Perhaps you are wondering about the story behind the Boulevard de la Jamaïque in Marseille. Its history is subtly intertwined with a personal journey. This journey is one of reflection and artistic exploration. It is a journey that crosses continents.
The Boulevard de la Jamaïque appears in an essay about searching for traces of Syrian intellectuals and artists in exile. In this essay, the author Catherine Vincent talks about Walter Benjamin. She asks herself questions about the city of Marseille. Did he come here? Did he walk these streets?
Vincent reflects on Benjamin’s movements through Marseille. She wonders if he ever stopped at the Café Prinder. She wonders if he enjoyed its ambiance. It has a date of 1925 still marked above the counter.
We know that Benjamin went beyond the city center. He ventured as far as the Saint Louis district. He visited rue de Lyon and the Boulevard de la Jamaïque. He noted the contrast between city and country. It is a battle, he says between agaves and lampposts. It is a clash of building towers and plane trees.
This boulevard then is a place where urban meets rural. It is a border zone of sorts. It is where the man-made gives way to nature. Or perhaps where nature stubbornly persists.
Imagine Walter Benjamin walking along the Boulevard de la Jamaïque. What would he make of it? This boulevard offers a glimpse into Marseille’s multifaceted character. The Boulevard de la Jamaïque becomes a focal point. It marks a transition from the urban core to the city’s edge.
The author describes a walk in search of a restaurant. Walter Benjamin mentioned this restaurant. It was Basso at number 5 Quai of the Belgians. He went there to eat alone after smoking hashish. The restaurant no longer exists.
Vincent had let herself be lulled by her own footsteps in the empty streets. She was suddenly frightened by the sight of a police car. This was a world where people were defying curfew. They were looking for accomplices. This was happening since they couldn’t hang out in bars.
The essay connects Berlin and Marseille. It speaks of exiles and emigrants. Walter Benjamin came to Marseille for the last time in 1940. He was fleeing Europe. He was waiting for permits to leave. He crossed the border clandestinely.
Arrested by the police in Portbou, he committed suicide. He did this so as not to be handed over to the Gestapo. The Boulevard de la Jamaïque is more than just a street. It is a place linked to journeys. They are journeys of displacement and longing. It also touches on the themes of exile and artistic inspiration. The themes connect the personal and the historical.
So as you stand here on the Boulevard de la Jamaïque remember Walter Benjamin. Remember the exiles. Think about what it means to be lost and found. Consider what it means to search for meaning in the urban landscape.