Shakespeare and Company (bookshop)
An unrelated bookstore chain by the same name exists in New York City. |
"Shakespeare and Company" store, Paris, 2004 |
Shakespeare and Company, is an
independent bookstore located in the
5th arrondissement of
Paris's
Left Bank. Shakespeare and Company serves as a bookstore and also a lending library, specializing in English-language literature. The upstairs also serves as a makeshift dormitory for travelers, known as "tumbleweeds," who earn their keep by working in the shop for a couple of hours each day.
The bookstore's most famous proprietor was
Sylvia Beach, who ran the shop at 12 rue de l'Odéon, from 1919 to 1941. During this era, the store was considered to be a center of Anglo/American literary culture in Paris. The shop was often visited by authors belonging to the "
lost generation" such as
Ernest Hemingway,
Ezra Pound,
F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Gertrude Stein and
James Joyce. The contents of the store were considered high quality and reflected Beach's own literary taste. Shakespeare and Company, as well as its literary denizens, was repeatedly mentioned in Hemingway's
A Moveable Feast. Patrons could buy or rent books like
D. H. Lawrence's controversial
Lady Chatterley's Lover, which had been banned in
England and the
United States.
Ulysses
It was Beach who first published Joyce's book,
Ulysses, in 1922. The book was subsequently
banned in the
United States and
United Kingdom. Shakespeare and Company published several other editions of
Ulysses under its imprint in later years.
Closure
The original Shakespeare and Company was closed in December 1941, due to the occupation of
France by the
axis powers during
World War II. Allegedly the store was ordered shut because Beach denied a German officer the last copy of Joyce's
Finnegans Wake. The store at rue de l'Odéon never re-opened.
In 1951, another English-language bookstore was opened in Paris' left bank by
American George Whitman, under the name of Le Mistral. Much like its predecessor (which was at a different location), the store served as a focal point for literary culture in bohemian, left-bank Paris. Upon Sylvia Beach's death, the store's name was changed to Shakespeare and Company. In the 1950's, the shop served as a base for many of the writers of the
beat generation like
Allen Ginsberg,
Gregory Corso and
William Burroughs. Whitman's daughter, Sylvia, now assists in the running of the shop. This store continues to operate into the present at 37 rue de la Bûcherie, near Place St. Michel and steps from the
Seine River.
'George Whitman has been running what he calls "a socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore" for 50 years. His store has long been a literary hub, attracting the likes of Henry Miller, Richard Wright, and William Burroughs. More importantly, George has been inviting people to live in his shop from its very first days. There are now 13 beds among the books, and he says that more than 40,000 people have slept there at one time or another. All he asks is that you make your bed in the morning, help out in the shop, and read a book a day. After living here for five months, I was inspired to write my own book about the place.' From Mercer's top 10 bookshops
*Shakespeare and Company is featured in the third season of
Highlander: The Series as a bookstore in Paris operated by Watcher Don Salzer. In the fourth season, the Immortal Methos uses a hidden room in the bookstore's cellar as storage space for his ancient journals.
*Shakespeare and Company is featured in the opening scene of the movie
Before Sunset, where the protagonist
Jesse Wallace is interviewed about his book.
*"Hemingway at Shakespeare & Company," by John Affleck, at
Literary Traveler*"The Beats go on", by Alix Sharkey, March 3, 2002, at
The Observer*
Shakespeare and Company Official Site*
Virtual tour of Shakespeare and Company*"Shakespeare and Company" at
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