ford Thunderbird
Dana, groomer at Russo’s Pets
Dumouchel, Phil’s cat
Fullerton, Phil’s 1970 Volkswagen Squareback
Huntington, poet and mall developer
Irvine, aka Jesus, mayor of Chavignol Mall
Linda, Norwalk’s high school volleyball coach
Margarita, La Fiesta franchise owner
Placentia, real estate agent and Bill’s ex
Stanton, surfer and lawyer
Rev. Tustin, Norwalk’s high school football coach
Vic, Bill’s nephew
Victoria, Bill’s niece
Copy Cameos Shirley Babashoff, swimmer
Suzanne Daniels, pupil of Charloma Schwankovsky (Carden Method)
Pat Nixon, first lady
Original Characters (partial list) Barberou, Bouvard’s Paris friend
Vaucorbeil, doctor
Hurel, factotum of Comte de Faverges
Marianne, Madame Bordin’s maid
Dumouchel, Pécuchet’s Paris friend
Gouy, farmer
Comte de Faverges, country gentry
Foureau, mayor and public prosecutor
La Germaine, servant
Beljambe, innkeeper
Madame Bordin, widow of private means
Marescot, lawyer
Abbé Jeufroy
Victorine, protégé of Bouvard and Pécuchet
Victoria, protégé of Bouvard and Pécuchet
Original Cameos J-B. Fauldes, magistrate
Nicolas Appert, confectioner and inventor
Copy Locations Chapter 1, Paris and Norwalk: friendship, revolution
Chapter 2, Chavignol Mall (Parking Lot and Arcade) in Orange: investments, overpopulation, aesthetics (graffiti)
Chapter 3, Chavignol Mall (La Fiesta): veganism, immigration
Chapter 4, Chavignol Mall (Sweats n Surf): sports
Chapter 5, Chavignol Mall (B. Dalton): literacy
Chapter 6, Chavignol Mall (Radio Shack): space ships, weapons
Chapter 7, Chavignol Mall (Orange Mall 6): movies, tv
Chapter 8, Chavignol Mall (Sears): politics, poverty
Chapter 9, Chavignol Mall (Russo’s Pets): futurism
Chapter 10, Chavignol Mall (Woolworth’s): education, pop music
Chapter 11, Chavignol Mall (Spencer Gifts): desk for two
Original Locations Chapter 1, Paris: friendship, inheritance
Chapter 2, Chavignolles (Calvados, Normandy): agriculture, landscape gardening, food preservation
Chapter 3, Chavignolles: chemistry, anatomy, medicine, biology, geology
Chapter 4, Chavignolles: archeology, architecture, history, mnemonics
Chapter 5, Chavignolles: literature, drama, grammar, aesthetics
Chapter 6, Chavignolles: politics
Chapter 7, Chavignolles: love
Chapter 8, Chavignolles: gymnastics, spiritualism, hypnotism, Swedenborgianism, magic, theology, philosophy, suicide, Christmas
Chapter 9, Chavignolles: religion
Chapter 10, Chavignolles: education, music, urban planning
Likely ending, Chavignolles: speeches at the Golden Cross Inn, futurism, narrow escape from prison, desk for two
Theme Song Darlin’ (1967), Beach Boys
Note on the Text To copy as in the old days is based on readings of the Alban J. Krailsheimer translation (1976) of Bouvard & Pécuchet, which is «taken from the Garnier-Flammion edition by Jacques Suffel (1966), which incorporates the text established by Alberto Cento for his critical edition of 1964. It [Krailsheimer’s translation] varies in places from earlier editions». Flaubert’s Dictionary of Received Ideas (see below) was intended to follow Bouvard & Pécuchet as part of a second volume.
Sources/Acknowledgments Bowman and Ball, Theatre Language: A Dictionary of Terms in English (1961).
Gustave Flaubert, Bouvard & Pécuchet (1881, trans. Krailsheimer, 1976).
Gustave Flaubert, Dictionary of Received Ideas (published posthumously 1911-13, trans. Robert Baldick, 1976).
Bookshelf (notes available upon request) Walter Benjamin, The Arcade Project (Das Passagen-Werk, written between 1927 and 1940, trans. Eiland and McLaughlin, Harvard University Press, 1999).
Bowman and Ball, Theatre Language: A Dictionary of Terms in English (1961).
David Caute, The Year of the Barricades: A Journey Through 1968 (1988).
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature (1975) (trans. Dana Polan, 1986).
Gustave Flaubert, Bouvard & Pécuchet (1881).
Gustave Flaubert, Dictionary of Received Ideas (published posthumously 1911-13, trans. Robert Baldick, 1976).
Éric Hazan, The Invention of Paris: A History in Footsteps (2002, trans. David Fernbach, 2011).
Éric Hazan, Paris in turmoil: a city between past and future (2021, trans. David Fernbach, 2022).
Éric Hazan, A Walk through Paris (2016, trans. David Fernbach, 2018).
Franz Kafka, Forschungen eines Hundes (Investigations of a Dog, 1922).
Alexandra Lange, Meet Me by the Fountain (2022).
Harry Newman Jr., Turning 21: A Businessman’s Poetic Odyssey to the New Century (1999).
Matthew Newton, Shopping Mall (2017).
Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past (1913-1927), trans. C. K. Scott Moncrieff (1922-1930).
Current Reading Harry Newman Jr. and D. M. Sidney, Teaching Management (1955).
Future Reading Regina Bittner, The World of Malls (2016).
Roger Caillois, A Little Guide to the 15th Arrondissement for the Use of Phantoms (collected texts 1933-1978, published posthumously 2007).
Louis Chevalier, The Assassination of Paris (1977).
Ruth Schwartz Cowan, More Work for Mother (1983).
Arlene Dávila, El Mall (2016).
Umberto Eco, Six Walks in the Fictional Woods (1994).
Michael Galinsky, The Decline of the Mall (2019).
Victor Gruen, Shopping Town (2017).
M. Jeffrey Hardwick, Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream (2004).
Alex Wall, Victor Gruen: From Urban Shop to New City (2005).
Gallery
Image Credits Bill and Phil’s avian totems: Suzanne Daniels (2023). Mall prototype (Versailles FR): Eleanor Hohman (1958). Chavignol Mall (Orange CA): unidentified artist’s rendering of Orange Mall, Los Angeles Times, February 22, 1970. Anchor store prototype (Dior, 30 Avenue Montaigne, Paris FR): Eleanor Hohman (1958). Verbal plan (The Commons, Columbus IN): Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.