The top photo shows Sylvia Beach with her long time lover and business partner, Adrienne Monnier inside Shakespeare and Company bookstore at 12 rue de l'Odeon.
A photo of Sylvia Beach standing outside of her bookstore with Hemingway.
She was one of Hemingway's staunchest friends and supporters. She lent him books, money, and encouragement.
Ernest inside Shakespeare And Company in 1921.
48 comments:
Thanks a lot Paul. Hope you had a good Easter too!
This is a great post, Shakespeare and Co. is very famous, and it's great that it's still there so we still can see in Paris one of the places Hemingway was so fond of.
Glad you're posting again.
It was less than a year ago but you can't imagine the memories that brings back. I was both in front of that door at 12 Rue de L'Odeon and of the actual Shakespeare & Co. Thank you my friend.
I came here through Shionge, I will keep coming, liked your post..and I am a history buff, of any kind :)
Hey Paul....something I read about Hemingway's girlfriend yesterday at our local paper...gosh I forget...I'll check it out and let you know :D
Hello Monica, I loved your beach pics :)
Carlos, I remember when you were planning your trip - seems so long ago - & how much fun you had.
Sush, thank you for visiting, Shionge will tell you I don't post very frequently, I'm afraid - but I'm glad that you are here.
Hi, Shionge - enjoy those dreams :)
Nice post, Paul.
It was almost a religious experience visiting the bookstore - I kept imagining Hem and Fitzgerald and Joyce gathered together on the second floor (the library), drinking "fines", discussing their latest escapades...
Hope it was sunny today in Providence ;-)
Hi isabella, yes I'll bet it's an experience, I know Carlos felt it - & Michael Palin incorporated it into his documentary on Hemingway.
Beach was as much of an influence on the expats as Stein, - perhaps more.
The sun was out today but it's still cold up here :)
Shionge, was that about Marlene Dietrich?
Yay!! :D Thank you Paul, it is Marlene Dietrick alright :)
It is alright if you don't blog frequently but just remember to stay in touch and visit me :)
Ok, I promise, Shionge :)
Thanks for being a regular visitor & putting up with my slowness!
MATCHES!
;)
Hello Ame, good to see you :)
xo
Lovely old photos.
ohh you posted new photo Paul. Hemingway seems to be a bit shy on the photo..look at his hands.
Hi, Zsolt - yes, I was dying to point that out - but I left it alone. Our image of him, (& his image of himself), he is so self-confident - blustery; this photo is so alien, so against the grain.
(Of course, there is the practical point that it was probably a time-exposure & he just held his hands like that to stay still!)
I think this is a great shot of him.
12:24 AM
From the New York Times web essay on Hemingway by Michael Reynolds:
"According to those who knew him well, Hemingway was a sensitive, often shy man whose enthusiasm for life was balanced by his ability to listen intently, quietly making mental notes. That was not the Hemingway of the news stories. The media wanted and encouraged a brawnier Hemingway, a two-fisted man whose life was fraught with dangers. The author, a newspaper man by training, was complicit in this creation of a public persona, a Hemingway that was not without factual basis, but also not the whole man. Critics, especially, but the public as well, Hemingway hinted in his 1933 letter to Perkins, were eager "automatically" to "label" Hemingway's characters as himself, which helped establish the Hemingway persona, a media-created Hemingway that would shadow -- and overshadow -- the man and writer."
Yes, isabella, I agree with that article - which is why I like this shot. It shows a Hemingway we're not used to ever seeing or hearing about.
It's like his house in Key West, & Cuba before that, over run with stray cats. He was an animal lover, for all of his hunting. That is a real paradox - enjoying a bull fight and being an animal lover!
This is a very nice post to a special person. Hemmingway was special to a lot of people who are writers and wanna-be writers. I wish I had his pen. LOL.
I came to thank you for stopping so faithfully at my blog and for your continued compliments on my work. I so appreciate it.
Abraham Lincoln
My Photography
Get OOOOOOOOOOOOOOUT!!!!!!!! Is this the one in PARIS??? I WAS THERE!!!
PAUUUUUUUUUUUUUULY! HI!!!!!!!!!!!!
How have you BEEEEEEEEEEN!!??!
MISSED YOU..coming to find ya on email!
LOL! ;)xo
Hi Ame, good to see you back on :)
Yes, this is the one is Paris - the original one.
xo
Bookshops used to be so interesting... not glitzy and same-old-same-old everywhere. I envy cities that have interesting bookshops - preferably independently-owned... Used book shops seem more interesting nowadays. New bookshops have launches (do authors do these in any other country? Launching books, as if you need a count-down and blast-off for books?) but not a lot of readings...
Hello Meg, we have a few used book stores - they are my favorite - here in Providence.
The chain stores, like Borders are the norm, however.
I like the places where the owner made his own bookshelves out of pine planks & there are boxes of books to be shelved all over the place.
And, the price is usually good, too!
Interesting discovery Paul. Reading your profile I noticed we have a lot in common: films (I prefer the european way to call "movies"), music and interests. I must admit I don't know so much Hemingway but I love to read this blog, admire your photo and to learn a bit of him. Thank you!
Yeah, and bookstore owners and staff who read!
There was a very famous NZ writer named Janet Frame. She's probably the most famous in recent times in NZ, and she passed away maybe 2 years ago. Just before that, she got a series of accolades, one being the equivalent of being made a "dame" (as is done in England - we got rid of that system this century), one being selected to join an exclusive group where only 12 or 20 living Kiwis can be members at any time, in recognition of her contribution to NZ arts. Also just before or after she passed away, one of her stories for children got republished with new illustrations (she sells far more books in the US per capita) and one of her poetry books followed.
