If ever there were a Mecca for writers and lovers of literature, Paris would probably be it.
For centuries, Paris has embraced and inspired scores of famous writers, from Molière to Fitzgerald to Wilde to Djuna Barnes. When exploring the city, you can hardly escape the presence of these masters. You might drop into a seemingly ordinary café, only to see a plaque noting that Hemingway wrote “The Sun Also Rises,” there (Café de la Mairie). Or maybe the hotel you’ve chosen to stay at just happens to be the one in which Henry Miller resided temporarily in 1930 (Hotel St-Germain des Prés). Once you start paying attention, you’ll never stop noticing all the monuments, plaques, museums, restaurants, and street names that honor Paris’s literary giants. Here are just a few of the places you might visit to gain inspiration from or pay homage to some of the finest writers in history.
1. Les Deux Magots.
Of all the literary landmarks in Paris, this is one probably the most famous. Although some people scoff that it’s become nothing but a tourist trap, how could any lover of literature miss visiting the café to which James Baldwin rushed immediately upon arriving in Paris to meet with Richard Wright? The café that hangs a photo of a young Simone de Beauvoir busily scribbling in a notebook in that very place? The favored haunt of Hemingway, Bréton and Camus? Don’t worry about the tasteless salads, if it’s literary ghosts you seek, this is the right place. 6 Place St Germain des Prés, 6th arrondissement.
2. Café de Flore.
Located right next door to Les Deux Magots, the café is equally close in fame. It is particularly known for de Beauvoir and Sartre having virtually lived in the upstairs dining room, but was also regularly enjoyed by writers such as Laurence Durrell , Truman Capote, and, of course Hemingway (who seemed to be everywhere). If you want the true feel of the past, definitely seat yourself in the upstairs dining room. Even today you will find many writers camped there, scribbling or typing away, hoping to absorb the spirit of those that came before them. 172 boulevard St. Germain, 6th arrondissement.
3. Maison Victor Hugo.
On the lovely Place des Vosges, you’ll find a small museum celebrating the life and works of Victor Hugo. The museum isn’t just a museum, however. It is part of the former Hôtel de Roham Guéménée, where Victor Hugo lived for 16 years (1832-1848). The museum/apartment is full of treasures to satisfy any Hugo fan: manuscripts, photos, samples of his handwriting, etchings, and some of his furniture. 6, Place des Vosges, 4th arrondissement.
4. Maison Balzac.
Balzac lovers will appreciate visiting the home-turned-museum in which the great writer penned much of his sequence of plays, novels, and stories, collectively titled “La Comédie Humaine.” The museum features plenty of Balzac memorabilia, including his writing desk, chair, and tea kettle, which famously kept him company through long nights of writing. 47 rue Raynouard, 16th arrondissement.
5. 27, rue des Fleurus, 6th arrondissement.
It’s not a museum, but nonetheless many admirers flock to the address where Gertrude Stein lived first with her brother Leo and then with her partner, Alice B. Toklas. Go there to stand before the plaque to commemorating the famous author’s home on this quiet street, and imagine the fabulous art collection and sparkling salons she held within.
6. 14, rue Monsieur-le-Prince, 6th arrondissement.
Richard Wright lived at this address for some 11 years (1948-1959), with his wife and two daughters. The famed author of Native Son and Black Boy was buddies with Sartre and Camus, and due to their influence, wrote what is known as the first American existentialist novel, The Outsider. Wright loved France so much that upon his death, he became one of the many authors to be buried at the Parisian cemetery, Père Lachaise.
7. 12, rue de l’Odéon, 6th arrondissement.
Site of the original Shakespeare and Company, the lending library and English-language bookstore owned by Sylvia Beach and frequented by the likes of Hemmingway, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson and James Joyce. The shop was more than a library/bookstore, but a haven for struggling writers. In 1941, after 22 years of business, it closed its doors, allegedly because Beach refused to sell her last copy of Finnegan’s Wake to a German official. Ten years later, a new Shakespeare and Company bookstore, named in tribute to the original and serving the same purpose, was opened by George Whitman several blocks away from the one on rue de l’Odéon. It remains a sanctuary for many writers to this day (37, rue de la Bûcherie, 5th arrondissement).
5 Landmark hotels in Literary Paris:
Photo of Café de Flore, Paris, by Scorbette37
Topic: Tips and Ideas |
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Tags: culture, Paris
About the author
Barbara Diggs is a freelance writer living in Paris, France. She has travelled to many European countries with her toddler son in tow, and firmly believes that traveling with a child is not only possible, but fun (if you plan in advance)!
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