Literary Lunch

 Janet Flanner with Ernest Hemingway

Janet Flanner was born on March 13, 1892 in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1914, she graduated from the University of Chicago. After graduation, she worked a a cinema critic for the Indianapolis Star. In 1918, she married William Rehm; they were divorced in 1926. Janet Flanner was bisexual and had a long-time relationship with Solita Solano. The pair were satirized in Djuna Barnes ‘ Ladies Almanack.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Janet Flanner was a correspondant for the New Yorker Magazine in Paris. She wrote a series of columns under the pseudonym of Genet called Letter from Paris.  She became friendly with many of the Lost Generation authors including Ernest Hemingway; she was also a friend of Gertrude Stein. Janet Flanner wrote one novel called Cubical City in 1926; most of her other writing was journalistic. In 1972, she published the book Paris was Yesterday which collected many of her Letter from Paris columns from 1925-1939.

Janet Flanner died in New York City on November 7, 1978.

John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California. He was married three times and had one son. In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Among his most famous novels are The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden and Tortilla Flats. John Steinbeck died on December 20, 1968.

I have a confession to make. When I was in high school I spent more time in the public library than actually in school. I did not get on well at high school and took solace in books. One year I must have gone to the library at least once a week to hide out instead of being in school where my parents expected me to be. I started reading through the novels of John Steinbeck. I just got lost in the magnificence of his writing, his great characterizations, and descriptive verse that made me think I was there in California, or Oklahoma. Reading Steinbeck made me feel I did have a place in the world.

Of all his novels, I still like East of Eden best. It is a book I can read again and again. And after I eventually saw the movie with James Dean I became an even bigger fan of the novel.

If you haven’t read Steinbeck, I recommend you pick up one of his books promptly. You will not be disappointed.

East of Eden 11×17 Mini Movie Poster

One of my prized possessions is a copy of the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook published by the Folio Society.  It was originally published in 1954. Alice B. Toklas was the companion of American writer Gertrude Stein. This cookbook gives background to their lives in addition to the recipes of Ms. Toklas. This cookbook is famous for including a recipe for hashish fudge. The recipe is there, in black and white. It was taken out of several editions of the cookbook but the Folio Society put it back.

Ms. Toklas mentions the artists and writers that visited her and Gertrude Stein. There is a lengthy paragraph about Picasso followed by one of his favorite soups.  The cookbook gives good background to the lives of Ms. Toklas and Gertrude Stein and their friends.

Below is one of the recipes from the book.

Dublin Coffee James Joyce

2 jiggers of Irish whiskey

1 teaspoon of sugar

Black coffee

1 jigger of cream

Add the first two ingredients to a wine glass

Pour in enough coffee to almost fill the glass and stir

Add the cream and stir slowly allowing the cream to rise to the top