| Shakespeare & Co. is a Parisian treasure. I’ve had the good fortune to empty my wallet there twice, and the books I bought (Georges Bataille’s Blue of Noon and Eroticism being my favourites) hold a special place on my shelf. The cramped store is a fantasy not unlike something José Saramago might imagine – a beautiful fire trap filled with thousands of books and decorated by framed pictures of the authors (Henry Miller, Allen Ginsberg) who have visited the store throughout the years. As it turns out, it’s also a temporary home to some of them.
Canadian Jeremy Mercer, a former crime reporter and successful author of true crime novels, was among them. The baggage from his job ate away at Mercer and he drank a lot to cope. "I wasn’t a happy drunk," he says. "With that job you carry a lot of negative energy. The industry isn’t structured for the mental health of its journalists and readers." After naming an informant in one of the books, his life was threatened and he took off to Europe.
He ended up at the famed Left Bank bookstore, where he’d heard the owner, George Whitman, let aspiring writers and the down and out stay on the premises. It was a serendipitous turn of events, which inspired his new book, Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. Mercer has captured, with humour and humanity, the eccentrics and struggling artists who have made the store their home throughout the years. Their wild loves and dreams are combined with a history of Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare & Co. (legendary publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysses), from which Whitman borrowed his store’s name, and Whitman’s own travels, culminating in his permanent stay in Paris, where he set up shop as a bookseller more than 50 years ago.
Mercer was able to spend time with Whitman’s brother in the U.S., and read old letters and records from the store owner’s past. He’s also included accounts from other authors, including passages from Anaïs Nin’s journals (it’s long been rumoured that she and Whitman had an affair). The end result is an image of Whitman as both madman and genius – still falling in love, still running the bookstore, and missing the daughter he hasn’t seen for years.
Paris, Whitman and the literati that have graced his store through the years have combined to create a mythical place that it’s impossible to imagine existing anywhere else.
"It’s spawned a thousand projects," says Mercer of Shakespeare & Co. "The romance, the people – everyone who lived there was writing the greatest story. It opened my eyes to a different way to live."
The store also provided a shelter for many from the harsh reality of Parisian working life ("If you’re working class, good fucking luck," says Mercer. "You get up, go to work, sleep – that’s if you’re lucky enough to work") and the racism shown towards the city’s immigrants, which recently exploded into violence.
So far, the only criticism of Mercer’s image of Shakespeare & Co. is from Whitman himself. "He calls me the muckraker," says Mercer. "I presented him with the manuscript in January. He said, ‘Terribly written, terrible title, a lie on every page.’" Not a surprise, coming from a man who has held onto his romantic vision of a utopian, socialist bookstore for more than half a century.
Shifting from legendary Paris bookstores to the ones right here in town, Annie’s Book Company is hosting readings this week by Hector Williamson (from his new collection of plays, The Burning of the Cruise) and Cecelia Frey (from her poetry collection Reckless Women and novel A Fine Mischief). The event takes place on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Author Rob Budde will be at McNally Robinson on Friday, December 2 at 6:30 p.m. for the launch of Flicker, his new collection of meditative short prose. On Tuesday, December 6 at 7 p.m., Mercury Press is launching its new anthology Shift & Switch: New Canadian Poetry, featuring more than 40 poets from coast to coast. The Calgary launch will feature some great local spoken word talents, including Derek Beaulieu, Jason Christie, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jay Gamble, Jill Hartman, Larissa Lai and Julia Williams. For more information, check out www.themercurypress.ca/poetry/shiftswitch.
The long list for this year’s IMPAC Dublin Literary Award has been released and 11 Canadians have made the cut – the most in the award’s history. Alberta author Thomas Wharton (The Salamander) is among the nominees, for his new novel, The Logogryph, going up against 131 other authors, including Miriam Toews, Cynthia Ozick, Muriel Spark and Isabel Allende. The short list will be announced on April 5, 2006, and the award given on June 14. |
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