Adrift Among Geniuses

The Kansas-born son of a Presbyterian minister, Robert Menzies McAlmon became a central figure of the Lost Generation. After marrying the English poet and novelist Bryher, McAlmon expatriated to Paris, where his friendship with Joyce, Stein, Hemingway, and other young Left Bank writers led him to begin publishing Contact Editions, which, although financially unsuccessful, presented the works of many authors who were later to become well-known.

Adrift Among Geniuses, the only biography of McAlmon, offers a comprehensive picture of McAlmon's dealings with the geniuses of modern literature. The author explores the life of Robert McAlmon through his own writing; through the memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies of his contemporaries; and through his correspondence with such figures as Ezra Pound, Kay Boyle, H.D., William Carlos Williams, Katherine Anne Porter, and Sylvia Beach, including a number of previously unpublished letters. The photographs, some never before published, also present a fascinating view of Europe in the twenties.

While drifting from California to Greenwich Village, London, and ultimately to Paris (with excursions to Germany, Italy, Spain, and Mexico), Robert McAlmon, the unappreciated writer, always managed to be an influence among the literary personalities of his time.