The American expatriate literary community in Paris : collective biographies of Margaret Anderson, Djuna Barnes, Sylvia Beach and Janet Flanner

Abstract

This study challenges the notion that the American expatriate literary community in Paris ended with the roaring twenties following the departure of the main male figures in the 1930s. Through the collective biographies of Margaret Anderson, Djuna Barnes, Sylvia Beach and Janet Flanner, this paper will demonstrate not only did the community continue to exist, but will explore the attitudes, dynamics and disregarded experiences of these four significant American literary women in Paris during the 1930s, and their navigation of a period of uncertainty, hardship and crisis.