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done and intermediate hearings, consultations of teachers of a foreign language and on the subject of the research are held. Students present the result of the research work at the research to practice conference. Public discussion of each project takes place there. Students were interviewed in order to receive the feedback. If in the first year of study only 12% of students saw the prospects of a foreign language in their future professional activity, subsequent surveys showed a steady growth (Figure 3).

Picture 3. Indicators of Students' Interest in Learning a Foreign Language for Future Professional Activity.

1st year students

2nd year students2

2nd year students

3rd year students

Questioning of students and teachers was necessary to improve the quality of the organization of students’ work and the methodology for conducting a research work of students.

Based on the results of the questionnaire, consultations of students during the period of the research work were added and the procedure for conducting Open Colloquiums and research to practice conferences was changed.

Conclusion. The foreign language communicative research competence is multi component and combines the foreign language competence, the intercultural competence, the career oriented research competence, the scientific communication competence and the educational competence. The formation and development of FLCRC in professionally-oriented teaching of a foreign language is realized in the conditions of scientific communication in a foreign language. The sequence of stages of a research work of students in a foreign language allows evaluating the formation of each component of FLCRC. A research work of students in a foreign language increases motivation for learning a foreign language, as it forms interdisciplinary links, which ensures the prospective development of a graduate of the university in his professional sphere.

Bibliographic list

[1]Sovet Evropy: Simpozium po teme «Kljuchevye kompetencii dlja Evropy»: Dok.

DECS / SC / Sec. (96) 43. — Bern, 1996.

[2]Informacionnyj portal publikacionnoj aktivnosti URL: http://www.sib- science.info/ru/news/publikacionnaya-aktivnost-rossiyskih-uchenyh-09022017 (Data obrashhenija: 22.08.2017).

[3]Gejhman L.K. Interaktivnoe obuchenie obshheniju (obshhepedagogicheskij podhod): diss. doktora ped. nauk. – Ekaterinburg. – 2003.

[4]Thomas A. Psychologie interkulturellen Lernens und Handelns [Tekst] / A. Thomas

//Kulturvergleichende Psychologie. Eine Einfuhrung, 2011. Gottingen Hogrefe. – P. 337-424.

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[5]Artem'eva O.A., Mil'rud R.P. Metodologija organizacii professional'noj podgotovki specialista na osnove mezhkul'turnoj kommunikacii [Tekst] / O.A. Artem'e-va, R.P. Mil'rud // Tambov: Izd-vo Tamb.gos.tehn. un-ta, 2005.-160 s.

[6]Andreev A.A. Distancionnoe obuchenie: sushhnost', tehnologija, organizacija [Tekst]: monografija / A.A. Andreev, V.I. Soldatkin. – M.: Izdatel'stvo MJeSI. – 1999. – 196 s.

[7]Kovaleva A.G. Obuchenie inostrannomu jazyku studentov radiotehnicheskih napravlenij podgotovki na osnove mul'timedijnyh transformacij: dissertacija kandidata ped. nauk.

–Ekaterinburg. – 2017.

[8]Dudenkova T.A. Formal'noe i neformal'noe v nauchnoj kommunikacii [Tekst] / T.A. Dudenkova. Filosofija. Kul'turologija Vestnik Nizhegorodskogo universiteta im. N.I.

Lobachevskogo. Serija Social'nye nauki, 2010, № 3 (19), s. 128–134.

[9]Garvey W.D., Griffith B.C. Communication Processing within scientific disciplines

–empirical findings for psychology. [E.v.] // Information Storage and Retrieval.– 1972.– Vol. 8, No. 3.– p. 123-136.

[10]Garvey W.D., Lin N., Nelson C.E., Tomita K. Information exchange associated with national scientific meetings in relation to the general process of communication in science. The role of the national meeting in scientific and technical communication.– Baltimore: Johns Hop-kins University Center for Research in Scientific Communication, 1970.– p.1-47.

