(c) Eliza Jackson
APRIL IN PARIS AGAIN
This American life, 1937
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
Quel soulagement! Grace Frick is finally the star of her own life, after spending thirty years labeled the über-Alice of Marguerite Yourcenar. The author, Joan Howard, gives you the VIP tour that only an intimate of Yourcenar can. Who knew that the first woman elected to the Académie Française spent half her life in Northeast Harbor, Maine?
The heart of Paris keeps beating. Romaine Brooks turns 144 this week. It’s also the 109th anniversary celebrated by Natalie Barney and Elisabeth de Gramont. The correct pairing involves a certain blue dress, a plate of plover’s eggs and a bottle of Château Yquem each devoured slowly, followed by a mad dash across town with Berthe’s famous chocolate cake. Many happy returns!
(c) Eliza Jackson
Last year, Natalie got her first one woman show. Amanda Boxer cross-channeled one of Moonbeam’s enchanted afternoons in “The Blue Hour of Natalie Barney,” written by Frances Bingham. I kept looking around the Arcola Theatre for Natalie herself, but the only whiff of Ouira was from Romaine’s Hermès cravat, which has somehow ended up in my scarf drawer.
Next year, Eva Palmer Sikelianos will get her first biography by Artemis Leontis. Look for news about that here from Princeton University Press.
I’ve been quiet lately, reading Memoirs of Hadrian and putting the finishing touches on A Night at the Amazon’s, translated with Sally Hamilton, accompanied by Eliza Jackson’s drawings. Here’s to publication and a stage adaptation!
Fantastic illustrations. Kudos to Eliza. All of these developments are so exciting to read. Of course, I am delighted to celebrate Romaine’s birth as well as all birthdays and anniversaries.
Good to see you here, Sandy, and thanks!
What an info packed post!
Our gir!s may not grid the earth, but their vitality shines bright!
Thank you for this
💖💖💖
My TO READ LIST is growing daily!! Thank you Suzanne for keeping informed.
xx
Thanks, Suzanne, for following all these tracks and keeping accounts of comings and goings then and now. How strange that Mt. Desert Island was the stomping ground of Yourcenar and Frick, too.