As we grow inexorably busier, and more increasingly horrified at the idea of switching off or slowing down in a world this is constantly plugged in and moving fast. There is that paranoia that if you stop for too long to take a break, you will be left behind. This is what I have observed as I have walked the streets of my Irish home, an undercurrent of societal pressure polluting the youth of Dublin. I admit that I was entangled in this atomising idea of being on the ‘path to success’. I stretched and pulled myself to fit into as many categories of achievement as possible. I finished my thesis, graduated from my 4 year degree, moved out for the first time, got a full-time job in a European advertising company as their leading copywriter, wrote for a Dublin-based magazine, was a brand ambassador for a sustainable fashion online platform, started a book club and led a fast-paced and packed out social life- attending every festival, gig, session, birthday, family event, arts, and environmental talks- while maintaining a positive demeanor. This all occurred in 2019.
During my degree, I learned about many fascinating theories, movements, and concepts. One that stood with me was the concept of flânerie. The ‘flâneur’ is a literary type from 19th-century France, originally associated mainly with Paris. The word carried a set of rich associations: the man of leisure, the idler, the urban explorer, the connoisseur of the street. It was the German philosopher, cultural critic, and essayist Walter Benjamin, drawing on the poetry of Charles Baudelaire, who made this figure the object of scholarly interest in the 20th century, as a symbolic archetype of urban, modern experience. Following Benjamin, the flâneur has become an emblem for scholars, artists, and writers. Recent scholarship has also proposed the flâneuse, a female equivalent to the flâneur. Through this emergence of the developed response to the one-dimensional concept of the flâneur is where the idea for my blog was born into creation. I decided to join this literary response and express my own experience of Flânerie, with you.
As 2019 came to an end, I lifted my eyes above and observed new horizons expanding in front of me. I saw this opening as an opportunity and booked my flight to South East Asia, landing in Saigon on the 29/03/2020.
So, with this newly found path I have taken I invite you to join me in being left behind, of taking a step back, to observe the soft sway of the cherry blossoms as they gently dance in the wind that lifts them from their branch to give them a twirl, the reflection of the city lights illuminated and glowing in a mini ocean of raindrops on a path, the women selling their colourful bunches of freshly bloomed flowers passionately at the passing crowd, the clouds drifting at a fast pace that is visible to the naked eye, the man with the cosy woolen jumper and patchy beard, the pastries dressed in icing in the window that align themselves in a neat row waiting for their suitors, the decaying building that has converted into a bird commune, dressed with organic materials, life flowing through it, the colourful multiplicity of the laundry draped over the balconies of the high-rise flats, saluting at society.
As an experimental flâneuse, I wish to observe the heartbeat of the streets.
Pursue flânerie with me.
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