America, in the eyes of a Frenchman
Paris — THERE is an emblematic episode in "American Vertigo," the forthcoming book by Bernard-Henri Levy about his literary odyssey across America.
While rolling west near Battle Creek, Mich., on Interstate 94, the French celebrity intellectual stopped to relieve himself at the roadside. A state highway patrolman zoomed up with lights flashing and a culture clash ensued: Parisians accept public urination even in nice neighborhoods, while Americans see it as an activity confined to drunks, vagrants and madmen.
The patrolman told Levy he was in trouble. Tensions escalated. Then Levy explained he was on a modern-day version of the journey that his countryman Alexis de Tocqueville recounted in the 1835 "Democracy in America."
"[The officer], who for all I know was getting ready to book me for inappropriate behavior, public sexual display or, in any case, 'loitering with intent,' looks at me with sudden affability and begins to ask me what, in my opinion, remains valid in Tocqueville's analysis," Levy writes. "What better reply to those who keep telling us that America is a country of backward cowboys and uneducated people? And what a magnificent challenge to those who want to use Francophobia these days as the last word in our trans-Atlantic relations."
On Tuesday, Random House will release "American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville," with much fanfare. In an unusual and commercially risky move, the book will be published in the United States (in an English translation by Charlotte Mandell, who also translated his 2004 book "War, Evil, and the End of History") before it comes out in France.
"I wrote it for America, about America, so it seemed rather natural," Levy said, sipping tea recently in his elegant apartment on Boulevard St. Germain. "It's a more or less faithful mirror
Here in France, Levy tops bestseller lists thanks to his 30 books and a swashbuckling, jet-setting, skillfully cultivated image that alternately annoys and enthralls a widespread audience. He is the subject of three recent unauthorized biographies.
In contrast, he's not a household name among Americans, who do not share the French reverence for philosophers. Some U.S. readers know Levy's works, such as "Who Killed Daniel Pearl?," a 2003 book about the murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter that drew attention -- and debate over its conspiracy theories and use of fictional techniques.
