Walking Paris with Henry Miller

La Rotonde opened in 1911 and became a hangout for Lenin, Trotsky and other Russian Bolshevik exiles who crowded the tables playing chess and discussing politics prior to the great war. The Rotonde was also a common meeting point for artists such as Picasso, Modigliani and Max Jacob, who flocked to Montparnasse in the artistic migration from Montmartre.

As at the other cafés at this intersection (Le Dôme, La Coupole and Le Select), Miller made himself at home on the terrace of the Rotonde. Here, over a glass of Pernod, he might be found having an animated argument with his wife, June, or writing letters to friends. A 1930 letter to Emil Schnellock begins:

At the Rotonde, a new stamping ground, better whores, rotten paintings by La Horde. Sick of the Dôme, the Coupole, the Select. Just a little giddy from the five vins ordinaries I had at des Gourmets.

Miller and Anaïs Nin met here daily in the spring of 1932 to discuss June, with whom they were both infatuated—talks which precipitated their own love affair. Miller told Nin that he had written her a love letter, but had torn it up. Then he tried to take her hand, but she pretended not to notice. Nin would continue, briefly, to ignore Miller’s advances, but the beginnings of their affair had been set in motion.

Location

105 boulevard du Montparnasse – See it on Google Maps

Next Stop

To reach our next stop, walk back toward the Select and turn right onto rue Vavin. Keep walking until you reach number 31 (you will need to cross the boulevard Raspail). This is the former site of the Viking café …

Posted February 27, 2006 - trackback