PARIS, 7 A.M. by Liza Wieland
Paris 7 A.M. by Liza Wieland tells the story of American poet and painter Elizabeth Bishop, especially the years when she lived in Paris just prior to the Second World War.
Elizabeth Bishop was born in Massachusetts and grew up there, and in Nova Scotia, raised by maternal and paternal grandparents. She graduated from Vassar and lived the life of the independently wealthy. Never having to make a living she travelled widely, wrote poetry, and painted.
There was an obvious Nazi presence in Paris during Elizabeth Bishop’s years there, as Europe was heading toward war. As Elizabeth explores Paris, we travel with her. To Sylvia Beach’s English language bookshop, to parties with the rich and famous. There were many American writers and artists living in Paris at this time and many European exiles making Paris home. Elizabeth and her friends also travelled to the coast for sailing excursions and, later as war comes closer, on more dangerous voyages.
Attending the Paris Exposition in 1937, Elizabeth and her friends visit her Spanish Pavilion and see Picasso’s Guernica. Just beyond is a sculpture by Alexander Calder, Almaden, and “a line of poetry begins to take shape in Elizabeth’s head”. Not surprising that her poetry is sometimes spoken of as being “balanced like Alexander Calder mobiles, turning so subtly as to seem almost still at first, every element, every weight of meaning and song, poised flawlessly against the next.”
Among the many people Elizabeth comes to know in Paris is Clara Longworth de Chambrun, an American-born patron of the Arts. Clara married an American born French Count and owned an apartment near the Luxembourg Gardens which she rented to Elizabeth Bishop and her friend, Louise. Elizabeth and Clara become close friends, Elizabeth becoming a sort-of surrogate daughter to the older woman.
It was not until after I finished reading the novel that I looked up both Elizabeth Bishop and Clara De Chambrun and discovered the accomplishments and the fascinating lives of both women. I am especially looking forward to reading more about Clara De Chambrun’s life as well as reading Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry.
Paris 7 A.M. is as lovely a novel to read for the writing as it is for the story. I felt that Liza Wieland, who is both a novelist and a poet, spent as much care in crafting each sentence in the story as she might the words in a poem.
PS I found this novel so interesting I wanted to know more about Clara De Chambrun - and discovered Americans In Paris by Charles Glass, sub-titled Life & Death Under Nazi Occupation, this is a work of non-fiction that chronicles her wartime experiences and that of many others.