Hong is a poet and the editor of a fiction and memoir anthology. In this essay, Hong discusses how Walbert uses the motifs of color and light to portray her protagonist's inner and outer landscapes.

As the title indicates, Walbert's short story “Paris 1991” takes place in Paris in 1991, with a couple flashbacks to New York and California during the immediate years before. Setting the story in Paris, the city of light, enables Walbert to invoke the motif of light, which she does to several effects. Walbert also makes use of Paris's reputation for romance and its fame as a center of the arts and a magnet for imaginative, artistic people. Using the city's unique history and visual qualities, Walbert is able also to employ a motif of color. The author uses both light and color to elucidate her protagonist's state of mind and desires and to show...