Paris war eine Frau: Die Frauen von der Left Bank. Djuna Barnes, Janet Flanner, Gertrude Stein & Co

by Andrea Weiss, Susanne Goerdt (Translator)

Ein reich illustriertes und höchst lebendiges Gruppenporträt der Künstlerinnen in Paris, die als Frauen von der Left Bank in die Geschichte eingegangen sind. Dazu gehören neben anderen Künstlerinnen u.a die Schriftstellerinnen Colette, Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein, die Verlegerin Alice B. Toklas und die Fotografin Gisèle Freund. Im Paris jener Jahre sprengten sie die Fesseln eines angepassten Lebens und bildeten eine verschworene Gemeinschaft, deren Mythos noch heute fortwirkt.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Feminism, France, Lesbian, Art

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 1995

About the author

Andrea Weiss is an internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker and nonfiction author. Her books include Paris Was A Woman (Harper Collins, 1995), Vampires And Violets (Penguin, 1993), and, most recently, In The Shadow Of The Magic Mountain: The Erika And Klaus Mann Story (University of Chicago Press, 2008). They have been translated into French, German, Korean, Swedish, Japanese, and Croatian.

Source:
andreaweiss.net/bio/

Reviews

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best volume I've found to get the feel of the importance of the women to the time. Without each other's support, both emotionally & financially, the arts really would have suffered. We wouldn't have had a Shakespeare&Co., Joyce's works may have gone begging, Stein's productivity would certainly have been diminished, even Genet may never have come into existence.
I found this a good read, peppered through with great photos, a few of which I had never seen before.

[Teresa Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I am enamored with this literary period/history and love most of the writers featured in this book I more or less used it as a kind of reference book in order to research further female authors such as Gertrude, Colette, Anais etc...also while reading Silvia Beach and the Lost Generation. Read it 20 years ago but still pick it up from time to time to remember how much I love all of these writers!

[Lectoralila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tengo una especial predilección por los ensayos que hablan de mujeres escritoras y artistas. Muy probablemente esto se deba a que la historia personal y profesional de los hombres escritores y artistas nos la tenemos que aprender en el colegio e instituto, y sin embargo, la de las mujeres es fantasmal, inexistente. Ellas son la excepción, y ellos la regla. Por ese motivo, cada vez hay más ensayos recopilatorios de esas grandes mujeres que los historiadores y la sociedad en general, han ido ocultando. Gracias al trabajo de investigadoras, vamos aprendiendo que eso que nos metieron en la cabeza desde pequeñas no es verdad. Los grandes escritores no son ellos, son ellas. Ellas, que están en los márgenes del recuerdo. Ellas que no se han aprovechado de hombres a los que maltratar y vilipendiar, hombres de los que aprovecharse o someter para tener todas las facilidades para escribir; hombres a los que robar ideas para poder producir grandes libros. Ellas no eran así, ellos sí. No contentos con esto, esos “grandes” hombres, además de maltratar a las mal llamadas “musas”, esposas o amantes, las han borrado de la memoria colectiva.
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En “París era mujer” hay una selección deliciosa de mujeres escritoras, artistas, libreras y editoras. Sylvia Beach fue la fundadora de la desaparecida librería Shakespeare and Company, y digo desaparecida porque la actual librería solo tiene en común con la original el nombre. En la librería de Sylvia se dieron cita escritores como Colette, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway o James Joyce. Este último escribió su famoso “Ulises” gracias a que Sylvia vio en él un escritor con talento. Ella fue la persona que consiguió sacar adelante este libro. Editándolo, moviéndolo, aconsejando a James Joyce e incluso llevando la librería a la bancarrota para mantener a Joyce y a su familia mientras él escribía. James Joyce decidió demostrarle a Sylvia lo agradecido que estaba con todo su trabajo rompiendo el contrato que tenían ambos, donde Joyce le cedía los derechos universales de “Ulises” a Sylvia, para vendérselos a Random House.






