Memoirs of Montparnasse - Softcover

Glassic, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0670003263 ISBN 13: 9780670003266

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1973

Synopsis

`A charming memoir of life in Montparnasse in the late 1920s - written at the time and shortly after - when the author, a Canadian poet, was in his late teens, a dropout from McGill. The obligatory portraits of famous writers and of the originals of famous literary characters are included, but the real interest lies in Mr Glassco's own precipitous skid from bohemian writer, living on an allowance from home, to pornographic model and gigolo, to desperate case of tuberculosis, shipped home to Montreal just in time.' New Yorker With humour and perception, John Glassco records his adventures and life in Paris as a member of the literary set of the 1920s and his meetings and friendships with writers and artists. With a keen eye and sharp wit, he offers us an engaging view of the bohemian expatriate community. His account of crashing a party given by American writer Gertrude Stein as `a rhombiodal woman dressed in a floor-length gown apparently made of some kind of burlap' is a minor triumph. He meets Ernest Hemingway in a bar and describes him as `almost as unattractive as his short stories - those studies in tight lipped emotionalism and volcanic sentimentality.'

About this title

Review:

"Ý"Memoirs of Montparnasse"¨ should be read and at last recognized as the most dramatic of the many narratives dealing with Paris in the 1920's." --"The New York Times
"
"The title calls to mind a whole genre of books...But Glassco's book, published from a manuscript nearly forty years old, is fresher and truer to the moment than the others, as well as being more novelistic and, in a sense, legendary."--"The New Republic
"
"A very good book, perhaps a great book."--"The Washington Star"
"The best book of prose by a Canadian that I've ever read."--"Montreal Gazette"
"This is a delightful, on-the-spot report of the days when it was still possible to be very young, very hip and very happy all at the same time...this precious, witty document from a long-vanished younger generation has both the freshness and remoteness of some ornate space ship found intact in a forgotten tomb."--"The New York Times"

" ["Memoirs of Montparnasse"] should be read and at last recognized as the most dramatic of the many narratives dealing with Paris in the 1920's." --"The New York Times
"
" The title calls to mind a whole genre of books...But Glassco's book, published from a manuscript nearly forty years old, is fresher and truer to the moment than the others, as well as being more novelistic and, in a sense, legendary." --"The New Republic
"
" A very good book, perhaps a great book." --"The Washington Star"
" The best book of prose by a Canadian that I've ever read." --"Montreal Gazette"
" This is a delightful, on-the-spot report of the days when it was still possible to be very young, very hip and very happy all at the same time...this precious, witty document from a long-vanished younger generation has both the freshness and remoteness of some ornate space ship found intact in a forgotten tomb." --"The New York Times"

" It's wonderful to see John Glassco's charming "Memoirs of Montparnasse" getting the international recognition it deserves. Like its author -- whom I knew quite well in the 1960s -- the book is a loveable and eccentric rogue, fond of style and up to mischief. It never fails to entertain." -- Margaret Atwood
" "Memoirs of Montparnasse" is one of the most joyous books on youth -- the thrill and the gall and the adventure of it. It is also one of the best books on being in literary Paris in the 1920s." --Michael Ondaatje
" ["Memoirs of Montparnasse"] should be read and at last recognized as the most dramatic of the many narratives dealing with Paris in the 1920's." --"The New York Times"
" The title calls to mind a whole genre of books...But Glassco's book, published from a manuscript nearly forty years old, is fresher and truer to the moment than the others, as well as being more novelistic and, in a sense, legendary." --"The New Republic"
" A very good book, perhaps a great book." --"The Washington Star"
" The best book of prose by a Canadian that I've ever read." --"Montreal Gazette"
" This is a delightful, on-the-spot report of the days when it was still possible to be very young, very hip and very happy all at the same time...this precious, witty document from a long-vanished younger generation has both the freshness and remoteness of some ornate space ship found intact in a forgotten tomb." --"The New York Times"

& quot; It's wonderful to see John Glassco's charming Memoirs of Montparnasse getting the international recognition it deserves. Like its author -- whom I knew quite well in the 1960s -- the book is a loveable and eccentric rogue, fond of style and up to mischief. It never fails to entertain.& quot; -- Margaret Atwood

& quot; Memoirs of Montparnasse is one of the most joyous books on youth -- the thrill and the gall and the adventure of it. It is also one of the best books on being in literary Paris in the 1920s.& quot; --Michael Ondaatje

