Deux agents littéraires dans le siècle américain

Who introduced great American writers in France in the interwar years? Who contributed to the circulation of French literature in the United States? Among the players of such transatlantic transfers, are two lesser-known figures: William and Jenny Bradley, the founders the first literary agency in France. The Bradleys represented authors like Clemenceau, Cendrars, Colette, Gide, Malraux, Sartre and Camus and like Dreiser, Hemingway, Faulkner, Stein, Dos Passos, Chandler, and Baldwin.

This study draws from previously unexplored archival material to unveil the fascinating story of a French-American couple and shed light on literary history, on book history and on publishing history, from the 1920s to the immediate post-Second World War era.

The narrative offers encounters with the main players in the book industry and delves into the social world of salons, taking the reader from the Paris Left Bank to the Riviera and onto the American shores where transatlantic ships carried books, letters and travelers.