Hemingway's Paris Memoir Rises to No. 1 in France Following Terror Attack
With a French title meaning Paris is a Celebration, A Moveable Feast is selling thousands of copies as an emblem of cultural defiance.
"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast," wrote Ernest Hemingway in his memoir about his time in the city in the 1920s. Half a century later after publication in 1964 it has shot to the top of French book charts in the wake of last week's attacks on the city.
Hemingway's A Moveable Feast is currently No. 1 on Amazon's French site, where the retailer says it has temporarily sold out. Copies of the memoir have been left among the tributes to the 129 victims of last Friday night's attacks, reports Le Figaro. According to the French publisher Folio, orders have risen from an average of 10-15 copies per day to reach 500.
> Hemingway wrote: "There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties or ease it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and we received a return for whatever we brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy".
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/20/hemingway-paris-memoir-no-1-france-following-terror-attacks-a-moveable-feast
Hemingway outside Shakespeare and Company bookshop with owner Sylvia Beach on his right, Paris, 1926.
Friends of Hemingway writer F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.
Hemingway and friends at a sidewalk café in Paris.
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to re-read Hemingway's love letter to the city, its cafes, bars and Parisian way of life. Harry's American Bar at 5 Rue Danou, the Ritz' Hemingway Bar and lovely cafe La Closerie des Lilas are some of his and Fitzgerald's haunts I adore.
My appreciation for Paris and its people is immense and they will persevere in this difficult time. Vive la France!
An art friend and family returned to the City of Light in late August and saw great art sights, a few I suggested- Monet's Giverny, and Auvers-sur-Oise, the town not far from Paris where Van Gogh painted and lived at the end in 1890.
Lucky them they also traveled the Seine to Chatou, 10 miles from Paris to the noted riverside café, Maison Fournaise where artists gathered and Renoir memorialized with 'The Luncheon of the Boating Party' (1881), in the Phillips Collection. Maybe you've visited these sites too.
City Hall in Auvers by Van Gogh, 1890 and present; Auvers landscape
Maison/Restaurant Fournaise, Chatou
Renior's Balcony, Maison Fournaise
*David McCullough's no. 1 bestseller, 'THE GREATER JOURNEY: AMERICANS IN PARIS' (2011) is a wonderful treatment of those with varied backgrounds who went to Paris in the 1800s, after Franklin and Jefferson and before the early 20th century expats. Artists Saint- Gaudens, Sargent, Mary Cassatt and others are included in the book. A very interesting read. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10131648-the-greater-journey
summer and saw sites I just commented on above. Shakespeare's now allows people to stay overnight! on small bunks my friend said. Bravo the young! I love Paris, the life, art, culture and all. It's truly the enchanting City of Light.
