Reflections on a Young Writer in Paris

I read with interest in today’s Washington Post about the famous Parisian bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, a magnet for great American authors of the 20th century. While not rising to the level of its famed literati, I too frequented the bookstore during my 1964 sojourn in Paris. Just as the article describes, the long standing proprietor, George Whitman, loaned me books to read, gave me encouraging feedback on my early writing, and let me scrub the red tile floors in exchange for a needed hot meal or for a draught of celebratory punch on Bastille Day. I regret that, as far as I know, I didn’t make it into the memoire of the shop being released in a new book today, but I am pleased to have been part of its storied history. Read article