& quot; [ Memoirs of Montparnasse ] should be read and at last recognized as the most dramatic of the many narratives dealing with Paris in the 1920's.& quot; -- The New York Times

& quot; The title calls to mind a whole genre of books...But Glassco's book, published from a manuscript nearly forty years old, is fresher and truer to the moment than the others, as well as being more novelistic and, in a sense, legendary.& quot; -- The New Republic

& quot; A very good book, perhaps a great book.& quot; -- The Washington Star

& quot; The best book of prose by a Canadian that I've ever read.& quot; -- Montreal Gazette

& quot; This is a delightful, on-the-spot report of the days when it was still possible to be very young, very hip and very happy all at the same time...this precious, witty document from a long-vanished younger generation has both the freshness and remoteness of some ornatespace ship found intact in a forgotten tomb.& quot; -- The New York Times

"It's wonderful to see John Glassco's charming "Memoirs of Montparnasse" getting the international recognition it deserves. Like its author -- whom I knew quite well in the 1960s -- the book is a loveable and eccentric rogue, fond of style and up to mischief. It never fails to entertain." -- Margaret Atwood
""Memoirs of Montparnasse" is one of the most joyous books on youth -- the thrill and the gall and the adventure of it. It is also one of the best books on being in literary Paris in the 1920s." --Michael Ondaatje
"["Memoirs of Montparnasse"] should be read and at last recognized as the most dramatic of the many narratives dealing with Paris in the 1920's." --"The New York Times"
"The title calls to mind a whole genre of books...But Glassco's book, published from a manuscript nearly forty years old, is fresher and truer to the moment than the others, as well as being more novelistic and, in a sense, legendary."--"The New Republic"
"A very good book, perhaps a great book." --"The Washington Star"
"The best book of prose by a Canadian that I've ever read." --"Montreal Gazette"
"This is a delightful, on-the-spot report of the days when it was still possible to be very young, very hip and very happy all at the same time...this precious, witty document from a long-vanished younger generation has both the freshness and remoteness of some ornate space ship found intact in a forgotten tomb." --"The New York Times"

"It's wonderful to see John Glassco's charming Memoirs of Montparnasse getting the international recognition it deserves. Like its author -- whom I knew quite well in the 1960s -- the book is a loveable and eccentric rogue, fond of style and up to mischief. It never fails to entertain." -- Margaret Atwood
"Memoirs of Montparnasse is one of the most joyous books on youth -- the thrill and the gall and the adventure of it. It is also one of the best books on being in literary Paris in the 1920s." --Michael Ondaatje
"[Memoirs of Montparnasse] should be read and at last recognized as the most dramatic of the many narratives dealing with Paris in the 1920's." --The New York Times
"The title calls to mind a whole genre of books...But Glassco's book, published from a manuscript nearly forty years old, is fresher and truer to the moment than the others, as well as being more novelistic and, in a sense, legendary."--The New Republic
"A very good book, perhaps a great book." --The Washington Star
"The best book of prose by a Canadian that I've ever read." --Montreal Gazette
"This is a delightful, on-the-spot report of the days when it was still possible to be very young, very hip and very happy all at the same time...this precious, witty document from a long-vanished younger generation has both the freshness and remoteness of some ornate space ship found intact in a forgotten tomb." --The New York Times

About the Author:

John Glassco (1909-1981), born in Montreal, attended McGill University without graduating, visited Paris as a sixteen-year-old and two years later, in 1928, accompanied by his friend Graeme Taylor. It was on this more lengthy and eventful stay, in the city he loved, that he based his Memoirs of Montparnasse (1970), which was published, and presented by Glassco, as an authentic memoir though it was later discovered to be in many respects a work of fiction. Before publication he had confided to his friend Kay Boyle: "It has the form of fiction―i.e. with lots of dialogue, speed, rearranged and telescoped action; never a dull moment―and is more a montage of those days than literal truth." It is, however, firmly based in reality and felt experience, and probably contains as much fact as fiction. Glassco once remarked that he was "as much a novelist, anthologist, translator and pornographer" as he was a poet or a memoirist. His Selected Poems (1971) won a Governor General's Award, then Canada's leading literary honor.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1973
• ISBN 10: 0670003263
• ISBN 13: 9780670003266
• Binding: Paperback