Dejo esta frase de James Joyce por si aún no ha quedado claro lo señoro que era; «Lo único que ha hecho en realidad, es regalarme los diez mejores años de su vida.»
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Natalie Barney es otra de las mujeres destacables de la orilla izquierda del Sena. Escribió una infinidad de poemas y libros, y fundó un salón donde se reunían todas las artistas de la época como Colette, Djuna Barnes, Renee Vivien o Hilda Doolittle. Allí escribían, realizaban obras de teatro, celebraban ritos paganos y se relacionaban y amaban entre ellas libremente. Toda una escuela de Safo en pleno París.
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Me gustaría hablaros de Djuna en profundidad, y de Natalie Barney, Gertrude Stein o Romaine Brooks. Esta obra es todo eso y más. Además, quiero destacar que Andrea Weiss, la autora de este ensayo, es una narradora excelente que consigue meterte en la piel de cada una de estas maravillosas mujeres. Tengo mi ejemplar lleno de anotaciones y papelitos, y sé que volveré a él en una infinidad de ocasiones. El retrato de París de los años 20 que todas tenemos en el imaginario está lleno de burdeles, alcohol y escritores decadentes. Pero la realidad es que había muchísimas mujeres artistas que en su mayoría eran abstemias, y que escribían y se divertían libremente. Creaban arte y no pisoteaban a ningún hombre para conseguirlo. Al contrario, los hombres se sentían intimidados por ellas y procuraban molestarlas todo lo que podían, para después borrarlas. Por eso, libros como este son tan necesarios.

[SilviaG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro me ha descubierto a unas mujeres adelantadas a su tiempo, que coincidieron a principios del siglo XX en la orilla izquierda del Sena, en la ciudad de París. Unas mujeres cultas, valientes, emprendedoras...fuera de los cánones que la sociedad de la época tenía para ellas. Había oído hablar de alguna de ellas (Colette, Silvia Beach, Gertrude Stein...), pero la mayoría eran totalmente desconocidas para mí. Me parece que la autora ha hecho un muy buen trabajo de investigación, y ha recopilado documentos y fotos de gran importancia para contextualizar las diferentes historias.
Creo que es un muy buen comienzo para conocer las obras artísticas de estas mujeres.

[Melissa Delbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, to have been in this time and place!

[Linda Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have lots of obsessions, many of which feature degrees and shimmers of magical thinking. Now I have another. I want to have lived in Paris on the Left Bank in the early 20th century, after WWI and just before WWII. Weiss introduces us to the women in this place at that time, and it is literary and artistic fame that the history-making creators were denied that needed to introduce us long before this book was collected.

The women who discovered, nurtured, paid to publish, promoted and put money in the pockets of the men we had to read in school. Hemingway, Pound, Eliot, Joyce, Cummings. Men who denigrated in voice and print those women after the checks were cashed. In a sense, this is a crime book. That we do not have the names of Djuna Barnes, Jane Heap, Sylvia Beach, Janet Flanner, Adrienne Monnier on our lips and in our minds and hearts. But, I digress from the aurora borealis of the salons and summer houses and cafes where painters, photographers, bookshop owners, writers, readers lived in creative harmony.

The women! Glorious.

I ordered a printing, which is back-ordered from Counterpoint. I will wait.

Find the documentary on your streaming service. You will want to read more about these women, and find their art and writing to admire.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.

An absolutely excellent book, either for those who know something about the period or nothing at all. This portrait of life amongst the female intellectuals is brilliantly researched, but equally Weiss's own interpretations and opinions are just as insightful and well presented. The illustrations are well chosen and printed making it a highly enjoyable visual experience. It is both uplifting and heartbreaking to learn about the amazing work these women did, but also how they have been relentless ignored, sidelined and ridiculed on account of their gender and rejection of patriarchy.

[Jéssica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro tiene un olor propio, un ambiente real, una composición visual muy seductora y una redacción que nos acerca a una comunidad de mujeres muy interesantes que vivieron el período de entreguerras en la orilla izquierda de París.
Un libro generosísimo que nos habla de relaciones humanas, de grandes mujeres (y grandes artistas) que comprendieron la importancia de pensar y de actuar en colectivo.
Cada una de estas mujeres desprende esos valores femeninos tan nuestros que a veces nos han sido arrancados y no nos dejan vivir en sintonía con lo que realmente somos.

He disfrutado y admirado muchísimo la lectura pero, a la par, he sentido un enfado extremo. Una vez más me pregunto: ¿dónde estaban todas estas mujeres hasta ahora? ¿por qué no las he encontrado en ningún libro educativo? ¿quién se empeña en seguir ocultándolas y en privarnos de su inspiración?