[11]Sondergaard T.F., Andersen J., Hjorland B. Documents and the communication on scientific and scholarly information – revising and updating the UNISIST model. [E.v.] // Journal of Documentation.– 2003.– Vol. 59, No. 3.– p. 278-320.

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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

UDC 82.0:804.0

«SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY» IN THE ASPECT OF CONTEMPORARY

FRENCH LINGUISTIC CULTURE

E. Singlеterry

_________________________________________________________________________

Interpreter-linguist

Elena Singlеterry

e-mail: elenafsingleterry@gmail.com

__________________________________________________________________________

Statement of the problem. The article presents a research of the French tradition, conducted by means of an analysis of traditions of the independent bookstore Shakespeare and Company in their relation to the French (Parisian) culturally significant meanings and phenomena with the goal of defining and describing the phenomenon of

French identity (“French-ness”).

Results.The analysis of the independent bookshop tradition in France with an obligatory inclusion of the French café tradition, reveals its ontological connection to an array of typically French (Parisian) phenomena that characterize the French mentality, values, and lifestyle. Among these phenomena are the cult of joy of life, French hedonism, role of cafés and coffee drinking; café as a third place, “parliament for people,” “penny university,” cultural commune; café as a theatre, people watching, flâneurie (“the gastronomy of the eye”); the French quality, loyalty to tradition, the l’exception culturalle policy; the American Starbucks coffee on the go tradition vs. the French cup of coffee enjoyed in a café. The store Shakespeare and Company and its American creators Sylvia Beach, George Whitman and Sylvia Whitman have built a mini-model of bohemian Paris.

The independent French bookstore Shakespeare and Company is revealed as a polysctructural and polyfucntional enterprise: on the one hand, the paradigm books-café-coffee drinking is the reflection of the spirit of France, cultural landscape of Paris, the historical and contemporary national world view of the French, and, on the other, it reveals the ontological interaction between different cultures. In the 21st century, the French concept of l'exception culturalle is unavoidably threatened by the processes of globalization and gentrification.

Key words: French-ness, independent bookstore, cultural maxims and phenomena, Shakespeare and Company, independent bookstore, precedent names (Sylvia Beach, George Whitman, Sylvia Whitman), cultural commune, third place, café tradition, joie de vivre, flaneur, globalization, gentrification, l’exception culturalle, people watching, savoir-fair, savoir-vivre, l’art de vivre.

Introduction. The tradition of independent bookstores («librairie indépendante»), cafés and coffee culture, which are especially pronounced in Paris, comprise a significant part of the cultural landscape in France.

Once a Parisian or a visitor sidesteps river Seine, the main artery of Paris, and goes into

“inner” streets of the city, he or she comes across a great number of bookstores, which perfectly blend into the landscape of medieval buildings, cobbled streets and the ambiance of European history. In Paris, there are so many bookstores that many visitors of the French capital describe this characteristic as one of the most striking ones in the cultural landscape of the city. Some of these book retailers, which occupy actual historical buildings, are more reminiscent of antique stores than of the (newly) traditional bookshops. They are the world famous independent bookstores, which differ from book chains first of all in their individuality and originality.

Compared to other countries, the capital of France is home to the highest number of such bookstores (as of 2014, their number was about 400). Paris can be rightfully called t h e w o r l d c a p i t a l o f i n d e p e n d e n t b o o k s t o r e s .

__________________

© Singlеterry E., 2017

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The concept of an independent bookstore implies a store with one location (or a very limited number of locations) owned by an individual, a family or a small partnership – as opposed to retail chains which are managed by a complex management structure and belong to a large corporation [1]. An independent store functions differently from a corporate one in many ways: from how the book offering is selected to the type of relationship that develops between the store, its staff, and the customer [2]. For example, while the chain enterprise offers a standardized assortment of books, including a wide range of mass literature, independent bookstores offer a more n i c h e selection, and some even specialize in a specific literary genre or subject matter [3].

