The Eva Palmer audiobook will soon come out from Princeton Audio. Now I’m turning to the LGBTQ+ “Midnight in Paris,” a comedy of manners set on Left Bank in 1926. Totally obsessed with audiobooks that take you there.
It’s All Hallows Eve around the world, and in Paris the graveyards must be buzzing with activity among members of the Scorpions Club, founded by Franco-American author and saloniste Natalie Clifford Barney, born this day in 1876, to honor a group of intimates who all shared her birthday. Every year she threw a party in
(c) Eliza Jackson
If you find yourself stuck on an SNCF railway platform, a new book about Natalie Barney and her circle will take you back to a more civilized era when appointments could actually be kept: We Met in Paris: Grace Frick and her Life with Marguerite Yourcenar
As Elusive as Ever Update on the lost film footage Last month you saw the first and only known film clip of Natalie Barney, speaking at home about Mata Hari, the subject of a 1996 British documentary. Since then, my tireless assistant Nikki Grigsby has been on the case to hunt down the source footage. Results: nil.
Natalie Speaks Lost Film Footage Found by Italian researcher I had heard rumors that an audio recording existed of Natalie Barney. Like everyone else, I longed to hear her voice and listen to her speaking. Last week, Natalie’s friend and biographer Jean Chalon very kindly forwarded this link sent to him by Italian researcher Giulia
April is said to be the cruellest month. And so it was for Renée Vivien in 1909.
Years of Plenty Memoirist Élisabeth de Gramont, born this day in 1875 April 23 is the birthday Élisabeth de Gramont was forced to share with William Shakespeare, and as far as I can tell, she never held it against him. Today is Shakespeare’s 450th birthday, Lily’s 139th. What’s an age gap of 311 years to
Screenwriter’s Notebook Garbo Slept Here I was working in Los Angeles last week, which played havoc with my writing routine. To clear my mind and reset, it helps to lose track of time. Back when Paris was a woman, Natalie Barney reported “getting more out of life than it perhaps contained.” And that’s just what
Suzanne Stroh : Today is the birthday of Natalie Barney. All Hallow’s Eve. You chose tonight in 1926, on Barney’s 50th birthday, as the setting for your historical farce, Un soir chez l’Amazone. It’s so funny. One of my favorite comic novels of all time. I’m looking forward to translating it with Jean-Loup Combemale, who grew up just down the street from Natalie at 12, rue Jacob. Describe the setting for readers.
Francesco Rapazzini: That’s right, it was a special night at Natalie Barney’s on her fiftieth birthday. The novel tells the story of that party. For one of Natalie’s salons, which were generally semi-public gatherings, this was a bit out of the ordinary. All the guests were either good friends (we meet Gertrude Stein with Alice Toklas, Colette and Djuna Barnes), or else they were Natalie’s current, past or future lovers. It’s a farce, and like all farce it’s also a tragedy. The great human tragedy.
#MeetMeInAnHourSuzanne Stroh: Finally, a party for Natalie that she didn’t have to host herself! Thanks for stopping by, Suzie. As the author of Wild Heart, you’re Natalie’s most complete biographer. If she were to suddenly appear in 2013, what would she make of computers, smart phones and the Internet?
Suzanne Rodriguez: She’d probably find them useful. After all, Natalie wielded the technology of her day without hesitation: telephones, telegrams, typewriters; in Paris she frequently sent meet-me-in-an-hour notes flying through pneumatic tubes, which were kind of an early 20th Century equivalent of text messaging. She had a Kodak Brownie camera the year they arrived on the scene, somewhere around 1900, and loved taking snapshots of her friends.