La frase que me ha calado:
“Cuando dejó de ser mujer, a París no le quedaron cualidades humanas de ninguna clase”

[✨ Maria ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imprescindible ❤️

[Sharon Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books about the “left bank” in Paris in the early twentieth century usually talk about the “lost generation” of (mainly male) writers, artists, musicians, etc. The last people you are likely to hear about are the many talented women who managed to escape the boredom of bourgeois married life and find a way to express their energy and creativity in Paris, alongside the men – though often in very different ways.

These women included the remarkable Sylvia Beach, who ran the famous bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, and her French counterpart and friend, Adrienne Monnier, who ran her own bookshop, La Maison des Amis des Livres. These two ran their shops more as a mission than a business – Sylvia Beach championed James Joyce and indeed was the first publisher of Ulysses. Their shops became meeting places and cultural centres.

Other women mentioned and, in some cases, discussed at length included the French writer Colette, whose background included a stint as a controversial cabaret artist. Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Nathalie Clifford Barney, Romaine Brooks, Renée Vivien, the little-remembered photographer Berenice Abbott, the difficult writer Djuna Barnes – so many are here, in fact, that Weiss has provided a list of them, briefly identified, before the main text.

The standout features of the book for me, though, are the beautiful black and white photographs of people, street scenes, interiors and scrapbook-style snippets which create an unforgettable portrait of that all-too-brief bygone age. I thoroughly recommend this book.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only realised this was "a book"
after watching the end credits on TV
of the enthralling documentary
based on "the book".

I soon had the enthralling book (in September 1998)
...not surprisingly
but little realising that I would soon be trawling
the very same streets in May 1999 to locate the addresses
of many old favourites
eg. Colette, Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Toklas, Natalie Barney;
or some like Janet Flanner, whose articles I'd enjoyed without discovering the wonderful personality behind them;
and meeting totally new ones like Juanita Barnes.
Many were mentioned in Colette's book "The Pure and the Impure".
Janet Flanner's many books are highly available in the USA.
I'd come across one,"Paris Was Yesterday 1925-1939",one of the many consisting of her articles for the New Yorker whose Parisian correspondent she was.
And later her biography "Genet" by Brenda Wineapple.
and her stunning letters "Darlingissima - Letters to a Friend".

Wherever you start you are tapping into a very Rich vein!!!

[Tristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was given to me for Xmas, which was very exciting, as it is out of print! I would give this Five Stars for the photographs, which are truly stellar and Three Stars for the writing, which is so plodding and boring, compared to the wildly dynamic characters the author is writing about! It's quite an academic book and while many of the facts were interesting, I was much more emotionally moved by the images and copies of letters included in this book. If you are a fan of the women of this time period, then you should at least pick it up and stroll through the photos, but only true nerds will read the whole thing (and yes, I am a true nerd and I trudged through every date and list and footnote!).

[Asya · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat dry and plodding account of a fascinating moment in literary history and in the Modernist movement - a more or less chronological group portrait of the mostly expatriate, mostly queer women who lived in Paris between the wars and shaped the Modernist movement. These include Sylvia Beach and Adrienne Monnier, Colette, Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, Nathalie Barney and Romaine Brooks, HD and Bryher, Janet Flanner and Solita Solano, Djuna Barnes, Thelma Wood and Mina Loy. Their stories are indisputably compelling, but Andrea Weiss' treatment not always so. Nonetheless, the book is lovely with intimate photographs that tell almost more of the story.

[Kay read by Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paris Was a Woman: Portraits from the Left Bank Andrea Weiss: 259 pages published 1995
“The city of Paris has often been seen as a seductive woman both Mistress and muse to generations of male authors and artists…” “At the dawn of the 20th century creative women flocked to the left bank.” “Paris became a haven for a new kind of woman.” The intellectual women did a wonderful service to France and the greater community of women. Their vigor and love for literature touch the world in many ways.
I was served a great portion of Paris between the World Wars. It was not from the male perspective where women tend to fall through the cracks but through the eyes of splendid woman. The history carried in its pages more passion and a deep sense of community and care. The story begins with Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas and moves forward from there. They helped set the stage for their “freedom and sexual ambiguity.” Together the French and the expatriates created a culture of divine beauty, freedom, and love. From this point, we move through the various personalities and creative habits of the women of Paris in that day and age.
The First World War brought hardship to many and these women did what they could to aid the suffering. They were not all about self their own desires and needs. A number of women of this period left the comforts of husbands and homes to seek out a new life. Many came to Paris as couples or met and found relationships. All of this is revealed beyond what standard history teaches. This book shows a more intimate side of the history of the time. It makes my heart want to join these women on this “grande aventure.” I rate ‘Paris Was a Woman’ 4 stars. Andrea Weiss does a wonderful job of creating wonder in the hearts of these women who took advantage of this time.

