Take Five: Paris for Literature Lovers
Photo below via Lauren SarazenKnown for its romantic atmosphere and literary luminaries, it’s easy to see why the Greats flocked to Paris. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Pound, Stein, Sand, Hugo, Proust—the gang’s all here.
If you’ve read A Moveable Feast, you can picture Hemingway at a round-top cafe table working through a short story, or the Boulevard St. Michel of the 1950s, as described in the opening of Elaine Dundy’s The Dud Avocado. While the city’s identity as a literary mecca may be rooted in the past, there’s still plenty for the modern bibliophile to see, from writer-friendly cafes to weekly literary events.
1. Bars and Cafes
Photo by Lauren Sarazen
From Montparnasse to the Mouffetard, Paris is riddled with literary history, much of which took place in Parisian cafes. Featured in both The Sun Also Rises and The Dud Avocado, Montparnasse’s Le Select still echoes with the faint touch of the 20th century lit crowd’s arty debauchery. A short stroll from Luxembourg Gardens, Le Polidor by Jack Kerouac, Arthur Miller and James Joyce—made its cinematic debut in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris as the location for Gil’s serendipitous meeting with Hemingway. In the heart of Hemingway’s Mouffetard, Le Contrescarpe feels like a library with its leather bound tomes and green glass reading lamps. For the literary minded of the modern age, La Belle Hortense’s cozy Marais storefront doubles as both wine bar and Francophone bookshop, as well as host of events.
2. Bookshops
The sixth arrondissement historically formed the center of Parisian publishing and 20th century intellectualism, and it is now an epicenter for Anglophone bookshops. Shakespeare and Company has long reigned supreme over Paris’s bookshop scene. With floor to ceiling shelving and long literary history, S & Co draws significant tourism, so visit in the evenings to avoid crowds. Or, ditch the crowds altogether for a quieter browsing experience at Berkeley Books. A stone’s throw from Luxembourg Gardens, Berkeley is a well-curated secondhand bookshop with occasional events. Its neighbor San Francisco Book Company and the Abbey Bookshop also offer secondhand books in English. Often offering free tea and cake, the Abbey has an impressively large selection, towering floor to ceiling and stretching in all directions. Though, if whiling away an afternoon indoors has little appeal, take a stroll along Seine’s many bouquinistes offering books, posters and tourist mementos.