Cultural Capitals in Crisis

This chapter tackles the connection between Paris and Athens and its influence on Vassilis Alexakis, who wrote the following in La clarinette. Alexakis has admitted that the environment and language of France spurred his creative freedom to write a novel. However, Paris seemed to be different from other urban centres after Alexakis experienced intense solitude. The epistolary text hones in on Paris and Athens' economic challenges and xenophobic attitudes. As Alexakis responds to Jacques Derrida's L'autre cap, La clarinette also covers the efforts of engaged individuals and associations to help migrants arriving in capitals that are ill-equipped to receive them.