Adrienne Monnier
Adrienne Monnier | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date Paris, France |
| Died | June 19, 1955 (aged 63) |
| Occupation(s) | Bookseller, author, publisher |
| Known for | Role in Parisian modernist literary movement; founder of La Maison des Amis des Livres; publisher of Le Navire d'Argent |
Adrienne Monnier (26 April 1892 – 19 June 1955) was a prominent French bookseller, author, and publisher, playing a pivotal role in the Parisian modernist literary movement during the 1920s and 1930s.
Early life
Born in Paris on 26 April 1892, Monnier was the daughter of Clovis Monnier (1859–1944), who worked as a postal clerk responsible for sorting mail aboard night trains. Her mother, Philiberte (née Sollier, 1873–1944), nurtured an early appreciation for literature and the arts in Adrienne and her sister Marie, who later became known for her embroidery and illustration work. Their mother actively encouraged extensive reading alongside regular visits to the theatre, opera, and ballet.
At seventeen, in 1909, Monnier earned her teaching diploma (brevet supérieur). Soon after, she relocated to London to enhance her English skills and remain close to her schoolmate Suzanne Bonnierre. During this time, she spent three months as an au pair and six months teaching French in Eastbourne, experiences she later recounted in Souvenirs de Londres.
Upon returning to France, Monnier briefly pursued teaching before undertaking shorthand and typing training. In 1912, she obtained a secretarial role at the Université des Annales, a publishing house on Paris’s Right Bank specializing in literary and cultural publications. While she valued this position, her interests increasingly aligned with the avant-garde literary circles flourishing on the bohemian Left Bank.
Following a serious train accident involving her father in November 1913, he entrusted Monnier with his compensation payment of 10,000 Francs to support her venture into bookselling.
La Maison des Amis des Livres
Monnier inaugurated her bookstore and lending library, "La Maison des Amis des Livres," on 15 November 1915 at 7 rue de l'Odéon, Paris VI. She was among the first women in France to independently establish a bookstore. Unlike many women who worked within family-run shops or inherited businesses, Monnier transitioned from teaching and literary secretarial work to pursue bookselling as a professional career. Despite limited financial resources and wartime shortages, she met the demand left by booksellers conscripted into military service. Her achievements encouraged other women to consider careers in bookselling.
Odéonia
Monnier played a mentoring role for Sylvia Beach when Beach opened the English-language bookstore Shakespeare and Company in 1919. Throughout the 1920s, their respective shops faced each other on rue de l'Odéon within the Latin Quarter, becoming vibrant centers for writers from France, Britain, and America. By organizing readings and promoting informal interactions between authors and readers, both proprietors transformed bookselling into an inviting cultural space fostering exchange and community.
With backing from Beach, Monnier launched the French literary magazine Le Navire d'Argent (The Silver Ship) in June 1925, under the editorial guidance of Jean Prévost. Its title referenced the silver sailing ship emblem found on Paris’s coat of arms. Priced at 5 Francs per issue or 50 Francs for an annual subscription, it was not commercially profitable but held significant influence within the decade’s literary circles and helped introduce emerging authors. Each approximately 100-page edition embodied a "French language with an international outlook," reflecting Monnier’s extensive literary contacts.
Highlights included a French rendition of T. S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (May 1925), an early fragment of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake (October 1925), an abridged version of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Aviator (April 1926), and a March 1926 issue dedicated to American authors such as Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, and E. E. Cummings. The magazine also introduced French audiences to translations of Ernest Hemingway. Monnier contributed writings under the pen name J-M Sollier, inspired by her mother’s maiden name.
After releasing twelve issues, financial difficulties and the workload prompted Monnier to discontinue publication. To mitigate losses, she auctioned off her personal library of around 400 volumes, many bearing author inscriptions. Approximately ten years later, she initiated a follow-up publication titled Gazette des Amis des Livres, which circulated from January 1938 until May 1940.
Later years
Although Beach shuttered her shop during the German Occupation, Monnier's bookstore stayed operational, continuing to cater to readers in Paris. Following the war, she spent ten years engaged in essay writing, translation, and bookselling. In September 1954, she received a diagnosis of Ménière's disease, which impaired her hearing and balance. She also suffered from hallucinations and ultimately died by suicide on 19 June 1955 after ingesting a fatal amount of sleeping pills.
Works
- Les Gazettes, Gallimard, Paris, 1960.
- La Figure, René Julliard, Paris, 1923.
- Les Vertus, René Julliard, Paris, 1926.
- Fableaux, René Julliard, Paris, 1932.
- Souvenirs de Londres, Mercure de France, Paris, 1957.
- Rue de l'Odéon, Albin Michel, Paris, 1960.