This essay exploring the literary world of Ottoline Morrell is included in my most recent book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book…
View More Ottoline Morrell Gets LitTag: famous writers
As a writer who puts words on a page (screen) every day, I’m in awe of the famous writers of the past. I take the time to read their works, visit the neighborhoods where they lived when I can and delve into their papers when possible.
Presenting one of my strongest diary entries about famous writers, I take you to Paris where I have explored Hemingway’s former neighborhoods on the Left Bank quite extensively. Using his memoir A Moveable Feast, I’ve channeled his mood as I made my way between the addresses of his apartments and studio to his favorite cafes, one of which is La Closerie des Lilas. I admire his muscle, which I’ve read in letters to others in their papers at the Beinecke Library at Yale University.
in a letter to Malcolm Cowley in 1945, for instance, he wrote, “Been working every day and going good. Makes a hell of a dull life too. But it is more fun than anything else. Do you remember how old [Ford Madox] Ford was always writing how [Joseph] Conrad suffered so when he wrote? How it was un métier du chien [a dog’s trade]. Do you suffer when you write? I don’t at all. Suffer like a bastard when I don’t write, or just before, and feel empty and fucked out afterwards. But never feel as good as while writing.” I have a number of posts under this tag so if you’ve enjoyed this snippet, I hope you’ll stop by and read about other famous writers.
Peggy Guggenheim Goes Off-Beat
This essay exploring the world of Peggy Guggenheim in Venice is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book…
View More Peggy Guggenheim Goes Off-BeatBalzac as a Human Comedy
This essay channeling Balzac in Paris is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book feature similar literary adventures…
View More Balzac as a Human ComedyHenry Miller the Paris Years
This essay about Henry Miller in Paris is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book feature similar literary…
View More Henry Miller the Paris YearsThe Emperor’s Displeasure
This essay about Napoléon’s displeasure with Germaine de Staël is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book…
View More The Emperor’s DispleasureCafé Society as Cultural Interpreter
What do the Paris and New York City cafés that served as historical backdrops for some of the world’s most brilliant creatives say about the…
View More Café Society as Cultural InterpreterThe Personality of Place
So, this is how it feels to experience a medieval Tuscan village that has existed on a hillside in some form for almost 1000 years!…
View More The Personality of PlaceFar from Oblivious in Bologna
If you find yourself strolling along the streets of Bologna near the city’s center, don’t be surprised if you turn a corner and come upon…
View More Far from Oblivious in BolognaEudora Welty Finds Her Voice
When a writer begins to grapple with how to mine the outside world for inspiration, the process can be challenging. In her memoir, One Writer’s…
View More Eudora Welty Finds Her VoiceExploring Frankfurt with Goethe
I am returning to Frankfurt am Main next week to attend Heimtextil for the second time, an experience I truly enjoyed last year for the…
View More Exploring Frankfurt with Goethe