© Columbia University Press
The Letters of Sylvia Beach
Paper, 376 pages, 30 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14537-4
$19.95
/ £14.00
April, 2010
Cloth, 376 pages, 30 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14536-7
$29.95
/ £19.95
"The patron saint of independent booksellers everywhere and the spunky proprietress of Shakespeare and Company, the famed Left Bank bookshop, Beach was a one-woman clearinghouse for literary modernism, 'a culture hero of the avant-garde,' as Keri Walsh writes in her fine introduction to this collection. . . . Beach was an animated correspondent." — Matthew Price, Bookforum
"Reveal[s] the difficulties faced head on by this patron saint of independent booksellers who altered the course of expression in print." — Publishers Weekly
"Academics and students interested in literary culture, especially of writers of the Lost Generation, will find this book valuable." — Library Journal
"This lovely book, scholarly and well annotated, is a pleasure to hold. It documents what Beach once called 'my missionary endeavor' and also what she called, correctly, her 'interesting life.'" — Dwight Garner, New York Times
"The consummate portrait of an incredible woman." — Robert J. Wiersema, The Vancouver Sun
"Keri Walsh has produced a commendable work." — Diane Leach, Pop Matters
"With The Letters of Sylvia Beach . . . we now have an unvarnished view of life from the bookshop floor." — John Palattella, The Nation
"Keri Walsh's compact and revealing volume introduces Beach as a character's character" — Molly McQuade, New Criterion
"This finely wrought collection of The Letters of Sylvia Beach makes one grateful that those who fashioned modernism also took time to write letters. In the case of Sylvia Beach, hers document not just the expected-her role in bringing forth and defending James Joyce's Ulysses and her creation of an extraordinary lending library where expatriates converged. Here too is the everyday, recorded for 'Dearest Little Mother,' or shared with her love, Adrienne Monnier. We experience the advice of a well-grounded common reader and the strange encounters of an intrepid new woman, who found her way to Serbia in the wake of World War I and through occupied Paris during World War II. Keri Walsh has expertly tapped into this archive, lending accessibility with concise notes and identifications of correspondents. In this volume, both the times and the woman take on new life." — Bonnie Kime Scott, San Diego State University, editor of Selected Letters of Rebecca West