We’ll Always Have Paris… and Freedom

Along with Stein’s contributions to the literary world, Sylvia Beach certainly helped in the progression of the Lost Generation, for it was Beach who single-handedly worked towards getting James Joyce’s Ulysses published and read by the masses. What is today hailed as one of the greatest pieces of Modernist literature, Joyce’s Ulysses would never have been brought to life had it not been for Sylvia Beach. It was one of the first times in literary history that an author composed a story through the stream-of –consciousness writing style, and included many radical topics that had rarely been exposed in literature before. Despite these setbacks, Beach worked tirelessly to scrounge up publishers who were willing to duplicate such a controversial novel. She even went so far as to smuggle a copy of the novel into the United States “sometimes wrapped as the

Complete Works of William Shakespeare” in order to disguise her lofty ambitions (Fitch 14). Had it not been for her bravery and perseverance, the world would never have known Ulysses, one of the defining books of the Lost Generation, or James Joyce, one of the main influential voices of his time.

Along side the women of the Lost Generation, many of the men where unwilling to conform to societal norms, as far as their writing was concerned. Hemingway bred a new form of writing that involved omissions from the text in order to make the reader think about the story, Fitzgerald was fearless when exposing the vanity of the wealthy in The Great Gatsby, which is today hailed as one of the greatest American novels, and E.E. Cummings never capitalized in his poetry. It was because of their disdain towards conformity that the men and women of the Lost Generation were able to produce some of the greatest works of the 20th century. Had it not been for the freedom from conformity that was prevalent throughout Paris, the writers and artists of the time may have never had to the opportunity to find their voices.

The freedom in Paris at the end of WWI created a haven for up and coming writers and artists. It was a city full of possibility for anyone who wanted to defy society and discover themselves. As a result of this freedom, some of the greatest work of the 20th century was produced by the Lost Generation, and had it not been for the free atmosphere circulating throughout Paris, the talent of the Generation would never have been able to flourish.