Unlike its chain counterpart, an independent bookstore possessses a well pronounced i n d i v i d u a l i t y , which extends not just to the book offering but also the store’s décor and ambiance. While the interiors of many book chains are standardized, the decor of a “model” independent book retailer evokes the feeling of coziness, uniqueness, a sense of community. A customer visiting this type of venue is able not to just buy a book but also relax in a cozy sofa that might be there, talk to the staff or other customers, etc. As mentioned above, some Parisian bookstores with their wooden doors, vintage looking shelving and seating, with old photographs hanging on walls, look like antique shops. In other words, such stores become a certain

“e x t e n s i o n ” of their founder, which can be seen in their décor and in that such stores have an individual character. Some chain stores of course make the effort to add an element of coziness to their retail locations – however, the result often lacks the feeling of authenticity.

The main difference between corporate bookstores and independent retailers is in the a m b i a n c e that characterizes them. For a customer, a chain store is usually just a place where one can buy a book, for the owner it is just a business. However when it comes to independent bookstores, from the perspective of both customers and owners, a store is a small community, cultural gathering place [2]. The atmosphere at these establishments is far more personalized, home-like. Some independent bookstores create literary clubs reminiscent of the renowned French salons.

It is important to note that in many Western countries, such as France and United States, the concept of a n i n d e p e n d e n t s t o r e described above is quite common. In Russia this tradition presented, for example, in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Perm, and other cities, has also begun to gain a certain cultural clout.

Some of the most famous independent bookstores in Paris are Shakespeare and Company, Librairie Deleman Librairie Galignani, Les Mots a la Bouche, etc. In our research the tradition of independent bookstores as one of the “embodiments” of “French-ness” will be primarily illustrated by means of referring to the bookstore S h a k e s p e a r e a n d C o m p a n y .

The café tradition is another “manifestation” of the French identity and is crucially important in understanding both the historical and contemporary “French-ness.” Even the exterior of Paris is largely defined by its cafes, of which there is a great number. A café on the corner of a beautiful building (perhaps one of the famous, if somewhat controversial, wrought iron balcony creations of Georges-Eugene Haussman) with an outdoor seating, facing the Seine or a boulevard is one of the most important symbols of the French capital. Historically, the café tradition in Paris bears an exceptionally important culturological, social, and, in the past, political function. In our research the Parisian café culture and related specificities will be analyzed using such cafes as Café Procope, Café Flore and Les Deux Magots as an example.

T h e g o a l of the research is to define and describe the traditions of the independent bookstore Shakespeare and Company in the context of singularity of the French culture

(“French-ness”). The goal is, on the one hand, to define conceptual correlations between the traditions of independent bookstores, cafés, and coffee drinking as unique characteristics that comprise the French (Parisian) identity, and the dominant French cultural phenomena related to the French way of life and cultural values; on the other hand, to define the features that charac87

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terize “French-ness” per se. The research will address three precedential names inseparably connected to the cultural portrait of Paris: Sylvia Beach, George Whitman, and Sylvia Whitman. The interaction of two cultures (the French and American) will be addressed by way of analyzing the respective café and coffee drinking traditions. The research also presumes the process of defining and analyzing the culturological phenomena of France connected to the tradition of Shakespeare and Company.

Methodology. The material for this study is comprised both of existing research (see

“References”) concerning the store Shakespeare and Company and national and cultural traditions in France, and the author’s conversations with the staff of Shakespeare and Company, author’s observations related to the visits to the store, Parisian cafes, respective venues in the

United States, etc.

Because different regions of France are characterized by their own specificities, when referring to “French-ness” in our research, we primarily address the traits typical to Paris [4]. The subject of our research is the independent bookstore Shakespeare and Company as one of important cultural phenomena of Paris, as well as the cultural-and-historical tradition of French cafes and coffee drinking and, correspondingly, symbolic culturemes of France (Paris).

