Shakespeare and Company | Princeton Public Library

by Joyce, James

Book - 2003

Join us Monday, Jan. 4 for a discussion of this work. "Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to for...Show more Join us Monday, Jan. 4 for a discussion of this work. "Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race. Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead." James Joyce’s autobiographical novel, "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" (1916), tops the list of most frequently borrowed books at Shakespeare and Company. One of the most debated modernist novels and a classic Bildungsroman (coming-of-age literature), Portrait follows the protagonist Stephen Dedalus, whose name evokes the mythical architect of the Minotaur’s labyrinth, as he confronts issues of identity, religion, and vocation. Dedalus would reappear as one of three major characters in Joyce’s Ulysses. Among the many members who borrowed the book was the British novelist Romer Wilson. Joyce himself also purchased two copies of Portrait, likely to send to friends and potential supporters. Also, find this title at: https://shakespeareandco.princeton.edu/books/joyce-portrait-artist-young/ Show less

Available now View Details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Dubliners

by Joyce, James

Book - 2012

"Dubliners" (1914) is a collection of short stories by James Joyce, himself a member of Shakespeare and Company, and the beneficiary of Beach’s ...Show more "Dubliners" (1914) is a collection of short stories by James Joyce, himself a member of Shakespeare and Company, and the beneficiary of Beach’s tireless support. A compelling introduction to Joyce’s writing, the book explores the social and political paralysis that pervaded Dublin, Joyce’s hometown, caught between English imperialism and Irish nationalism. The final story is “The Dead,” in which Gabriel Conway confronts mortality after learning that his wife had fallen in love with a boy who died as a teenager. Some of the characters in Dubliners would go on to appear in Joyce’s Ulysses, which was published by Beach under the Shakespeare and Company imprint in 1922. Ludmila Savitsky, whose French translation of Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was published in 1924, borrowed the book in 1920. Show less

Available now View Details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Pointed Roofs (Pilgrimage 1)

by Richardson, Dorothy

Book - 20070201

Join us Monday, Dec. 7 at 11 a.m. for a discussion of "Pointed Roofs" (1915), the first in Dorothy Richardson’s Pilgrimage sequence, which would...Show more Join us Monday, Dec. 7 at 11 a.m. for a discussion of "Pointed Roofs" (1915), the first in Dorothy Richardson’s Pilgrimage sequence, which would eventually comprise thirteen novels published over more than a half century. Pointed Roofs draws heavily from the British author’s own experience as an English teacher at a finishing school in Hanover. Richardson broke new literary ground in the novel: Pointed Roofs has been credited as the first novel in English written in what May Sinclair called “stream of consciousness”—the style Joyce and Woolf would make famous. Both Gertrude Stein and her brother, Leo Stein, borrowed the book from Shakespeare and Company. Also, find this title at: https://shakespeareandco.princeton.edu/books/richardson-pointed-roofs/ Show less

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

The Garden Party

And Other Stories

by Mansfield, Katherine

Book - 2016

Join us Monday, Nov. 2 at 11 a.m. for a discussion of this collection. Published in 1922, "The Garden Party and Other Stories" is a collection b...Show more Join us Monday, Nov. 2 at 11 a.m. for a discussion of this collection. Published in 1922, "The Garden Party and Other Stories" is a collection by New Zealand native Katherine Mansfield. Highlights include the title story, “The Garden Party,” which explores class by juxtaposing a festive gathering with a death that occurs nearby, and “The Daughters of the Late Colonel,” which foregrounds the relationship between sisters following the death of their father. Mansfield’s stories are often nonlinear, challenging the reader to jump back and forth between times and places to see events from new perspectives. Mansfield was a member of Shakespeare and Company in the early 1920s, before she died of tuberculosis at age 34. Edmond Renoir, a journalist and the younger brother of the painter Pierre-August Renoir, was among the members who borrowed The Garden Party. In 1932, American writer Katherine Anne Porter, who would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, purchased the book. Also, find this title at: https://shakespeareandco.princeton.edu/books/mansfield-garden-party-stories/ Show less

Available now View Details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Mr Norris Changes Trains

by Isherwood, Christopher

Book - 2013

Have you ever seen the hit Broadway musical “Cabaret”—or the 1972 film? The story of performer Sally Bowles is from Christopher Isherwood’s "Berlin S...Show more Have you ever seen the hit Broadway musical “Cabaret”—or the 1972 film? The story of performer Sally Bowles is from Christopher Isherwood’s "Berlin Stories" (1945), which includes the short novel, "Mr. Norris Changes Trains" (1935). Set amidst the rise of fascism in Europe, the book follows the relationship of the narrator William Bradshaw, who is based on Isherwood, and the enigmatic communist Arthur Norris, who meet on a train from the Netherlands to Germany. The novel was popular at Shakespeare and Company from 1935 through 1941, when the bookshop and lending library closed during the Nazi occupation of France. Among the members who borrowed Mr. Norris Changes Trains was Henry Church, a patron of the arts and the founder of the literary journal Mesures, which was managed by Beach’s romantic partner, Adrienne Monnier, owner of the nearby French-language bookshop, La Maison des Amis des Livres. Show less

Available now View Details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

A Passage to India

by Forster, E. M.

