Submitted by Rosewood (not verified) on Mon, 06/29/2009 - 2:52pm.
The Shakespeare and Company that Darin Strauss visited was not the one that was associated with James Joyce, Hemingway and the rest of the "Lost Generation."
Sylvia Beach opened the last location of Shakespeare and Company in 1912. She edited and published the first full edition of James Joyce's "Ulysses." Her store opened in 1912 and closed in 1941. According to her autobiography, she closed when a Nazi officer tried to demand her last copy of Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake."
The store that is open now was opened by George Whitman in 1951 at 37 rue de la Bûcherie, near Place St. Michel and across from Notre Dame . He was a WWII vet. His stores "claim to fame" was a strong association with the Beat generation, including Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and William Burroughs. George's daughter Sylvia, who was named for Sylvia Beach, now runs the store.
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The "rest of the story" on Shakespeare and Company
Sylvia Beach opened the last location of Shakespeare and Company in 1912. She edited and published the first full edition of James Joyce's "Ulysses." Her store opened in 1912 and closed in 1941. According to her autobiography, she closed when a Nazi officer tried to demand her last copy of Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake."
The store that is open now was opened by George Whitman in 1951 at 37 rue de la Bûcherie, near Place St. Michel and across from Notre Dame . He was a WWII vet. His stores "claim to fame" was a strong association with the Beat generation, including Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and William Burroughs. George's daughter Sylvia, who was named for Sylvia Beach, now runs the store.
There is a good little writeup on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_and_Company_(bookshop) and Sylvia Beach's book is "Shakespeare and Company. "