And the beat goes on
1 July 2003
Former Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê students organised a literary festival in Paris in June to celebrate the city's influential role in the development of modern literature.
The
festival was centred around the renowned English language bookshop Shakespeare
& Co. Situated on the Left Bank, the shop became a mecca for writers and
beatniks, including Allan Ginsberg and Gregory Corso, in the 1950s and 1960s.
The organisers, led by Sylvia Whitman (SSEES 2002), attracted a number of high profile speakers to the seven-day event, including Jung Chang, author of 'Wild Swans', Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and founder of San Francisco's City Lights Bookshop and Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê academics Dr Mark Ford, Professor Danny Karlin and Professor René Weis (English Language & Literature).
The series of talks, readings and performances examined writers including Ernest Hemingway, Allan Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Eric Satie, James Joyce and Ezra Pound. The festival culminated in 'Blooms Day', a 24-hour celebration of James Joyce's Ulysses, which was originally published by Shakespeare & Co.
Film and music were also represented with a screening of Tom and Viv,
Michael Hastings' film exploring the marriage of T S Elliot and Vivienne
Haigh-Wood. David Aram, composer and pioneer of the 'jazz-poetry reading',
hosted a one-off performance, while a special screening of Shakespeare &
Co and Mr Whitman, a new BBC documentary, was also held. The film relates
the history of the bookshop and features the current owner, George Whitman,
Sylvia's father.
Image: Festival Tara Mulholland, Sylvia Whitman and Emily Randall, pictured with George Whitman.