Book - 1984

Set in India during British rule, E. M. Forster’s "A Passage to India" (1924) draws readers into the complexities of intercultural friendships d...Show more Set in India during British rule, E. M. Forster’s "A Passage to India" (1924) draws readers into the complexities of intercultural friendships during one of the most important political movements of the twentieth century: Indian independence. Published the year Mahatma Gandhi was released from prison (for the first time), the novel has long raised a crucial question: Does Forster’s portrayal of the relationship between Cyril Fielding and Dr. Aziz, an Indian Muslim, challenge imperialism or reinforce the oppression inherent in colonialism? At Shakespeare and Company, Forster’s novel attracted the attention of important writers, including philosopher and feminist Simone de Beauvoir and poet Archibald MacLeish. Show less

Available now View Details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Women in Love

by Lawrence, D. H.

Book - 1995

“Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen sat one morning in the window-bay of their father’s house in Beldover, working and talking.” In Women in Love (1920), D. H. La...Show more “Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen sat one morning in the window-bay of their father’s house in Beldover, working and talking.” In Women in Love (1920), D. H. Lawrence continues the story of the Brangwen sisters—the protagonists of his 1915 novel, "The Rainbow"—and their stormy relationships with two men, Rupert Birkin and Gerald Crich. Although its opening line might seem tame, controversy swirled around "Women in Love". After "The Rainbow" was banned in Britain for obscenity, British publishers refused to publish the later novel, so "Women in Love" first hit shelves in the United States. Of course, the scandal did not stop members of Shakespeare and Company from checking it out. Perhaps the most colorful member to borrow Women in Love was Geoffrey Potocki de Montalk, a New Zealand-born poet, printer, and pretender to the Polish throne. Show less

Available now View Details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Mrs. Dalloway

by Woolf, Virginia

Book - 2021

“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” The famous line introduces Virginia Woolf’s "Mrs. Dalloway" (1925), one of the most love...Show more “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” The famous line introduces Virginia Woolf’s "Mrs. Dalloway" (1925), one of the most loved modernist novels. Woolf takes us into the minds of her characters—among them the middle-aged Clarissa Dalloway, whose party preparations are punctuated by reflections on her youth, and Septimus Smith, a veteran of World War I struggling with the physical and mental aftermath of the conflict. Film buffs might also know Mrs. Dalloway from the 2002 film, The Hours, based on Michael Cunningham’s 1998 novel. Shakespeare and Company members started borrowing Woolf’s novel soon after it came out. Among the first members to borrow Mrs. Dalloway were American sculptor Janet Scudder, an advocate for women’s suffrage, and Pauline Pfeiffer, a journalist who would go on to marry Ernest Hemingway in 1927. Show less

Available now View Details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Point Counter Point

by Huxley, Aldous

Book - 1996

Just a few years before Aldous Huxley published "Brave New World" (1932), he wrote "Point Counter Point" (1928), an enthralling novel ...Show more Just a few years before Aldous Huxley published "Brave New World" (1932), he wrote "Point Counter Point" (1928), an enthralling novel of interwoven stories about artists, writers, and intellectuals. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that many of the characters were based on real people. Readers might have recognized the fictional Mark Rampion as D. H. Lawrence, the most frequently borrowed author at Shakespeare and Company, or Denis Burlap as the writer John Middleton Murry, who was married to Katherine Mansfield, herself a member of the lending library. Given the novel’s engagement with the intellectual elite, it is no surprise that it was a must read at Shakespeare and Company. The French mountaineer Lucien Devies was among the members who checked it out. Show less

Available now View Details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

The Good Earth

by Buck, Pearl S.

Book - 2004

Pearl S. Buck’s "The Good Earth", the winner of the 1932 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, tells the story of farmer Wang Lung as he moves from povert...Show more Pearl S. Buck’s "The Good Earth", the winner of the 1932 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, tells the story of farmer Wang Lung as he moves from poverty to prosperity, causing family conflict along the way. The novel is set in China, where Buck, the daughter of missionaries, spent much of her childhood. "The Good Earth" was the best-selling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and was one reason Buck won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938. The book returned to prominence in 2004 when it was featured on Oprah’s Book Club. Buck’s novel was in high demand at Shakespeare and Company. Among the readers who borrowed the book were Gilbert Vieillard, a scholar of West African literature and French colonial administrator, and Gabrielle Camerlynck-Guernier, a textbook author. Show less

Available now View Details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf