The following figures, though not considered a part of the literary circle, spent a great deal of time at the bookstores, considering that its visitors include not only American writers, but also British, Irish, and French writers, along with local students.
Adrienne Monnier opened her bookshop and lending library La Maison des Amis des Livres in 1915, and was among the first women in France to found an independent bookstore. In 1925, with Sylvia Beach's support, Monnier launched a French language review, Le Navire d'Argent, which helped launch some writers' careers, such as introducing translated Hemingway to French audiences, despite being financially unsuccessful. Monnier's shop remained open during the German occupation.
With advice and encouragement from Adrienne Monnier, Sylvia Beach founded the English language bookstore Shakespeare and Company in 1919. Between 1921-1941, the store became a center of Anglo-American literary culture and modernism, particularly among writers and artists of the Lost Generation, and students from Sorbonne. The store was closed in 1941 during the German occupation of Paris, where Beach was arrested and imprisoned by Nazi authorities. She was in ill health during her release, and was ultimately unable to reopen the store.
For more details on the Lost Generation, please visit the Gumberg Library's The Lost Generation research guide.
George Johann Carl Antheil was an American avant-garde composer and pianist who explored the sounds of the early 20th century. He spent most of the 1920s in Europe, before returning to the United States in the 1930s to compose for films and television. During his time in Paris, he lived in an apartment above Beach's Shakespeare and Company
Djuna Barnes was an American artist, journalist, and writer. During her time in Paris in the 1920s, she became influenced by James Joyce, and her style shifted from Decadence and Aesthetics towards modernism. Her modernist novel Nightwood (1936) is considered a cult classic of lesbian fiction.
For other Queer writers, visit Gumberg Library's Queer Writers & Poets research guide.
Thomas Stearns Eliot was an American-born English poet, essayist, and playwright, known as a leading figure in Modernist poetry. He moved to Paris in 1910 to study philosophy at Sorbonne, and befriended James Joyce in the 1920s. In 1936, he read his poems at Shakespeare and Company.
For a profile-oriented guide, please visit Gumberg Library's T. S. Eliot research guide.
The Annotated Waste Land with Eliot's Contemporary Prose
by
Ford Madox Ford was a British writer and editor who founded the journals The English Review (1908) and The Transatlantic Review (1924), which were influential to the development of modern English and American modern literature. He was among the writers who gathered at Shakespeare and Company, and was a member in 1938.
André Paul Guillaume Gide was a French writer, considered as one of the greatest French contemporary writers. Up until the 1920s, Gide was known mainly among avant-garde and esoteric literary circles, but later became a highly influential literary critic. He was one of the French writers who frequented Beach's Shakespeare and Company, and he had a membership card.
Mina Loy, born Mina Gertrude Löwy, was a British-born American artist, writer, and lamp designer, considered as part of the first-generation modernists, and her poetry was admired by her contemporaries. During her time in Paris, Loy was a close friend of Beach.
For a profile-oriented guide, visit Gumberg Library's Mina Loy research guide.
Man Ray, born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American visual artist, known for his significant contribution to the Dada and Surrealist movements, and as a pioneer in photography. He moved to Paris in 1921, and Sylvia Beach was among the first people interested in his "Rayographs," and also came into contact with Gertrude Stein.
Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry was a French writer and philosopher, best known as a poet and his works with the French symbolist. His poetry is also known for its musicality, and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature for 27 nominations across 12 different years. He was one of the French writers who frequented Sylvia Beach's Shakespeare and Company.
In 1964, George Whitman adopted the name "Shakespeare and Company" and opened a bookstore at a different location, named after Sylvia Beach's store. Like Beach's store, Whitman's store also became a focal point of literary culture, particularly among Beat Generation writers, including William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, and Allen Ginsberg. Several literary publications had their editorial address at this bookstore, including the avant-garde journal Merlin (1952-1954), which published works by Samuel Beckett, Pablo Neruda, and Jean-Paul Sartre; Two Cities (1959-1964), whose patrons included Anaïs Nin, and published the works of Ted Hughes and Octavio Paz; and Whitman's The Paris Magazine (1967~2010), with contributors including Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Marguerite Duras, Sartre, and Neruda. Other writer visitors also include James Baldwin and Julio Cortázar.
For more details on the Beat Generation, please visit Gumberg Library's The Beat Generation Research Guide.
Shakespeare and Company, Paris: A History of the Rag & Bone Shop of the Heart
by
This research guide was created by Agaretha Kosasih, English Department Intern, December 2024
If at any time you need help with using Gumberg Library resources, please contact Ted Bergfelt, Humanities Librarian, via email or by phone at 412-396-5351, 8:30 am-4:30 pm ET, Monday-Friday. If he is not available, Ask Gumberg
