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
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
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.
Photo: Allen Frame
Suzanne Stroh: Thanks for stopping by on Natalie Barney’s birthday. As you can see, I’ve redecorated. What would Romaine make of cyberspace decor? I’m bracing myself. Be honest. Not enough grey?
Cassandra Langer: I can imagine her walking in, looking around, and without hesitation…rearranging the objects on your desk. Adjusting the composition. A little to the right, no back, perhaps forward, and so on. She was a perfectionist. Then she’d stand back and say, “There. Now it sings.”
Pour ou Contre (For or Against)Suzanne Stroh: Jean-Loup, you were born in France, raised in Paris, escaped Nazi occupation through north Africa, grew up in New York, came of age at the U.S. Naval Academy and spent much of your career in a submarine before turning to editing and publishing. How many languages did you pick up along the way?
Jean-Loup Combemale: I think the operative words here are “pick up.” I was five, six, seven years old when we were scurrying around leaving France, so I got dipped into languages and pulled right back out. What it did was, even then, show me how much fun it was to talk and connect to people–that’s a great gift to give a child. I learned Italian and French from my nanny and my mother; basic German from soldiers in the streets of Paris, Arabic from street kids in Oran and Casablanca. When our Portuguese ship stopped in Bermuda on the way to the U.S. I learned my first words of English–“Thank you.” And when we got to the U.S. I learned English and promptly forgot everything except my French, which we spoke at home.
My new story set in London and Chicago is inspired by efforts to end inheritance inequality in Britain.
Could SCOTCH VERDICT be the next CRYING GAME? Could Tabou be the next DOWNTON ABBEY?
April 30, 1909: a daughter of France was coming over. Miss Barney gathered the plover’s eggs and put the Château Yquem on ice, betting on another comet year.
