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That Summer in Paris
It was the fabulous summer of 1929 when the literary capital of North America moved to La Rive Gauche—the Left Bank of the Seine River—in Paris. Ernest Hemingway was reading proofs of A Farewell to Arms, and a few blocks away F. Scott Fitzgerald was struggling with Tender Is the Night. As his first published book rose to fame in New York, Morley Callaghan arrived in Paris...more
Paperback, 232 pages
Published
June 1st 2007
by Exile Editions
(first published 1963)
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Morley makes for a great antidote to certain strains of self congratulation found in Papa's assays at the milieu (love them as I do) - he's like the designated driver who can tell you what really went down between the drunks he had to cart about. He's not the writer that Hemingway was but he's capable.
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Morley Callaghan was only twenty-six years old when he spent the summer of 1929 in Paris with his wife. He had been encouraged by Ernest Hemingway when they were both journalists in Toronto and looked forward to seeing Hemingway again at his place in Paris. Along the way he stops in New York and meets Sinclair Lewis while establishing himself with the editor Maxwell Perkins at Scribner's who publishes his first book. But it is in Paris that he tries to make a home for that one summer. In additio...more
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Lost or borrowed out my old Penguin Classics (orange spine) paperback copy purchased in 1993 from a used bookstore on main street in Bozeman, MT. This is the best memoir there is about 1920's literary Paris, bar none, and that short list includes Hemingway's A Moveable Feast and Stein's Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. It is that good and, unfortunately, vastly overlooked. I'm glad to see it is back in print.
Best passage in the book (for me) is the one in which Callaghan talks about how litera...more
Best passage in the book (for me) is the one in which Callaghan talks about how litera...more
This memoir by the journalist Morley Callaghan starts out slowly, relating a few episodes from his childhood and youth in Toronto. Only in about the third chapter, when he meets Hemingway, does it become interesting. After that, the story expands geographically from Toronto to New York to Paris, encompassing as it does an increasing host of literary people, at times seeming to descend into an almost endless list of name-dropping, made interesting primarily because of its short anecdotes about au...more
This is possibly the best book on expatriate Paris. Probably because as a book it's better than most. For one thing, it uses one incident - Callaghan's boxing match in which he knocked Hemmingway down - as the frame for a well-told story of friendship (he, Hemmingway, Fitzgerald), writing, history, a moment in time, love and more.
It isn't smug (and unconsciously hagiographic) like Fitch's "Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation." It isn't baffled by the art and literature, like "This Must Be the...more
It isn't smug (and unconsciously hagiographic) like Fitch's "Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation." It isn't baffled by the art and literature, like "This Must Be the...more
They say that timing is everything and the fact that this particular writer just happened to be sitting on the Boulevard Montparnasse on the right evening of the right year, means we have a further insight into the lives of those Paris expatriates, Hemingway and Fitzgerald and others. At the same time, this may be an opportunity for some people to discover Morley Callaghan, who is a very fine writer in his own right. His life ran parallel to Hemingway's for some time, as they met in Toronto and...more
that summer in paris was like old home week for me: i got to visit with hemingway, fitzgerald, and joyce back in the heyday of paris in the 20s which i haven't done in some time. callaghan writes cleanly and well, but sometimes his ego is exhausting. despite the fact i'm canadian as he is, and from toronto, none of his books were on my school syllabus growing up, whereas mordecai richler, robertson davies, and margaret atwood are staples, and i'm sure that would have burned him up because he had...more
I think that this is probably not a truly good book, but I enjoyed it simply because I'm fascinated by the lore of the "Lost Generation" writers hanging out in 1920s Paris, and also by pretty much anything to do with the Fitzgeralds and Hemingway. Callaghan did do a great job bringing that place and time to life. But I think the book would have been better if it was shorter and more tightly focused.
