The journalist Serge July, author of the Dictionary of Love of New York (Plon editions) was the guest of André Bercoff, Wednesday November 6 on Sud Radio in his meeting of 12h-13h, “Bercoff in all its states”.
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Words are sometimes lacking to describe the city of New York. And yet, who has never had the stars in their eyes when you land in the first city of the United States.
A long wait before setting foot on American soil
In an attempt to put a few words into it, Serge July wrote the New York Lovers Dictionary, published by Plon. He defines this megalopolis in selected terms, from the preface: “Fuck city”. A city he is particularly fond of and to which the journalist has visited at least once a year since 1980. “I went there late”, he admits, especially because of his trip to Cuba in the 1960s. “At the time, once we went to Cuba, we were deprived of the United States”, explains Serge July. But, journalist at Release, he established contacts with the American ambassador in Paris and obtained his first visa in 1979.
“In 1980 I went on a study trip to the United States on the American press“, he recounts. A much more developed press than in France, where the journalist is particularly interested “to organizational problems, to press technologies”. Indeed, from the years 1970-1980, “we were in the great period of computerization of the press”, with in particular the elimination of the industrial character. A metamorphosis that will happen in France a few decades later.
“Everything is excessive, everything is always too much”
Coming back to New York, Serge July uses a sentence by the painter Fernand Léger: “It’s the most amazing show in the world we live in”. The journalist sees this city, unlike all the others, a metropolis “extreme in all areas”. “Everything is excessive, everything is always too much”, he remarks. New York is the noisiest city in the world, especially because of the “very old metro, which runs fast and has eleven wagons“. But there is also “the reverberation of noise by skyscrapers”. He notes that in the restaurant, he is “impossible to speak with anyone, everyone is screaming”. And the noise doesn’t stop at night. When the metro takes a break, deliveries resume between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. “The semi-trailers bring the goods to the vans as early as 3 am”, he reports. “Everyone is used to the noise”.
Another great feature of New York City is that it is the city with the most singles. “Out of 8 million inhabitants, there are 5 million single people. 3 million men and 2 million women. A little-known point of the city but whose series like “Sex and the city” or “Friends” reflect well. “We don’t come to make a family in New York, the city does not allow it “, emphasizes Serge July. “We’re here to conquer the world, to become Bob Dylan”. Bob Dylan or Donald Trump, since what “we can’t imagine ourselves”, is that the President of the United States is “the most New Yorker” of all. “He is a champion in the New York business, thanks to real estate, the city’s dominant business”, props up Serge July.
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