The Continual Pilgrimage: American Writers in Paris, 1944-1960 - Softcover

Sawyer-Lauçanno, Christopher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0872863344 ISBN 13: 9780872863347

Publisher: City Lights Publishers, 2001

Synopsis

Between 1944 and 1960, a second wave of expatriate American writers took up residence in Paris, some seeking the exiting ambiance of art and the bohemian life that Paris has offered earlier generations, some escaping from racist and materialistic aspects of the United States. While much has been written about the Lost Generation between the wars, little has been said about their postwar successors. And yet, what dazzling talent was present in Paris during this later period. Richard Wright, James Baldwin, James Jones, William Styron, Chester Himes, George Plimpton, John Ashbery, Harry Matthews, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alexander Trocchi, Gregory Corso, Brion Gysin, and William S. Burroughs are among those who flocked to Paris and produced important and enduring poetry and fiction. Christopher Sawyer Laucanno, sees through the Paris of glamorous legend to the sometimes starker reality of those times in this entertaining, anecdotal account of the friendships and associations the writers formed, the cross-cultural influences they experienced, what they discovered, and what they brought back.

An impressive mosaic of the Parisan American literary scene.”—Publishers Weekly

A well-written, substantial and fascinating piece of literary sociology.”—Choice

"Continual Pilgrimage is a beautifully written and informative exploration of the (often inexplicable) effects that Paris exerts on those who journey here. As its title implies, this exploration is an enduring one: 'In the accounts of almost all of the writers profiled in this book, Paris was equated with artistic freedom, with the ability to experiment, to succeed, even to fail without feeling oneself to be a social deviant.'"—Rob Couteau, The Paris Free Voice

"Intelligently done. Lively capsule histories lend zest to each writer's empowering Paris years."—Kirkus Review

Christopher Sawyer Luccano is the author of An Invisible Spectator, a biography of Paul Bowles, and the translator of Concerning the Angels, poems by Rafael Alberti. He lives in Massachusetts, where he teaches in the Program of Writing and Humanistic Studies at MIT.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Between 1944 and 1960 a second great wave of American writers took up residence in Paris, seeking the artistically charged atmosphere so pervasive during the Jazz Age. While much has been written about the Lost Generation between the wars, little attention has been paid to their postwar successors as a group. And yet, what a dazzling array of talent was present in Paris during this period! Richard Wright, James Baldwin, William Styron, James Jones, Chester Himes, George Plimpton, John Ashbery, Harry Mathews, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alexander Trocchi, and William Burroughs are among those who flocked to Paris and who flourished through the experience. Indeed, many of these literary wanderers and expatriates produced some of their most important and enduring poetry and fiction during these years, their collective efforts inspiring new creative directions for the second half of the century. The Continual Pilgrimage is a biographical/historical portrait of the friendships and associations they formed, the cross-cultural influences they occasioned, what they discovered, and what they brought back. Christopher Sawyer-Laucanno merges the Paris of glamorous legend with the sometimes starker reality they encountered into a highly entertaining and anecdotal account of writers following a dream and finding a vision.

From Kirkus Reviews

Lively survey of American writers in Paris from the liberation in 1944 through 1960, ending with the invasion of the Beats. Sawyer-Lau‡anno (The Invisible Spectator, 1989's fine bio of Paul Bowles) opens with a bang as war-journalist Ernest Hemingway liberates the Ritz bar, steals future wife Mary Welsh from Pfc. Irwin Shaw, fences with Andr‚ Malraux about their war adventures, insults William Saroyan, lit-chats with J.D. Salinger, visits Picasso. Janet Flanner of The New Yorker writes movingly of Paris's returning POWs, forced laborers, and survivors of the concentration camps, and of the sobs, speechless anger, profound shock, and horror of the Parisians. Gertrude Stein gets off her grand likes and dislikes, peppered with anti-Semitic remarks, and tells new arrival Richard Wright that ``it is obvious that you and I are the only two geniuses of this era.'' Wright's is a chosen exile and he soon finds himself rejected in America, lauded in Europe. He's followed by fellow exiles James Baldwin and Chester Himes, and Baldwin sets out to slay Wright and become the leading black American writer. Dirty-books publisher Maurice Dirodias's Olympia Press gives a solid berth to Alexander Trocchi, Terry Southern, J.P. Donleavy, and Vladimir Nabokov. George Plimpton (his dirty book is turned down by Girodias) starts up The Paris Review with Harold (Doc) Humes, Peter Matthiessen, William Styron, Southern, Robert Bly, and Evan S. Connell, among other contributors. Sawyer- Lau‡anno calls the early history of The Paris Review ``in many ways the story of the Parisian expatriate literary community itself.'' Celebrated war-novelist James Jones is on hand, as are Harry Mathews, John Ashbery, and Susan Sontag, while Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs hole up in a stinking, scummy, hideously decaying hotel to edit Naked Lunch. Intelligently done. Lively capsule histories lend zest to each writer's empowering Paris years. (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs- -not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: City Lights Publishers
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0872863344
• ISBN 13: 9780872863347
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336