About a year ago, when the poetry book came out and everybody was reviewing it, I heard a woman ask where this poetry book is in one of the chain stores, and a NOT-so-young staff, who speaks with a Kiwi accent, who's NOT one of the stupid ones, asked matter-of-factly and loudly: "What is the title? Can you please spell the last name?"
I swear, about three shoppers turned around to and stared - and that's not counting me. And I promise I'm not being a snob.
Thank you for visiting Fabrizio.
Meg, and one of my favorite books is one that you mailed to me from NZ: Shakespeare & Company, by Jeremy Mercer :)
Fascinating pics! The image of the yound Hemmingway is a far contrast to what he turned out like in later years. Thanks for entering our competition over at Toruń Daily Photo. Better luck next time!
Re: Sylvia Beach - It took a lot of courage on her part to publish James Joyce's Ulysses in 1922, but she trusted his genius and was proved right. ...
How are you and the cat (what's her name?) getting on in the new place?
Hello isabella, yes, Sylvia Beach did take a chance on Joyce & Ulysses. Joyce was very lucky with the amount of support that he got from his friends. Beach regularly lent him money besides paying the printer for Ulysses.
The book was immediately banned in the US. Hemingway wanted to smuggle copies in through Canada like bootlegged liquor.
(Meg is an expert on Joyce - he is a difficult study.)
The cat & I are getting a bit more comfortable at the two week mark.
The cat has no name :) She is a rescued stray & generally just called Kitty (my ex-roommate called her Twidget)
Thank you for asking, I appreciate your concern :)
No, no, no, no! That just won't do! We cannot have an emminent Hem expert calling his cat Kitty ;-)
Here are a few suggestions and maybe your readers can vote for their favorite:
Tabula (his first literary publication)
Agnes (his first love)
Paris (duh!)
Lila (for the Closeries des Lilas cafe)
Pillar (his boat)
Killi - short for Killimanjaro and my favorite!
(just not Zelda - she hated him ;-)
Well, what do you think?
I vote for Lila.
Hi isabella and Carlos
Well, I'm a Hemingway expert? LOL, I'd love to put it to a vote, but that could take awhile for the votes to come in :)
I hadn't really thought of it - I might name her after one of his cats at the "finca" in Cuba. Paris is nice, if you can get rid of the Paris Hilton connotation.
Hadley, of course. He was very big on Maria - but I can't picture calling her Maria.
Pillar, is good - maybe Mariel?
Just what I need, a challenge!
How is life with you? We're having our end-of-life-as-we-know-it storm - so far just rain, no high winds.
Paul,
I think that Mariel idea is some kind of provocation. LOL
One vote is in! Mariel as a cat will not be tolerated :)
The tension in the air is palpable & you can feel it,too! The polls are still open so I can't give the computer projections.
Film at 11 :)
Hello Paul :) I really liked your post and I learned a lot too!
I hope you have a great week.
Hugs and kisses
Ani (getting better)
Hello Ani, great to see you on - and thank you for paying me a visit.
I miss you :)
Besos
xo
Before we see the cat name voting results at 11 ;-), if you have the Travel Channel, tonight at 10PM Anthony Bourdain shows his take on Paris. He is so bizarre, it is always fun!
Paul, I read in a magazine that Shakespeare and Co. has changed its address some decades ago. Do you know if this photo is the current bookstore at Rue de La Boucherie?
BTW, have you seen the movie "Before sunset"? It begins at Shakespeare and Co.
Hello isabella, thank you as always for thinking of me - I don't have cable here - & I'm facing East, so satellite won't work. I miss my MTV!
Hello Monica, thanks for the visit - I didn't know that about the movie, I'll have to see if anybody has it here to rent.The bookstore in the post is Syvia Beach's. She opened it in 1919 on the rue de L'Odeon, the one in the post. Beach closed the store when the Nazis moved into Paris in 1941. Ernest Hemingway "liberated" it in 1944. ( He also liberated the Ritz Hotel bar and later had Marlene Dietrich as a drinking companion there.)
Beach never reopened the store.
In 1951, an American, George Whitman, opened a store, using the Shakespeare and Company name, on the Left Bank. It is right on the banks of the Seine across from Notre Dame. This is the location of the store today. It is at 37 rue de la Bucherie.
dear Paul, thank you for your proverbs you shared with me on my site...I added you to the contributors:)
Hi Paul, thanks for stopping by my blog today. Your blog is so interesting! It's good to know it's out there, and wonderful for those of us crazy about Paris.
Monica,
I saw (and loved) Before Sunset and Before Sunrise but haven't noticed it was Shakespeare and Co. (I didn't know the library yet) but now that you mentioned I'll have to see it again. Remember the link I posted here a couple of months ago with the pics I took in Paris? There are some of Shakespeare and Co.
Do you know me?
;) xo
Hello, Ame, yes, I rememeber you :)
I comment on your blog - do they show up?
What a charming webside, I wonder where you take these great old phots from. It's like a backshift in time. Great.
Hello, Paul.
Good weekend for you too.
Old photos...I love them...
When I visited Paris, I made a point of visiting Shakespeare & Co. just to buy a book from that fabled store. I'd just come from Notre Dame and felt as though I was entering another sacred space.
Blather From Brooklyn
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