[Clare Devereux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paris Was a Woman: Portraits from the Left Bank by Andrea Weiss:
This history begins at the feet of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Their relationship in its intellectual and sexual freedom melded with the nature of beloved Paris. the intellectual side of Paris melded with their nature and blossomed.
This description struck me and embraced my heart. “The city of Paris has often been seen as a seductive woman both Mistress and muse to generations of male authors and artists…” “At the dawn of the 20th century, creative women flocked to the left bank.” “Paris became a haven for a new kind of woman.” What better way to expand the community of women to be free from the chains that wish to hold us?

As the 20th century dawned many women came to Paris as an intellectual refuge. The women were seeking a new life and way of life and were willing to make sacrifices to bring this about. Many women left homes and husbands to stretch out and grow. They came to Paris for a cultural experience. These women were searching for their own identity, heart, and truth. Some came as couples, others came alone and found within the city like-minded women with whom they formed new relationships. The everyday history does not report much about this movement. It just happened and Paris and France were better for it. “Paris Was a Woman” paints a portrait of the events and the culture created. It is the intimate side of life where eyes do not always go. I felt excitement as I read. I experienced this life and its intensity. This community of women relished life and built something different that allowed those strong enough to follow to move forward. Line after line I could feel their presence beside me. I think we are all better and freer because of the experiment. The book is wonderful and I believe there is a documentary as well.

[Andrea Proenza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cada vez que leo ensayos como este no puedo evitar pensar cuánto hemos oído hablar de Picasso, de James Joyce, de Ernest Hemingway o de Ezra Pound, y qué poco de sus contemporáneas. ¿Acaso la categoría de “genio” estaba reservada solo para ellos? ¿No había ninguna mujer cuya obra mereciese pasar a la posteridad? La respuesta es clara y rotunda: sí, las había. De eso va ‘París era mujer’ de Andrea Weiss (editado por @editorial_egales). De recuperar y visibilizar a esas mujeres que conformaron una corriente artística y literaria de gran importancia en París a principios del siglo XX, que dieron vida a esa Orilla Izquierda del Sena y que incluso descubrieron e hicieron de mecenas de varios de los autores arriba mencionados.
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Este ensayo recoge brevemente las biografías de mujeres como Sylvia Beach, fundadora de la famosa librería Shakespeare&Company de París (que, lamentablemente, no está relacionada con la que se puede encontrar hoy en la ciudad), de la también librera y editora Adrienne Monnier, de las escritoras Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Mina Loy, Colette, H.D., Natalie Barney, Djuna Barnes, entre muchas otras.
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Si algo me ha gustado de este ensayo ha sido precisamente eso, haber podido conocer a multitud mujeres de las que casi no había oído hablar, pero este, a su vez, ha sido el problema que siempre encuentro en este tipo de recopilaciones. Cuando hablas de tantas personas, y de sus conexiones entre, a veces resulta un poco confuso y no logras profundizar mucho en ninguna de ellas. Además, como bien comentó @monbuk_ en su reseña de este libro, creo que la autora abusa en ocasiones de las descripciones sobre el físico de estas mujeres y sus líos amorosos, y se centra demasiado poco en las obras artísticas y el estilo literario de cada una de ellas.
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En cualquier caso, me ha resultado muy útil para conocer sus nombres y sus obras y de ahí seguir profundizando por mi cuenta. Ya solo por eso, y por las fotografías antiguas que aparecen en el ensayo, ya merece la pena. Andrea Weiss también dirigió un documental con el mismo nombre que también espero poder ver.

