Discover Shakespeare & Company in Paris

"We all went to Paris. It was where we had to be." - Gertrude Stein

By Arnie Greenberg
ultours1@gmail.com

(Arnie Greenberg, above, is pictured in front of Shakespeare & Company in Paris. Greenberg, an expert on Paris in the Twenties, has authored a play about Gertrude Stein. His knowledge of Shakespeare & Company is quite extensive).

On the left bank of Paris, facing the Notre Dame Cathedral, there's an interesting yellow sign advertising one of Paris's most celebrated bookstores.

It's called Shakespeare & Company, and most American or English speaking visitors add it to their list of places to visit in a city with so many historic sites.

Shakespeare & Company was the first all-English bookstore in Paris. The original, in another location, goes back to the twenties. The one on rue de La Bucherie is a gathering place for the literati, the writers and those who know about the movement that led to the new American Literature after WWI.

Today, this wonderful bookstore and meeting place continues the traditions of the past by inviting writers to read on Sundays or to sign their books. It maintains the strong ties to the days when expatriate writers flocked to Paris, gathered, argued and exchanged ideas.

The new Shakespeare & Company is run by George Whitman, an old-style bookseller, who is always ready to foster the need for English reading material. Yes, there are enough tourists to warrant English-only books. As a matter of fact, there's even a Canadian bookstore only a few blocks away.

George started the store, or continued the operation, after WWII, when the original owner and relative, Sylvia Beach, was no longer in the business. Sylvia had run the shop in two different locations, but after the war, it was George who chose a spot in the dead center of Paris.

Anything within one kilometer of the Notre Dame Cathedral is in the center from which all measurement is made. George chose kilometer zero for the new store.

So whenever tourists enter the great cathedral, a glance to the right advertises the traditional Shakespeare & Co. This descendant of Walt Whitman has kept Sylvia's store alive. The store itself, nestled next to a tiny park, is a ram-shackled warren of aisles filled with some of the great English works, especially those of the twentieth century.

Here, on tables or shelves, one can stand for hours looking at titles that will amaze you. The building itself needs some refurbishing, but much of Paris is in that condition.

Here, you feel you are in the fabled city. Even the pots and pails strategically set to catch the dripping rainwater are accepted. And the taciturn, grumpy-looking man who takes your money is often unshaven and plainly dressed. But few booksellers have a command of the business as does old George, and he can be as charming as anyone, in his own way.

I once sent him a copy of a play I wrote about Gertrude Stein and Hemingway. One of the characters was Sylvia Beach herself. George put it upstairs in his private collection made up of many of Sylvia's own books. I was delighted. When he showed me around, he offered me a place to stay without charge. I declined, but took note of the fact that there are still people who help writers. There are still people who care for more than profit.

This brings me back to the importance of the first Shakespeare & Co. In the years after WWI, Sylvia Beach, a New Jersey-born American, opened her English bookstore and lending library.

Among her clients was Gertrude Stein, the American writer who lived close by near the Luxembourg Gardens. Gertrude often borrowed books and discussed literature with Sylvia. One day a man came into the store and introduced himself as the author of Winesburg Ohio, which he saw in the window.

His name was Sherwood Anderson. Sylvia told him that he should meet Gertrude Stein. Anderson was pleased. He knew of Gertrude and carried in his pocket a small volume called Tender Buttons, which Gertrude wrote.

The experimental nature of Gertrude's work intrigued Anderson. The two authors met and became friends. When Anderson returned to his newspaper job in Kansas City, he mentioned Gertrude to a young reporter on staff by the name of Ernest Hemingway. Hem told Anderson that he was going to Paris as a correspondent for the Toronto Star.

Anderson wrote a letter of introduction to Gertrude. She and Hemingway met and became friends. He sat at her feet and listened while she told him to purge himself of adjectives and 'write only what is real." Hem later said "writing was easy until I met you."

He also said, years later, "In my life I had two teachers: Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Ezra was occasionally right and Gertrude was always right." Through the store and the meeting, the writers were able to help each other and make their contributions.

But perhaps more important is the fact that Sylvia Beach and Shakespeare & Company were responsible for publishing the first edition of James Joyce's controversial and important work, Ulysses.

Sylvia sold subscriptions in advance to friends, who each contributed enough to get Ulysses in print. The book was first banned in North America, and Sylvia never saw any profit from the arrangement. But it eventually became one of the most important books of the twentieth century.

So when you go to the store at Km Zero, you know you are at a place where literary history was made. A purchase with a Shakespeare & Company stamp in it will be worth something one day.

I have many such books, as our apartment was just down the street. I was in the store often. Sometimes George was talkative, sometimes not. But I was there for the ambiance, for the history and the personal memories.

When I hold a book by Gertrude or Hemingway, Joyce or Anderson, or when I see a painting by Gertrude's friend Picasso, I remember her words: "It's not what Paris gives you that is important. It's what Paris doesn't take away."

I think of the great names of modern literature, who came to Sylvia's store, and it moves me.

No visit to Paris is complete without a visit to Shakespeare and Company. Trust me.

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