Growing older in the city of light

Paris evokes many of the images of a world city. It is a center of political power and transnational corporations, a place for the pursuit of science and artistic creation, a hub for museums and libraries, a transmission belt for fashions and ideas, and so much more. In its heyday (1870-1910)-la belle époque-Paris radiated a sense of youth and boundless energy, since so many young artists were uniquely well anchored in this "capital of light."1 Even at the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, most members of the French Academy were under forty years of age, in contrast to over seventy years today. And a century later, in the 1920s, when Ernest Hemingway recalled memories whose impact stays with you "wherever you go for the rest of your life," Paris also evoked images of youth.