To Eric Perier of the In Fact squat in Paris, for giving me an extra atelier to write in. To Simon Green, Colin Freeze, and Julie Delaney for helping me in especially dire moments. To Sparkle Hayter, whose tenacity and creativity are a constant inspiration. To Carl Whitman, for taking me into his home. To Lynn McAuley, who paid me to follow a poet to Ireland. And to those who read the book and helped make it better—Luke Basham, Adrian Hornsby, Buster Burk, and Musa Gurnis. Thank you for your help and friendship.
The Inforoots Association—www.inforoots.org—helps the children of Noailles learn to use the Internet, and also hapless writers whose computers swallow nearly completed manuscripts. Then there’s the amazing Quinn Comendant, who not only provided a replacement computer but gave that computer the power to love.
Finally, a word for the woman to whom this book is dedicated. Without her, it simply could not have been written. The sacrifice was too great.
TIME WAS SOFT THERE. Copyright © 2005 by Jeremy Mercer. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address Picador, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
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eISBN 9781429935913
First eBook Edition : October 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Time was soft there : a Paris sojourn at Shakespeare and Co. / Jeremy Mercer. p. cm.
1. Shakespeare and Company (Paris, France : 1964–) 2. Booksellers and bookselling—France—Paris—Biography. 3. Bookstores—France—Paris—History—20th century. 4. Mercer, Jeremy. 5. Whitman, George, 1913–6. Authors, Canadian—20th century—Biography. 7. Paris (France)—Intellectual life—20th century. I. Title.
Z305.S452M47 2005
381’.45002’0944361—dc22
2005045289
First Picador Edition: October 2006