SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY

by Sylvia Beach ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 9, 1959

Fortunately, this book depends on its literary interest- not on its literary merit. Miss Beach ran the American bookshop (named, Shakespeare and Company) in Paris in the 20's, and it is a wonder that anyone whose prose-personality is so flat- albeit burbling- should have met and appreciated so many famous authors-and/or especially, have had the courage to be the first to publish Joyce's Ulysses.... and stick by it, and by Joyce, through the storms that followed. The descriptions of these trials, and of Joyce (as of Gide, Hemingway, Djuna Barnes, Dos Passos, etc.) and of specific incidents, ramble along easily enough, but Miss Beach's attempts at condensed philosophy or literary criticism often have an unnervingly unfinished quality. Altogether, this book will probably have some success, through its interest in the Great who cross its pages, rather than in the author whose obviously large talents as a bookseller seem to have too little to do with literature.

Pub Date: Sept. 9, 1959

ISBN: 0803260970

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1959

Categories: NONFICTION