[Vultural · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weiss, Andrea - Paris Was A Woman: Portraits From The Left Bank

Outstanding introduction to an overlooked chapter of the Lost Generation.
Except these women were not lost. They arrived in Paris to find themselves, to be themselves.
Sadly, for me, I had only been aware of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, along with Renée Vivien (who is barely mentioned in this).
Most of the chapters are of the artists, writers, painters, poets, muses, publishers, females who found greater liberty in France than what was offered in the American heartland.
The one who most captivated me was Djuna Barnes, and I launched searches to retrieve a few titles.
Relationships ranged from lifelong (Stein / Toklas) to tortured infidelities to acrimonious rivalries.
I enjoyed this immensely, and yet this is an era that has always fascinated, the unsettled period between the wars.
Weiss also scripted the 1996 documentary of the same name.
Anyone who fell in love with the film “Midnight In Paris” (2011) should find this an excellent companion.

[Ana Rodera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro interesantísimo, con múltiples imágenes que ayudan a situar a las personas y a las historias reales que en él se muestran.
Se ofrece una visión ágil y concisa del París de principios del siglo XX y de las mujeres "poderosas" que habitaron en el margen izquierdo y que hicieron proliferar el ambiente cultural del momento.
La autora recupera a unas MUJERES en mayúsculas que marcaron la historia pero que, la historia se encargó de diluir con el paso del tiempo.
Existe un documental con el mismo nombre, producido por la autora del libro (tengo pensado verlo :).

[Laura Watt · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the book accompaniment to a documentary that's soon to be released, I believe - about the community of women artists and literary types living and working in Paris in the '20s and '30s. I knew almost nothing about any of them, and now I'm more than intrigued. Great photos, letters, and paintings form more concrete momentos from these women's lives & remind us of their oft-overlooked contributions. (7/97)

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Habla de un montón de mujeres de la época que ni conocía o solo me sonaban. Interesante para conocerlas, recomiendo. No le pongo 4 porque me despistaba un poco la estructura del libro, pero también puede ser que al hablar de tanta gente que no tengo ubicada sea más culpa de mis neuronas que de la estructura.

[Julija · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in love. Everyone who is interested in the art scene of Paris in the 20s 30s etc should read this. The fact that I am currently living in this neighbour hood where so many iconic women artists shaped an entire era and more... wow

[Doris Raines · Rating 3 out of 5]

NICE BOOK.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weiss’s remarkable story telling adds life to the facts of such women in Paris, you almost forget this isn’t fiction. I loved the pictures included. Great read, focuses just on what the title says.

[emilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay so when is one of you all going to build a teleportation machine so that i can go live in 1920s paris???

[Lisa Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyably written with more than a little of the author’s POV evident in the book. Definitely informative. Left me wanting more.

[charlots · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/3

ein wenig drunter und drüber, dennoch sehr inspirierend und liebenswert

[ISRA · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first chapters were the most interesting and make up for the drier later chapters which less of the women’s artistic/creative voice.

[Avd.Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engl. title: Paris was a Woman
The photos and text excerpts in this book were great. What I would have wished for was some more in-depth information of what was new and exciting about the modernist movement and a bit less of the gossipy stuff about the lesbian relationships. Apart from their love stories and open-mindedness about modernism, I wanted to know about the ideas that inspired these women who lived on the left bank of the Seine in Paris between the wars (among them Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein, Colette, the journalist Janet Flanner, the photographer Gisele Freund, and the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore owner Sylvia Beach), and to see more examples of their writing or art. Restating again and again how great and unusual they were, recounting how many affairs they had, and how many avant-garde artists they knew somehow just did not quite cut it. Still, the book does have momentum as a first introduction to this bohemian group of women and in making them known to a broader public.

[Georg'ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a pleasure to read, but then, this is a time, place, and set of characters that I have some familiarity with. I don't know how it would be to read this if you didn't know something already of the cultural and political history of Paris in the early 20th century. For me, reading this book was a treat: almost like a stroll through the city, stopping at landmarks and reminiscing, or perhaps sitting down with beloved friends and turning the pages of a scrapbook, lingering over a favorite photo. I learned new things, was reminded of how much I had enjoyed reading Janet Flanner (much of which I read while in Paris in the mid-80s), and left motivated to explore more of these women's writings.

[Mark Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable portraits of the extraordinary group of women artists, writers and their support group in early twentieth century Paris. Not only did the "history light" vignettes give us an idea of the women's lives and relationships, the many pictures were also a great record of the time. I was already a fan of Sylvia and Gertrude and who wouldn't fall under the hypnotic spell of the Amazon, but Janet Flanner is a new found favourite.