A Paris Year: Dorothy and James T. Farrell, 1931-1932

By Edgar Marquess Branch

Book Overview

The Depression that follows the 1929 stock market crash is emptying Paris of many American expatriates. Two exceptions are Dorothy and James T. Farrell, the na?ve young couple who have fled their home in Chicago for the fabled liberation that Paris seems to offer.

In this telling account drawn from interviews, diaries, and letters home, Edgar Marquess Branch presents a composite view of the life of a young author yet to complete his masterpiece, Studs Lonigan. Set among the expatriate artists who defined their time, this human drama plays itself out in one short year in which the foreign and familiar are entwined.

Featuring such characters as Ezra Pound and Kay Boyle, A Paris Year traces the heartbreak and triumphs that the newlyweds experience as the young Farrell seeks his fame and fortune. Their Paris sojourn influenced the rest of their lives and left an imprint on American literature.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821412361
• ISBN13: 9780821412367
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Length: 225 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book with great insight.

This was a great book. All Farrell devotees should read it. As for one of the other comments. Dorothy B. Farrell, James' wife is still very much alive, trust me.

This is an excellent and unusual literary study.

This fine book is remarkable for many reasons. It presents an excellent portrait of Farrell just as he was getting underway as a soon-to-be prominent novelist. Additionally, it offers an unusual and refreshing look at literary Paris in the early 1930s-recreating the scene as the Farrells (still in their 20s) saw and experienced it. Previously neglected writers such as expatriate Bob Brown (and his wonderfully zany Roving Eye Press) are given their due here. The amount of day-by-day detail in this book is amazing; what's more, it is both scholarly and loving. As always, Edgar Branch has done wonderful field work too (in both Chicago and Paris) with his trusty camera. This book is a must for JTF devotees. Further, it ought to be read by anyone with an interest in the intense American/Parisian literary and publishing scene of the late 20s and early 30s; or the making of American literature, period. It reads like something of a novel itself.Dorothy Farrell, who is still very much alive, must have been amazed by it. You will be to when you buy the book.