The following methods were used in the research: social-historical, sociological, the analysis of documents, interviews, the bibliographical method, method of model making, hermeneutical method, the method of forecasting, including the method of analogy, expoliation, etc.

Results. The Shakespeare and Company is the most famous independent bookstore in Paris and, possibly, the world. The fact that store has an English and not French name is not accidental: founded by an American eccentric named George Whitman, Shakespeare and Company, which became a gathering place for many English language intellectuals and writers, carries books written in English. At the same time this venue with its exceptionally interesting history, specificities and location is a true embodiment of the “French-ness,” spirit of the country and its capital. The store’s reputation as one of the cultural-intellectual symbols of Paris is so big that Shakespeare and Company has been featured in several cult movies: Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris”, Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunset”, Nora Efron’s “Julie and Julia”. Interestingly, in the film “Before Sunset”, the store becomes one of its characters: the prolonged opening scene of the film (the fateful meeting of an American writer played by Ethan Hawke, presenting his new book, and a Parisian woman, played by Julie Delpy, whom he was once in love with) takes places specifically inside the walls of Shakespeare and Company.

1. T h e H i s t o r y o f S h a k e s p e a r e a n d C o m p a n y a s R e f l e c t i o n o f C u l t u r a l S p e c i f i c i t i e s o f F r a n c e .

1.1. S y l v i a B e a c h , t h e f o u n d e r o f S h a k e s p e a r e a n d C o m p a n y

The first bookstore with this name was founded in 1919 in Paris not far from Luxemburg Garden by an A m e r i c a n called S y l v i a B e a c h . From the beginning this store was something more than just a book retailer: it also served as a library, shelter for writers and immigrant intellectuals, and those in need could even obtain a loan here. Sylvia Beach’s store was visited by such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, literary critic Gertrude Stein, and many others. Because the store came into existence during the troublesome period between two world wars, and many creative individuals residing in Paris at the time had fought in the war, Sylvia Beach’s shop first of all is associated with the writers of the lost generation

(generation perduе), which counted both Hemingway and Fitzgerald as its “members.” Interestingly, Shakespeare and Company and its founder played an important role in Hemingway’s life

- much like in case with other creative individuals, for him the store became home away from home, and Sylvia Beach was family away from family. It was not by accident that Shakespeare and Company along with its habitants are mentioned in the writer’s autobiographical novel “A

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Moveable Feast.” In this book, Hemingway describes S y l v i a B e a c h in the following fashion: “No one that I ever knew was nicer to me” [5].

Sylvia Beach also became known as the first publisher of her friend James Joyce’s now cult modernist novel “Ulysses”. The shoppers of Shakespeare and Company were also able to buy or borrow D.H. Lawrence's “Lady Chatterley's Lover” [6].

Beach’s store closed down in 1941 when Sylvia Beach refused to sell the last copy of Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake” to a Nazi officer who came into the store. The officer threatened that he would come back later, confiscate the inventory and shut down the store. After his departure Beach hid the books and closed the doors of Shakespeare and Company – as it turned out later, forever. In 1944, Hemingway “liberated” the store from the occupants by driving right up to it in his car. However, Sylvia Beach never re-opened her enterprise. Despite that, she remained in contact with the “creatives” and expats of the city and continued to lend books to them.

Starting in 1951, the name Shakespeare and Company became associated with the name of of a different American, a man named George Whitman. That year marked the birth of the new Shakespeare and Company, the one that still prospers on Seine’s Left bank. This store (initially called Le Mistral) has largely inherited the spirit of the Beach’s original and quickly became a phenomenon in the literary and bohemian world; it became a kind of a quintessence of

“French-ness.”