Jul 23, 2011
Jon
added it
A fun exercise in nostalgia, this focuses on the Canadian novelist Morley Callaghan's summer in Paris in 1929 and how he hung out with Hemingway, Fitzgerald and other luminaries (as well as a few dim bulbs). Best anecdote: Callaghan's description of James Joyce playing him a phonograph record of the American preacher/reprobate, Aimee Semple McPherson. Not much depth but worth reading if one is interested in that period in literary history.
Full disclosure - I've been devouring any book on Paris (especially of the belle epoque era). I'd not heard of this author, but he tells the story of his start as a writer. Travelling to Paris as it was the center of the creative world, meeting his heroes - Hemmingway & Fitzgerald to name a couple - and the disillusionment that often comes.
i just wanted to be there - 1929 - paris where the hot artists, writers and rich hung out commenting on each others stuff. the places they mentioned, i was at a few years ago. i can still here the music. get it as you will enjoy it.
I re-read The Sun Also Rises prior to reading this and it probably did this book a disservice because The Sun Also Rises is just so wonderful and this book definitely suffered in comparison. The problem, ultimately, is that Hemingway writes like Hemingway and Callaghan writes like a journalist. There isn't anything wrong with journalism, but given the choice between the gorgeous writing in The Sun Also Rises and A Moveable Feast and the rather flat and dry writing in Callaghan's book, I'm going...more
Read this instead of A Moveable Feast. The inside look at the expatriots without being pompous or flat out mean.
Aug 09, 2011
Robin
added it
I found this at a second hand store and read it in about two days and now I'm looking for more !
The author was a contemporary of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. A fascinating account of those times.
I've read quite a few books about literary Paris in the 20's. Its a time in history that I enjoy reading about.
This started out a little slow for me, but got better as I got into it and its a quick read. The author gives his personal account of his relationships, mainly with and between Hemingway and Fitzgerald, so you get a picture of their personalities, which I enjoyed. I only give it three stars because I thought it would go into more depth about them, others and the times. If I knew how to...more
This started out a little slow for me, but got better as I got into it and its a quick read. The author gives his personal account of his relationships, mainly with and between Hemingway and Fitzgerald, so you get a picture of their personalities, which I enjoyed. I only give it three stars because I thought it would go into more depth about them, others and the times. If I knew how to...more
(review to be written)
Not a fan.
A fascinating time with equally fascinating characters. Some great thoughts and insights into human character and behaviour but for me a little slow paced. A good book but I would recommend Hemingway's 'A moveable feast' before this.
May 04, 2011
Ibis3
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of Fitzgerald and Hemingway; aspiring writers
Recommended to Ibis3 by:
Dunzy
Shelves:
siy16,
ontario,
nonfiction,
twentieth-century,
france,
canadian,
about-books,
writing,
memoir,
2011,
2011-favourites,
cl-lifetime
RABCK from Dunzy.
I loved this book, my favourite of Callaghan's so far. Great, inspirational passages about writing as an art, an interesting description of a renowned time and place with famous people entering and exiting the stage, and a meditation on the vicissitudes of friendship.
I loved this book, my favourite of Callaghan's so far. Great, inspirational passages about writing as an art, an interesting description of a renowned time and place with famous people entering and exiting the stage, and a meditation on the vicissitudes of friendship.
So far I am appreciating the author's style of writing, it is clear and lucid, and as far as I can tell he completely avoids pretentious and pompous language which is great, especially because I am reading this book for a Canadian Life writing class.
Essential read for those who love all things Paris in the 20s. (Also I highly recommend reviewing it with your friends in le marias in a bistro)
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Edward Morley Callaghan (February 22 1903 -- August 25 1990) was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, television and radio personality.
Of Irish parentage, Callaghan was born and raised in Toronto. He was educated at Riverdale Collegiate Institute, the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School, though he never practised law. During the 1920s he worked at the Toronto Daily S...more
More about Morley Callaghan...
Of Irish parentage, Callaghan was born and raised in Toronto. He was educated at Riverdale Collegiate Institute, the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School, though he never practised law. During the 1920s he worked at the Toronto Daily S...more
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