It is a record of youth lived as it should be lived – a continuous round of debauchery, heavy drinking, frenzied sexual activity and earnest, erudite discussion about literature. His works include the widely acclaimed Memoirs of Montparnasse, A Point of Sky, The Fatal Woman, and Selected Poems for which he won the Governor Generals. He blagged entry to one of Gertrude Stein's soirées and quarrelled with her on Glassco's account she appears to have been a poisonous and barely human character.īut this is much more than a succession of celebrity vignettes. Memoirs of Montparnasse by John Glassco: Used Genre: Biography & Autobiography, Literary Criticism, Poetry, History Topic: Canadian, Europe / France, Personal. It is alsothe best and liveliest of the many chronicles of 1920s Paris and the exploits of the lost generation. Even before reaching France, he and his friend Graeme Taylor secured an audience with the ancient George Moore in Paris he made the acquaintance of Hemingway, Ford Madox Ford, Lord Alfred Douglas, Man Ray and James Joyce. Memoirs of Montparnasse - John Glassco Memoirs of Montparnasse is a delicious book about being young, restless, reckless, and without cares.

Glassco, born into a prominent Montréal family and feeling intellectually stifled, cast off a promising future in the citys establishment for. In a mere 18 months he had met everyone who was anyone. Memoirs of Montparnasse (1970) by John Glassco is a chronicle (see Autobiographical Writing in English) of the poet and translators adventures as a young expatriate in 1920s and 1930s Paris. A Canadian expat with no contacts and no resources, except for a brains, a colossal dose of chutzpah and the self-confidence of youth, he set about storming the citadels of the literary scene. In 1929 John Glassco was 19 and in Paris.

John glassco memoirs of montparnasse