Lost Generation Message Board

After reading the book Geniuses Together: American Writers in Paris in the 1920s I became very interested in the Lost Generation and started collecting books about and by many of the writers.

Does anyone in the group have a favourite author among the Lost Generation? I like a few of the authors more than others, and no matter how hard I try I can't like Hemingway, even though I own a few of his books. A moveable feast is the only one I really enjoy (and which I don't own), and that is because it's about Paris and the Lost Generation :)

Hello, just added my library & my main sphere of interest is the "lost generation". You may find it helpful. The 1st thing I ever read was "Memoirs of Montparnasse" by John Glassco. It it the story of 2 Canadians & their exploits among the movers & shakers of the period. Good way to get your feet wet, I think.

Please check out my library (just posted) with the tags "lost generation".

memoirs of montparnasse John Glassco The autobiography of alice b toklas gertrude stein sylvia beach robert mcalmon kay boyle jimmy charters nancy cunard sherwood andersondjuna barnes natalie barney william bird malcom cowley hart crane harry crosby h.d. hida doolittlef scott fitzgerald janet flannereugene jolas a j liebling harold loeb ezra pound solita solano alice b toklas william carlos williamsthis must be the place

I have read the stories of Canadian Morley Callaghan who was in Paris at the time of Hemingway and in a famous boxing fight with Hemingway -beat him! I have to check which books describe this incident. JUst checked- Callaghan's memoirs- That summer in Paris

You know, Callaghan is the one author of that period I just cannot get into. Besides the book I own I remember trying another (the title escapes me now) and not liking his style. Do you remember Judy LaMarsh form CBL? Her reading "Memoirs of Montparnasse" by John Glassco, another Canadian, is what started my interest in the period. I highly recommend it.

I have read the John Glassco book - really liked it , too. When I looked at your list in the#5 post- I have alot of them. I liked the writings of Janet Flanner.

I keep meaning to read her & as yet haven't. Thanks for the reminder.

Hi- this is my first visit also. I haven't read all the Lost authors but love Fitzgerald and recently read A Moveable Feast. I've also read Stein and Hemingway's essays on her were hilarious.
I'll be looking for the Glassco book now, thanks.

mstrust, great! I'll look forward to your review of Glassco's book. What of Stein have you read? I happen to love "Paris France" Great to hear from you.

I went through my American short stories and couldn't find what of Stein's I had read, which makes me think it must have been a library book. To be honest, her writing didn't strike me as much as her famous personality. It seems that everyone who met her walked away with a story.
I'm most interested in the Fitzgeralds time in Paris but, come on, Paris in the 20's must have been great for a lot of writers and artists.

I heartily concur! Whatever most of what Stein wrote was too avant-garde for me to even pretend to understand. I guess I never found the required cadence to(in?) the words. In the newest book about her & Alice, the writer says that nobody really read "Making of Americans" , her outrageously long tome. I love her as a "personality" of the time. I would love to have a salon such a hers, where all the talent of the day, famous or not passes through. I just got up to get "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" Looks like I'm in for a re-read! Can you imagine being almost subsumed by another as it looks Alice was by Gertrude to let her write her "autobiography"?
I envy the flow of creativity & just living large which was Paris in the '20's. Accounts of Fitzgerald's life are fascinating. He was such an influence on Hemingway despite their rather tumultuous friendship. Zelda's antics played a big role in that, of course. Isn't this site the best? Really inspires thinking and sometimes, even, reading!

Perhaps Stein's most important contribution to literature wasn't her writing but the salon where she could give encouragement and advice to young writers and poets and introduce them to other talented writers. It would be fun, wouldn't it? Of course, when you read Hemingway's description of her, it sounds like she scared the beejeezus out of those young writers.

She was imperious at best!

i've long loved many of the non-american writers who drifted or grew up in paris in the first quasrter of the 20th century, Paul Eluard and Federico Garcia Lorca come to mind off the top of my head. I imagine there must be a book out there somewhere that blends all the artists & writers, maybe even actors and musicians of the city of the time, and their lovers. and their dogs! imagine being a waiter/struggling writer/poet in the day ...
ah, if there were only time, i'd love to know everything. Have any of you read such a book?

Interesting tcw. I'm more familiar with the Yank and Brit expats yet you pose an intriguing challenge.

Tcw, that is interesting. I tend to think you'd find those written in the expat's own languages. At best, I've only read a few mentions of other than US, Brit & Canadians of the LG. I esp. love the idea of their dogs! As a dog-crazed person, I can only bring one of the generation to mind: "Basket", of course. Oh, wow, you've opened up a whole new avenue of thought for me on this. Thanks!

Tcw, take a look at "Kiki's Paris". I found mention of many foreign artists there. The photos are wonderful! the isbn is: 0-8109-2591-5.

Tcw, I owe you a debt of gratitude. Since pulling out "Kiki's Paris", i've looked at it in the light you mentioned & am really learning about others of the LG. Swedes, Poles, Russians & many more. It's wonderful. I've found several photos of artists & their dogs, too. Thanks for the eye-opener!

sorry, i was out there, somewhere. i guess you could say i was lost.

still wandering . . .

Been a lazy so and so! Thanks passy for prompting us to post here!

I've been catching up on my virago backlog of books and my lost generation has not been neglected per se, as I've collected a number of them while reading other things. I have sitting on my shelf waiting to read...

The Days of Mars and The Heart to Artemis by Bryher
These were the Hours by Nancy Cunard
Writing the Lost Generation by Craig Monk (yes I finally got my hands on it!)
That Summer in Paris by Morley Callaghan (thanks to a recommend in the group)
Back to Montparnasse by Sisley Huddleston
Being Geniuses Together by Robert McAlmon
The Green Hat by Michael Arlen (also discovered in the group)
Living Well is the Best Revenge by Calvin Tomkins

I am ecstatic that I've gathered so many and am looking forward to reading all this year. Not sure when I'll begin as I tend to get a bit obsessed once I start. I did read manage a one off reading of Malcolm Cowley's A Second Flowering in January. Found it as interesting as Exile's Return.

If any of you have some of the same titles waiting to be read, perhaps we could organize a group read?

Today (April 30) is the birthday of writer Alice B. Toklas, born in San Francisco in 1877. In 1907, she went to Paris where she met Gertrude Stein, and the two women became lovers. They moved into 27 rue de Fleurs, where they began a salon that became a social hub for artists and writers, including Picasso, Hemingway, Matisse, and Fitzgerald. In 1933, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was published, which was actually written by Gertrude Stein and not Toklas. But after Stein died, Toklas wrote her own memoir, called What Is Remembered (1963). She said, "Gertrude Stein … held my complete attention, as she did for all the many years I knew her until her death, and all these empty ones since then."