1.2. T h e E s s e n c e a n d S p e c i f i c i t i e s of Shakespeare and Company

The very location of Whitman’s bookstore is symbolic: it is located on Kilometer Zero, which is considered a geographic center of Paris from which all distances are calculated. Across the street from the store is Notre-Dame de Paris, the most visited attraction in France. Among other reasons, this neighbourship is also symbolic because at one point in time it was a b o o k that saved the cathedral from demolition: in the early 19th century, post-Revolution, the magnificent, centuries old cathedral was seen as a symbol of monarchy and Catholicism – everything the French revolutionists had fought against, which explains the hostile attitude that was adopted towards Notre Dame de Paris. The cathedral became neglected, and, at one point, it was even at danger of demolition. However, when, in 1831, Victor Hugo’s novel “Notre Dame de Paris” (“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”), which was also an ode to the great creation of the Gothic architecture and which gained an incredible popularity among the French and visitors alike, came out, the cathedral was not just left be, it was also restored as it underwent an extensive renovation. It is not surprising that Hugo’s book is one of Shakespeare and Company’s bestsellers.

Originally the building that houses the store was a monastery built in the early 17th century, which explains the interesting layout of the space: small rooms, old wooden beams across the ceiling, a narrow, part spiral staircase that leads to the second floor. T h e i n t e r i o r s of the venue match the layout: vintage looking wall shelves, chairs in which one can relax while reading a book from the store’s library, tables with antique type writers nested on top of them. The space between the shelves is occupied by various vintage photographs depicting the scenes from the life of the shop and its founder, newspaper cutouts, and other decorations of the bohemian variety.

The second floor houses two rooms of t h e l i b r a r y , which is partly comprised of books from George Whitman’s personal collection, many of which are the first edition. The windows of the main library room face the street and trees in front of the store, as well as Seine and the Notre Dame cathedral – it is a marvelous view, simultaneously cozy and grand. Oftentimes one comes across a store cat sleeping on a bench in a tiny corridor with a sign “Please let the cat sleep.”

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While at the store, the visitor might feel that he or she has been transported to the bohemian commune of Paris in the 1920’s. This ambiance is authentic and is not a result of a purposeful styling of the venue. It reflects the spirit of the time when the store came to life, spirit of France, the taste and personality of the founder. The fact that this ambiance has been preserved almost in its “original” state is also the testament to how strong the cult of tradition and national identity is in France.

For the purpose of gaining a better understating of the essence of Shakespeare and Company, as well as the independent bookstore tradition and the phenomenon of “French-ness,” it is important to refer to certain facts in the biography of the store’s founder, along with characteristics of the cultural, social and historical landscape in which George Whitman’s Shakespeare and Company was born.

1.3. G e o r g e W h i t m a n : L e M i s t r a l a n d S h a k e s p e a r e a n d C o m p a n y

Thus, in 1951, a new English language bookstore called Le Mistral was founded on the Left bank of Paris by an American named George Whitman. Before Whitman found himself in Paris at the age of 32, he traveled extensively, moving around by way of walking, hitchhiking, and trains, often relying on hospitability and kindness of strangers. One time, during his hobo adventure, Whitman became very ill. On top of that, he had to survive for three days without food and water in the marsh-ridden jungles of Yucatan in Central America. He only survived by virtue of the help of the Mayans, who found the dying wonderer and nursed him back to health. Deeply moved by numerous instances of hospitability and generosity of strangers, including those who were poor and did not have much to share, the future Parisian resolved to always share his possessions with those in need («Give what you have, take what you need»).

This approach was fundamental in the concept of the book enterprise called Shakespeare and Company.

What was the c u l t u r a l - a n d - s o c i a l l a n d s c a p e of Paris of the time? At the end of the 19th-beginning of the 20th centuries, a great number of painters, writers, poets, and intellectual came to Paris from all over the world. The legendary M o n t m a r t r e , which had been annexed into the city in 1860, (before that it was a village dotted with vineyards and windmills) became home to many of the great artists: Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-August Renoir, Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, and many others. Montmartre attracted the creative crowd thanks to its free, bohemian spirit, low rents, because of its cafes and cabarets, and that peculiarity that, on the one hand, it was the part of Paris, and, on the other, since it was situated on the edge of the city, it still possessed the landscapes and spirit of the countryside, something that, for instance, was very appealing to van Gogh, who created a Montmartre series of paintings.

