Janet Flanner

Born in Indianapolis on March 13, 1892, Janet Flanner was a writer and journalist.  She is widely known for serving as the Paris correspondent of The New Yorker magazine. Though many considered Flanner a great writer, she only published one novel, The Cubicle City. In 1918, she married artist William “Lane” Rehm.  In this same year, she met Solita Solano (a.k.a Sarah Wilkinson) in Greenwich Villiage.  They became instant friends and started a romantic relationship. Because of her relationship with Solano, Flanner was not happy in her marriage and in 1926, Flanner divorced William. Though the marriage was short-lived, Rehm and Flanner remained amicable until Rehm’s death. Later on in an interview, Flanner admitted to only marrying William so that she could get out of Indianapolis. Like many of the American, ex-patriot, women in Paris, Janet Flanner was bisexual. When Solano and Flanner moved to Paris, they joined a circle of other intelligent, lesbian, women.  Such as Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein, Natalie Clifford Barney, Djuna Barnes, and Romaine Brooks. 

I’m not entirely sure what I want my argument to be, but I am excited to learn more about Janet Flanner. She is not mentioned much in A Moveable Feast, but I am going to do some light research and find out more about the connection between her and Hemingway.   

The Pursuit of a Bookstore

Even though she born in New Jersey and rarely attended school, Sylvia Beach lived a cultured life. In 1902, Sylvia and her family traveled to Paris and stayed there for three years. During this time, Sylvia fell in love with Paris and even after the Beach’s moved back to America, she returned in 1916. Despite Sylvia Beach’s lack of formal education, she was still a fairly intelligent woman. Her knowledge was the result of many books read, travels, and languages learned. After she moved to Paris, Beach started attending poetry readings at Adrienne Monnier’s bookshop. Monnier later helped her open her own bookshop, The “Shakespeare and Company” bookstore which was the first English and American bookstore in Paris. The fact that Beach chose to sell books in English in a city that looked down on the language shows her determination and independence. Hemingway describes her character as “delightful and charming and welcoming” (Hemingway, 35.) and based on what I information have found about her, it seems to be true. Sylvia Beach is perhaps best known for helping James Joyce publish Ulysses, and despite her own financial troubles, she was devoted to helping Joyce and would even send him money when he needed it. Beach was also very generous to Hemingway and let him and even others borrow books without having to pay.

I really admire that Sylvia Beach chose to pursue her dream of owning her own bookstore. Even though English books were rarely sold because they were “badly bound” (Hemingway, 39) and the French said they had no value, Sylvia had an entire shop full of them available for people to read. She chose a different path than others at this time and even worked to become independent. Beach worked hard when she left her parents, often twelve hours a day and never complained. The Orlando database claims her ultimate goal was to be independent and she once wrote  “I must get at something profitable. My uselessness utterly depresses me.” (Fitch, 32.) The fact that she refused to accept “uselessness” shows how determined she was to be successful on her own. I think I may argue that Sylvia Beach was a great example of an independent woman in this time and place and that her bookstore helped her accomplish this.

Any ideas on how to narrow it or get it started?