The goal of Impressions from Paris is to revisit the artistic, literary and journalistic contributions of French and expatriate women from different parts of the world, as they flocked to Paris during the interwar years (1925-1940). The overall principle lies in the inclusion of painters, visual artists, filmmakers and writers from diverse international and national backgrounds.
The volume will explore the possibilities presented in a modern literary and artistic history while building on previous scholarship. The idea for this project was inspired by two books and one documentary film: Shari Benstock Women of the Left Bank. Paris 1900-1940 (Texas University Press, 1986) and Andrea Weiss Paris was a woman. Portraits from the Left Bank (Harper SanFrancisco, 1995), which in turn produced an eponymous film (Greta Schiller/Andrea Weiss, 1996). These works highlight the community of women artists, editors and writers during the interwar years in Paris. There is scholarship in the area, although most of it is scattered in single monographs, crossing various genres, and various languages, from popular comic strips, to fiction, biographical studies, cultural histories as well as scholarly artistic and literary studies. The field is further invigorated by recent publications but not necessarily part of the focus such as Mary McAuliffe, Paris on the Brink. The 1930s Paris of Jean Renoir, Salvador Dali, Simone de Beauvoir, André Gide, Sylvia Beach, Léon Blum and their friends (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2018), and Michèle Fitoussi, Janet (JC Lattès, 2018).
The list of authors and artists that may be included but not limited to these are Doria Shafik, Françoise Gilot, Irène Nemirovski, and May Birkhead, Janet Flanner, Anaïs Nin, Djuna Barnes, Josephine Baker, Sonia Delaunay, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Sylvia Beach, Andrée Viollis and Gisèle Freund.
Contributors will be asked to contribute original essays of 6000 words each, with a bibliography and short bio. Please send a 600-word abstract and short bio to Dr. Sylvie Blum-Reid. University of Florida: sylblum@ufl.edu or seablum@gmail.com
Proposal for abstract by August 1st; and pending approval, final essay submissions by December 15, 2020.
