The original Shakespeare and Company in Paris was opened in 1919 by American bookseller, Sylvia Beach, pictured above. In 1922, Sylvia published James Joyce’s book, Ulysses, when nobody else would touch it.
Her bookstore was a haven for the Lost Generation of writers, and you’d often find literary greats such as Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S Elliot and Ernest Hemingway, to name but a few, hanging out there regularly.
Just the thought of being there at that time in Paris has me going off into rapturous daydreams. I truly believe I was born in the wrong decade.
Unfortunately, during the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1941, Sylvia shut up shop and never reopened. However, all was not lost. In 1951, George Whitman took up the mantle, opening a new shop on Rue de la Bûcherie, with Sylvia’s blessing. She referred to it as the “spiritual successor” to her own.
March 14 is the birthday of Sylvia Beach, born in Baltimore, Maryland (1887). She founded an English-language bookstore and lending library called Shakespeare and Company, on the Left Bank of Paris. It opened just as the "lost generation" was discovering that city, and it became a central feature of the Parisian literary scene of the 1920s. Beach also published books, including the first — blue and white — edition of James Joyce's Ulysses (1922). |
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And speaking of shows...
I was among the people who watched the movie within the first few weeks it was out! My oldest sons can count how many times they went to see it...but I don't remember. I went only once (until it was available on TV and recorded in videos and then DVD's.) I admit to owning the first 5 Star Wars movies on DVD's.
Today's quote:
A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water." Eleanor Roosevelt said, "We have to face the fact that either all of us are going to die together or we are going to learn to live together and if we are to live together we have to talk." And, "You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do."
Today's art:
8 comments:
A really neat selection of photos to share. Shakespeare & Company of course reminded me of my sweet little budgie who lived up to his name with such a large vocabulary. I still hear him calling himself a "beautiful shakespeare" or a "little blue dude". I miss him so much. The Moulin Rouge brought back memories of dancing the Can Can in the Golden Chain Theatre. And oh yes, we were one of those folks standing in line to see "Star Wars" when it first came out & we have at least 2 "Star Wars" DVDs. But my favorite sci-fi movie of all time is "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".
Wasn't that a great movie! I watched it over and over, but not for at least the last decade. Teri Garr and Richard Dreyfus were so young! I loved it! But then I loved lots of the earlier sci-fi movies, not so much what's coming along now. Post apocalyptic is sort of sad.
A great trip down memory lane. I remember, vaguely, going to the first Star Wars movie. I don't think the lane was that long. It might have been.
I knew a little about that Paris bookshop but didn't know it was closed and then revived by another person. I've has similar thoughts of being born in the wrong time. For me it is the decade or two before the Great War when Paris was the center of art, music, and literature that attracts me. But to be a time traveler would probably mean giving up any memory of the future and what happens next. I don't think I want to experience the terrible trauma and devastation of that war. The world today is bad enough.
My husband and I will never just walk past a bookshop - but I have never heard of the Shakespeare Bookshop in Paris - sounds intriguing and a “must visit” place. In contrast I am not a Star Wars fan, but I could not help but look with interest at the fashion style of the crowd queuing.
I happened to have young sons so Star Wars was a family favorite.
I'm really happy to have lived this 8 decades of life, with everything that has happened for the betterment of humanity, and a bit of enlightenment as to our place within the scheme of our earth's future. I like learning about the years you mentioned, but I wouldn't want to live with the deprevations people had then. I guess I like modern medicine keeping me going, and comfort of driving a car a 1/2 mile instead of walking it. If only the goals of the various organizations making major decisions about the welfare of the earth would have a peaceful and healthy existence as highest values.
Oh the fun things we wore in the 70s! Yes there is something that is addicting about bookstores, especially for us book-worms. I had heard of that bookshop when learning of her impact on so many ex-pat literary greats of that time.
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