The creative types gathered at Montmartre’s legendary cafes and cabarets, working both out of artistic studios and public spaces, discussing art, events, philosophizing, having fun. After the 1910’s, the bohemian center of Paris gradually moved to another, now also legendary, part of the French capital, M o n t p a r n a s s e . Although aside from the bohemian intellectual Paris, many of whose members were poor Frenchmen and immigrants (such as van Gogh, who, together with his brother Theo, rented a single room in Montmartre), there was another, more privileged, intellectual Paris, all “layers” of the cultural-and-intellectual life of the city shared common traits that comprise “French-ness”: the cult of art, thought, philosophy, intellectual commune, the tradition of long conversations, Parisian cafés as cultural center of the city, the flaneur tradition, which found its reflection in literarу works and paintings.

Even during the Nazi o c c u p a t i o n of Paris during the World War II, the creative life of the city went on: books and magazines were published, plays were staged (both those approved by the occupants who wanted to create the illusion of normalcy in the seized city, and those that were secretly conceived by the creative members of the Parisian Resistance). Jean-

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Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Jean Cocteau, Paul Claudel, Edith Piaf, and many others engaged in creative pursuits during that dark period.

Despite the hardships of the post-war life, soon after the war ended, the intellectual life of Paris got a second wind. The cultural vacuum, which formed during the tragic years of occupation, was quickly becoming filled. Just as before, the city with its cult of art, thought, and uniqueness attracted the creative types from all over the world. Soon, a new kind of English language immigrants and visitors came to the French capital – the Americans who came on the GI Bill. The environment for a new English language intellectual community, the new Shakespeare and Company, was coming about on its own [7].

In 1 9 4 6 , GI Bill gave Paris its new colorful resident, G e o r g e W h i t m a n , who came to study at the Sorbonne after serving in Greenland as a medic. Soon the hotel suite occupied by Whitman became an unofficial library that counted around 1000 books. The door to his suite never closed: some visitors came to borrow books, some to discuss various topics, while others came to ask for help. Thus, an immigrant intellectual commune, a salon, was quickly developing with George Whitman at its center. Five years later this commune will become an official bookstore-library called L e M i s t r a l . In 1964, Whitman changes the name to S h a k e - s p e a r e a n d C o m p a n y in honor of Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary and - Sylvia Beach.

Whitman’s store became a new center of intellectual life of the city. Just as in case with the original Shakespeare and Company, many famous writers visited the store, such as Henri Miller, Allen Ginsberg and Anais Nin. Bibliophile Frank Sinatra was also among its admirers. The shop became a commune in the truest sense of the word, the one that inspires journalistic research and that is featured in famous movies. Whitman organized events and gatherings, both formal and informal, played piano, sung, and encouraged creative activity among the visitors, residents, and friends well into his old age.

From the start, Shakespeare and Company also served another unique function – it was a s h e l t e r for writers and poets, in the most literal sense. Remembering the hospitability encountered during his travels, Whitman offered, free of charge, shelter within the walls of his store to those who needed it, which was especially relevant during the post-war era. The overnight guests slept either in the store or the owner’s apartment located right above. There is a sign painted above one of the venue’s doorways at Whitman request that reads: “B e n o t i n - h o s p i t a b l e t o s t r a n g e r s l e s t t h e y b e a n g e l s i n d i s g u i s e . ” The eccentric American lovingly referred to his guests as tumbleweeds, drawing on the similarity between the rootless plant and the nomadic lifestyle of many creative types. Interestingly, the tumbleweeds tradition (the tradition of free stay at Shakespeare and Company) never seized to exist. Until this day the store extends this kind of incredible hospitality to creative individuals. The rules of tumbleweeding are as follows: two hours of light work around the store, one page of autobiography for the store’s archives, the length of stay not less than one week. During the George Whitman era, the residents also had to read a book a day. Many of the store guests have

