The Paris Bookseller

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Symbols & Motifs

Ulysses

James Joyce’s Ulysses is a real novel that the historical figure of Sylvia Beach actually published in 1922. It is an episodic retelling of the Greek epic The Odyssey and takes place over a single day in Dublin; it is told in real time and is set on June 16, 1922. “Bloomsday” (named for the novel’s protagonist, Leopold Bloom) is still celebrated today in both Dublin and Paris as a way to honor Joyce’s legacy. As The Paris Bookseller relates, the real-life novel was itself very contentious when it was first released, and even today, it remains a challenging and polarizing read.

In The Paris Bookseller, Joyce’s novel takes on mythic proportions as it becomes the practical and philosophical epicenter of Sylvia’s life. Initially, she approaches the novel as an appreciative reader and finds it to be utterly fascinating. Ulysses approaches the human condition in a way that no other novel has ever done before, and Sylvia becomes entranced by its tones of honesty and insight. For this reason, she throws herself into her mission to bring the novel to a wider audience. Joyce’s legal battle begins at a time when Sylvia is searching for her own purpose. When she takes on the challenge of publishing his work, she creates in her mind a framework that makes her feel as though she is contributing something significant to the artistic community around her. Instead of being a writer, she becomes a vessel through which Joyce’s story can finally be read and appreciated.

However, the recognized brilliance of Ulysses as a work of art is overshadowed by the damage its road to publication causes for the many women whom Joyce takes advantage of on his journey to literary immortality. The fictionalized character of Margaret Anderson, one of the first publishers of the serialized version and a figure who notoriously fights against censorship in the courtrooms, says, “That novel seems to curse every woman involved with it, including the characters!” (252). In particular, the book and Joyce himself become a point of tension between Sylvia and Adrienne, straining their relationship significantly. Ultimately, however, the book changes the face of 20^th-century literature and cements Sylvia’s own place in literary history.

The Citroën

In the late 1920s, Sylvia and Adrienne purchase a “little blue Citroën” together (226) in order to gain greater access to the French countryside, and they embrace this new way of life in “a state of what Sylvia could only describe as unabashed glee” (226). Citroën began producing vehicles in 1919, which means that at the time that Adrienne and Sylvia purchase one, they are still a relatively uncommon and novel luxury. The car becomes a means of literal and figurative escape, and it also serves as an antithesis to Sylvia’s restlessness and creative burnout. As the narrative states, “Today she’d felt again like the young adventuress who’s come to Paris ten years ago” (227). Purchasing the car together also creates a stronger bond between Sylvia and Adrienne as they share the cost, ownership, and responsibility for the vehicle in addition to enjoying many joint outings together.

Later, when finances become difficult, Adrienne is the one to raise the question of selling the car. While Sylvia sees the sense in this temporary solution, she is resistant to the idea and tells her mother, “I know it sounds silly, as it’s only a car, but it’s also the location of so many good memories. It would be […] Like kissing the memories goodbye” (263). This highlights one of the key differences between Sylvia and Adrienne, for Sylvia clings to these happy memories of freedom and potential while Adrienne is content to move forward and make new ones. When they do sell the car, it represents a larger shift between one phase of life and the next.

Food

Food is an important part of Parisian culture, particularly to Adrienne. She doesn’t feel a pressing need to express herself through art, as Sylvia does, because she instead treats cooking and baking as an artistic medium. As the narrative states, “In less than an hour Adrienne performed the magic trick that Sylvia had some to see as the hallmark of a great chef: making what seemed to be discarded ingredients into a delicious meal” (282). Adrienne’s appreciation for food mirrors her appreciation for life and is one of the things that first attracts Sylvia to her, for Sylvia loves “how unselfconsciously Adrienne enjoyed food, unlike her mother and Cyprian and so many other women who pecked at their meals like birds” (30). It is also worth considering that there is no direct French translation for the word “self-conscious,” which suggests a larger cultural divide between the two women.

As well as symbolizing an appetite for life, food also comes to represent hope. When Sylvia first opens Shakespeare and Company, Adrienne prepares an enormous feast to usher in this new chapter of their lives. Though Sylvia is doubtful that all the food will be eaten, she comes to understand that it symbolizes something greater than physical nourishment, “a kind of response to the war—an emphatic oui, merci to the fact that they could, once again, enjoy a bacchanal of food and drink” (47). Much like literature, Adrienne’s feasts bring people together in solidarity and community while ushering in hope for a new future.