Sylvia Beach: The Paris Bookshop That Published Ulysses | Slow French

In 1920s Paris, Sylvia Beach takes the risk of publishing James Joyce’s Ulysses. Discover Shakespeare and Company and its community of writers in slow French, with French and English subtitles displayed together in the Spotify video.

Extraordinary Lives in France · Season 2, Episode 12

With Déborah from Feel Good French.

How did Sylvia and Adrienne Monnier find the money and readers to bring Ulysses into print? Explore this English-language lending library and the freedom writers sought in Paris.

Expressions: se serrer les coudes (support one another); ne pas avoir froid aux yeux (be bold); avoir du pain sur la planche (have a lot of work ahead); tomber à pic (arrive at the right time).

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Listen next: Ernest Hemingway and the lost suitcase.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0GIxVck63Ofnw13FtQ0StM

CHAPTERS

00:00 A small bookshop takes a publishing risk

01:00 Meet Sylvia Beach in Paris

01:39 A lending library and a community

03:07 Why Paris attracted American artists

03:42 Adrienne Monnier, across the street

04:17 James Joyce and Ulysses

05:12 Finding the money to publish

06:04 A telegram and a birthday deadline

07:03 The bookshop closes; the lending continues

07:42 Hemingway and a question for you

Music: “Cafe Regrette” by Asher Fulero.

Image sources and credits (video version):

Sylvia Beach (right) and James Joyce (left), doorway — photographer unknown; published in The Publishers Weekly, 12 Apr 1924, p.1261; scan Internet Archive

Margaret Anderson, 1951 — Dick DeMarsico / New York World-Telegram & Sun

8 rue Dupuytren, 2013 — Jim Linwood; CC BY 2.0

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_first_Shakespeare_and_Company_Bookshop,_8_Rue_Dupuytren_-_Paris_2013.jpg

Odéon bookstalls, 1917 — Charles Lansiaux / Paris Musées, Musée Carnavalet; CC0

Hemingway lending card — Sylvia Beach Papers, Special Collections, Princeton University Library. Courtesy of Princeton University Library; No Known Copyright

https://shakespeareandco.princeton.edu/members/hemingway-ernest/cards/

Ernest Hemingway, Paris, c.1924 — photographer unspecified / JFK Library, EH 5738P; public-domain release, VRT 2011070410000468

Rue de Seine, 1924 — Eugène Atget / Paris Musées, Musée Carnavalet; CC0

La Rotonde, 1924 — Agence Rol / BnF

12 rue de l’Odéon, 2014 — David McSpadden; CC BY 2.0

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:12_Rue_Od%C3%A9on,_Paris_May_2014.jpg

Adrienne Monnier in her shop, c.1925 — Henri Manuel; CC BY 3.0

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Photographie_d%27Adrienne_Monnier_dans_sa_librairie_par_Henri_Manuel.jpg

James Joyce, c.1918 — Camille Ruf

Adrienne Monnier’s back room — Henri Manuel; CC BY 3.0

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adrienne_Monnier_dans_l%27arri%C3%A8re-boutique_de_sa_librairie_par_Henri_Manuel.jpg

Ulysses, 1922 print-run page — James Joyce / Shakespeare and Company; scan Erakis

Ulysses first edition — The Little Museum of Dublin; CC BY-SA 4.0

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ulysses_by_James_Joyce_-_first_edition,_1922.jpg

Rue de l’Odéon today — Ralf.treinen; CC BY-SA 3.0

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paris_rue_de_l_odeon1.jpg

Café Voltaire, place de l’Odéon — Eugène Atget / Paris Musées, Musée Carnavalet; CC0

Licences: CC0 https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ; CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ ; CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ ; CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ; CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ . Photos fitted, cropped and animated; CC BY-SA image adaptations retain their respective licences.