John von Sothen

John von Sothen is an American magazine writer based in Paris, where he's lived since 2002. He dabbles a little in French TV and comedy, too. When I started talking to him for this podcast, I forgot that I'd never met him before. That's because last year John wrote a memoir that was so hilarious, so warm, and so personal that I felt as if we'd known each other for ages, though we'd never even been in the same room. Luckily, he's American, not French, so I don't think my informality shocked him! His book was called Monsieur Mediocre : One American Learns the High Art of Being Everyday French . In it he lays out the mysterious rules of French social behavior, which he's decoded during his years in France first by breaking them, then by learning to roll with them.

You can listen to John von Sothen online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

John von Sothen is an episode from The Thing About France by Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S..

This episode is 39:46 long.

This episode was published on Jul 14, 2020.

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