“tumbleweeded” for months at a time within the walls of Shakespeare and Company [8]. Nowadays, just as before, residents sleep on cots positioned along walls. During work hours, these cots, covered with velvet fabric, serve as benches: shoppers can sit down and read books from the shop’s library or to simply rest. Most tumbleweeds are young writers, poets, creative types; most of them with modest budgets. During their stay at Shakespeare and Company, they write, socialize, and actively participate in the life of the store and the bohemian Paris in general, thus continuing the very French tradition of cultural commune. To date, more than 30 thousand tumbleweeds have stayed at Shakespeare and Company. Among them, the future celebrated writers and creative individuals: writers such as Kate Grenville, Sebastian Barry, Robert Stone, the director of “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky, the Hollywood intellectual Ethan Hawke (one has to wonder if it was he who came up with the idea to make Shakespeare and Company, his one-time shelter from many years ago, a part of the cult “Before” movie franchise), actor Jeffrey Rush, and others.

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Whitman’s hospitability knew no limit. Even when, at the age of 67, he became a first time father and now was responsible for his own family, the doors to the eccentric’s store-apartment remained as wide open as ever. According to Whitman’s daughter, S y l v i a , named so after Sylvia Beach, there were always strangers lodging at the family’s apartment. Sylvia was growing up in the store, and, oftentimes, the venue’s visitors and simply strangers were the ones that looked after her. The line between the store and the apartment, between the personal and public lives, which had long been gone (or perhaps was never there), did not appear even with the birth of the child [9]. When Sylvia was six years old, her parents divorced, and her English mother took the girl to Scotland. Sylvia will only return to Shakespeare and Company at the age of 19.

The eccentricity, curiosity with respect to human nature, and the communal essence of

Whitman’s mind and lifestyle also manifested themselves in the following: at times, when Whitman had to run chores or simply wanted to read a book, he would ask strangers to mind the till. This unorthodox approach has cost the store a significant amount of stolen cash [9]. There were also tumbleweeds that stole Whitman’s books and later tried to sell them back to him. However these peculiarities did not halt the prospering of the store; besides, the vast archives of Shakespeare and Company overflow with letters in which the individuals who had previously abused their host’s trust ask for forgiveness and enclose banknotes.

It is also interesting that, despite the aforementioned specificities, Shakespeare and Company was not just an intellectual commune but a business, and its owner – a businessman, money was of little interest to Whitman. He never bought himself anything, cut his own hair (to be more precise, he signed it with a candle), wore the same jacket and was generally thrifty [9].

According to some researchers, it is possible that some of these manifestations of thriftiness were in fact also manifestations of Whitman’s eccentric nature and propensity to sociological experiments [9]. For example, at one point, when Whitman would offer wine to his guests, he served it not in wine glasses but in used tuna tins. One time, when the great Maria Callas refused to drink out of a tin, Whitman interpreted her behavior as a display of the bourgeoisie mindset. On a separate occasion, the store owner kicked Johnny Depp out of his upstairs room when the actor politely refused Whitman’s offer of a bed (it is possible however that Whitman, who took little interest in pop culture, was not aware of who his guest was) [9].

George Whitman’s eccentricity and now his traditionalism also manifested themselves in the fact that even in the early 2000’s the store did not have a phone, computer, credit card machine or even a website. Whitman placed book orders via regular mail.

