Paris is one of the most talked about cities in the word. If one is lucky enough to have visited this beautiful city, the reminiscence of the glowing lights will haunt the memory forever. This city stands its own, solid ground, in the literary world. Emerging in something of a myth, Paris, was a place where art was born. The power of this city spread like current through magazine articles and newspaper stories, rapidly making its way into the literary tradition. Soon the myth of Paris had become partly Americanized, with many American writers entering the scene and writing about their own journeys abroad. However, Morley Callaghan’s That Summer in Paris and John Glassco’s Memoirs of Montparnasse challenged that narrative. Callaghan and Glassco
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This idea of fictional narrative can be supported by Glassco’s statement, at the beginning of his memoir, that he did not want to write a journal “but a record of [his] life written in chapters, like one of George Moore’s books - to impose a narrative form on everything that has happened” (Glassco 23). However, Callaghan and Glassco’s intentions are not to portray reality, but a subjective representation of Paris through the eyes of Canadian writers. In the beginning of the second chapter of That Summer in Paris, Callaghan states that “[he has] to tell how Paris came to have such importance as a place for [him]” (Callaghan 13/5). Thus, That Summer in Paris and the Memoirs of Montparnasse became tools with which Callaghan and Glassco wrote their Canadian identities into the already existing narrative of Paris. By creating their own uniquely Canadian meaning of Paris, both writers became strong influences over the famous story of Paris. Consequently, this gave them a new purpose and reputation. That Summer in Paris and the Memoirs of Montparnasse, are both memoirs of literary history that relocated Canadian heroes to a new ground of unfamiliar importance as they retell an account that focuses around Fitzgerald, Stein and Hemingway; with other famous figures such as James Joyce, Ford Madox Ford, Robert McAlmon, and Harry Crosby amongst …show more content…
This was due to his encounter with his idol Ernest Hemingway, who worked for Toronto Star for a brief period of time. Hemingway encouraged Callaghan to follow a writing career, rather than his educational background in law. Once Hemingway returned to Paris, Callaghan followed suit. One of his earlier writings was published in a Paris journal which Callaghan used as a steppingstone to launch his writing career. Callaghan’s obsession with the Parisian scene became so immense that to him Paris became “the world capital for the novelist in [the year of] twenty-nine” (Callaghan 95-96). For a good period of time, in That Summer in Paris, it appeared as if Callaghan abandoned his Canadian identity. However, the reader soon realized that Callaghan’s obsession with Paris was just that: a fantasy. “Could the dream [he] had for years of being in Paris been only a necessary fantasy? A place to fly to, a place that could give [him] some satisfactory view of [himself]?” (Callaghan 196). A fantasy that turned into a whole journey was a necessary component that enabled Callaghan to write such wonderful pieces of literature that presently people have a privilege of reading. Once Callaghan was content with his Parisian “quest” (Callaghan 192) he decided
This idea of fictional narrative can be supported by Glassco’s statement, at the beginning of his memoir, that he did not want to write a journal “but a record of [his] life written in chapters, like one of George Moore’s books - to impose a narrative form on everything that has happened” (Glassco 23). However, Callaghan and Glassco’s intentions are not to portray reality, but a subjective representation of Paris through the eyes of Canadian writers. In the beginning of the second chapter of That Summer in Paris, Callaghan states that “[he has] to tell how Paris came to have such importance as a place for [him]” (Callaghan 13/5). Thus, That Summer in Paris and the Memoirs of Montparnasse became tools with which Callaghan and Glassco wrote their Canadian identities into the already existing narrative of Paris. By creating their own uniquely Canadian meaning of Paris, both writers became strong influences over the famous story of Paris. Consequently, this gave them a new purpose and reputation. That Summer in Paris and the Memoirs of Montparnasse, are both memoirs of literary history that relocated Canadian heroes to a new ground of unfamiliar importance as they retell an account that focuses around Fitzgerald, Stein and Hemingway; with other famous figures such as James Joyce, Ford Madox Ford, Robert McAlmon, and Harry Crosby amongst …show more content…
This was due to his encounter with his idol Ernest Hemingway, who worked for Toronto Star for a brief period of time. Hemingway encouraged Callaghan to follow a writing career, rather than his educational background in law. Once Hemingway returned to Paris, Callaghan followed suit. One of his earlier writings was published in a Paris journal which Callaghan used as a steppingstone to launch his writing career. Callaghan’s obsession with the Parisian scene became so immense that to him Paris became “the world capital for the novelist in [the year of] twenty-nine” (Callaghan 95-96). For a good period of time, in That Summer in Paris, it appeared as if Callaghan abandoned his Canadian identity. However, the reader soon realized that Callaghan’s obsession with Paris was just that: a fantasy. “Could the dream [he] had for years of being in Paris been only a necessary fantasy? A place to fly to, a place that could give [him] some satisfactory view of [himself]?” (Callaghan 196). A fantasy that turned into a whole journey was a necessary component that enabled Callaghan to write such wonderful pieces of literature that presently people have a privilege of reading. Once Callaghan was content with his Parisian “quest” (Callaghan 192) he decided