Paris in July - A Magical Room by Ingrid Svensson, part II

Paris in July, hosted by Tamara at Thyme for Tea. Head back to her page to see posts from participants in this annual challenge.

I continue from my last post about two other literary salon hostesses in 1920s Paris; Adrienne Monnier and Sylvia Beach.

Adrienne Monnier

had no connections to the literary world when she opened her book shop on 7, rue de l'Odéon in 1915.  Her mother encouraged her to read and her father provided financial support.  Reading was not her only interest, she also enjoyed theatre and music. Debussy became a favourite. 

The area where she opened her shop was not so exclusive then as it is today. It was, at the time, home to bohemian students who needed cheap housing. Her bookshop, La Maison des Amis des Livres,  was surrounded by shops, a theatre and cafés and people soon found their way there. From 1921 Sylvia Beach opened her shop on the other side of the street. "The researcher Laure Murat is speaking about rue de l'Odéon as the Atlantic, a transfer route that unites the French and the new world". 

The bookshop was a magic room, used as a meeting point, a book shop, a lending library, and a salon. Monnier herself described it as a "small, grey shop". It was simply decorated as far as furniture was concerned. The walls were filled with writers' portraits, writers she favoured. It resembled an exhibition in the end. 

Monnier was an outgoing person and made contacts easily. She developed her bookshop, arranging events and meetings with writers. Quite modern in her approach how to turn people's interest to her shop. She advertised, started a membership scheme to borrow books. Her idea was that to buy a book one either had to have read it or know about it. She promoted books and writers in a way so even people without money could enjoy her shop. Very soon her shop was a melting pot of literary and cultural gatherings.

In 1921 Sylvia Beach moved in with Monnier, and they became an established pair. They lived together and worked opposite each other. This lead to a direction into the English language and promotion of new writers both from Europe and the other side of the Atlantic. Although they were two independent women, it seems that they supported mainly male writers. Could, of course, be that there were not that many female writers at the time. There were a lot of women engaged in the work of the shops, but not as writers. 

Monnier also wrote herself, poetry, and articles, which received good reviews. She also ventured into publishing books and starting magazines. Apart from her work in her shop, she was very productive in other literary fields as well as fighting for female voting rights. There is a lot more information about this remarkable woman, but I stop here.

Sylvia Beach

"My loves were Adrienne Monnier and James Joyce and Shakespeare and Company" (my transl.)

Sylvia Beach might be the most famous, or remembered of the ladies who kept a salon. Mainly because her bookshop Shakespeare & Company is quite famous. Born in the US she arrived in Paris in 1916 together with her sister Cyprian who already lived in Paris. Cyprian was hoping for a carrier in films.

Sylvia had studied languages and spoke Italian and Spanish, apart from French. Her aim was to immerse herself in French literature. She started out as a volunteer (this is during the war) in agriculture and vineyards. After the war, she worked for the Red Cross in Serbia as a secretary and translator. 

At the end of 1919 she was back in Paris with Adrienne Monnier. Meeting Adrienne had a significant influence over her life. Together with Adrienne Sylvia developed into a powerful, goal-oriented, and independent woman.

She opened her bookshop on 17 November 1919, in a Paris changing after the war. A new era opened up. Art was changing and the new writers were arriving. Her bookshop was much more colourful than Monnier's. Carpets, art, antique furniture filled up the rooms, and there was even a kitchen. The new Englishspeaking literature was rather unknown in France, as was the modern American one. Sylvia Beach found her niche here. She wanted to introduce Anglo-Saxon literature in the original language, which was a genius initiative. After the war, Paris saw an influx of Americans who found their way to her cozy bookshop. Many writers left the US due to limitations in freedom of the press. 

Sylvia sold and lend books, and could not imagine selling books she did not like herself. She enjoyed when customers sat down in an armchair and read from the book before deciding whether to buy it or not. On her shelves, one could find Sherwood Anderson, Charlotte Brontë, Beowulf, Robert McAlmon, Thomas Hardy, Ernest Hemingways, Samuel Richardson, and Dorothy Richardson. She mixed old with new. 

As Adrienne Monnier, she knew how to attract people by using promotion, signs, and display books and magazines in the windows. She promoted literary magazines, supporting new up-coming writers and poets. The important writers published extracts from there coming books in various magazines, like Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. 

In 1921 she moves her bookshop to 12, rue de l'Odéon, opposite Adrienne Monnier. At the same time, she moved in with Adrienne where she stayed until 1936. "Sylvia had alert eyes, a brown velvet jacket and was kind", writes Hemingway. She let him borrow books on credit when he did not have any money. It was here he found his way to the Russian authors. It opened a new world to him: "to read in a city like Paris, where you could live and work well, no matter how poor you were, was like receiving a great treasure." (my transl). Maybe that was part of Sylvia's talent that she could encourage and detect talent. The story of James Joyce and Ulysses is well known. 

The 1920s was the glorious period for Shakespeare & Company. During the 1930s depression Americans went back to the US. The number of Americans in Paris went down from 20 000 to 4 000 persons. André Gide started an aid campaign to help Sylvia Beach keep the bookshop. It worked for some time, but with the onset of the war, she had to close in 1941. In 1942 she was taken to a detention center in Vittel, where she spent six months with other American and British women who stayed on in France. 

Returning back to Paris, she did not want to open the bookshop again. She settled down at the top floor of the shop where she used to store books, and spent the 1940s working for the Red Cross and other charities. After the suicide of Adrienne Monnier her life turned darker.  She died in 1962 and the papers she left behind are kept at different universities in the US. The name of her bookshop is still alive. Now situated on 37, rue de la Bûcherie, it is a different bookshop where only the name connects it to Sylvia Beach. 

All in all, a very interesting book of which the three posts I have written contains just a fraction. Unfortunately, the book it is not translated.