1.4. S y l v i a W h i t m a n C o n t i n u e s t h e S h a k e s p e a r e a n d C o m p a n y T r a d i t i o n

Whitman ran the store almost until his 90th birthday, gradually handing over the reins to his young daughter. According to Sylvia Whitman, it was not an easy process as her father rejected suggested changes. Besides, given that after the divorce Whitman was not a big part of Sylvia’s life, upon her return to Paris, the relationship between the father and daughter was not a simple one (for example, initially, Whitman would introduce his grown daughter as “Emily, an actress from London,” a game Sylvia quickly became tired of) [9]. In 2005, at the age of 92 the Shakespeare and Company’s founder officially signed his store over to his daughter. Whitman spent the rest of his life in the apartment located above the store, actively participating in the venue’s life. He died in 2011 at the age of 98.

Currently, the store has a website, an online shopping, and all necessary equipment. Sylvia Whitman, who, in turn, has become a living legend in the literary-bohemian world, organizes literary festivals, contests, and, just as her father did, meetings with authors. The author of this article has visited one such reading in April 2017: the event went on just as it would at any other book venue, however there was a stronger element of community, of an intellectual ex-

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Scientific Journal “Modern Linguistic and Methodical-and-Didactic Researches” Issue № 3 (18), 2017 ISSN 2587-8093

change at this particular reading (just as George Whitman would have wanted), not to mention the feeling of being a part of old Paris.

The store has also started its namesake imprint which published “Shakespeare and Company, Paris: a History of the Rag & Bone Store of the Heart” in 2016. This 400 page volume is comprised of a wonderful mixture of 300 photographs and essays, archival materials, poems, excerpts from diaries of the many famous individuals whose life, in one way or the other, was connected to the life of the store [10].

Something else happened since Sylvia Whitman became the owner of the bookshop, something that had been her father’s dream: the store now has its own café, which is adjacent to the store but has its own entrance and is an independently standing venue, which mostly serves vegetarian and vegan food options. Just as in case with any other Parisian café, there is an outdoor seating. The creation of the café made Shakespeare and Company the enterprise a q u i n - t e s s e n c e of “French-ness”: while the bookstore part of it makes it very Parisian, the café makes it “overwhelmingly” Parisian. People come to the cafe not just to have a cup of coffee or a snack but also to partake in the truly Parisian tradition of people watching; they come here to to read, talk, think about life, thus becoming the part of cultural and historical landscape of the French capital.

1.5. S h a k e s p e a r e a n d C o m p a n y a n d D i s t i n c t C h a r a c t e r o f F r a n c e

As mentioned above, despite its partial American ancestry, Shakespeare and Company is a vivid embodiment of the distinct character of France and its capital. Our research has allowed us to define the following features that support this thesis:

1.5.1. S h a k e s p e a r e a n d C o m p a n y а s « t h i r d p l a c e »

The concept of the t h i r d p l a c e implies a space other than work or home, where one can spend time. Shakespeare and Company is a great example of a third place. This type of public spaces presents a very important element of the Parisian cultural landscape, and visiting these places serves as one of the dominant components of the French city dweller’s life.

1.5.2. S h a k e s p e a r e a n d C o m p a n y a s S y m b o l o f R e l a t i v e H o m o g e - n e i t y o f P a r i s i a n L i f e

Despite the fact that in general the French are very protective of their private lives [11, p.

29] and don’t like to let strangers in, historically, the line between the private life and socialpublic life of the Parisians has been relatively blurry: people, especially creative types, spent a lot of time at third places, among likeminded individuals, actively engaging in various types of interactions. George Whitman created this very type of community, a third place where personal and public lives often merge together. He created a mini-model of bohemian Paris.

1.5.3. T h e C u l t o f A r t , T h o u g h t a n d P h i l o s o p h y

The tradition of culture, thought and philosophy is one of the most fundamental in the cultural and historical landscape of France and its capital, in particular. Sylvia Beach, George Whitman and Sylvia Whitman have greatly contributed to the task of preserving and popularizing these traditions. At the same time, Shakespeare and Company has become a phenomenon, a Parisian tradition in itself.

According to Harriet Welty Rochefort, even now, philosophy and philosophers play an important role in France (more so than in any other country): for example, philosophers are invit-

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