Peruse her biography:

The Penultimate Years

Part 1: Clichy
Part 2: St. Pol-sur-Mer
Part 3: Lake Garda
Part 4: Ballybunion
Part 5: Encore St. Pol-sur-Mer

The Penultimate Years:
Il Duce and Other Assorted Autocrats of Short Stature

Part 2: St. Pol-sur-Mer

Uninvited guests continued to arrive in search of Emily's parlor, sometimes resulting in long queues that clogged the streets of St. Pol-sur-Mer.

Thrusting a drawing pin at random into her atlas, Emily made a choice that would later change the course of history, selecting the tiny village of St. Pol-sur-Mer for her new home.  Near Dunkerque at the northernmost point of France, the village was sufficiently isolated to deter day-trippers, and close enough to the sea to ensure frequent opportunities for rowing.  Perhaps most importantly, there were enough farmers and fishermen in the vicinity - not to mention vintners - to ensure the continued success of The Pomegranate Club.  To Emily's great satisfaction, the next few years were replete with ideas, fresh fish and thick-fingered men with bristling moustaches. 

Despite the distance from Paris, uninvited guests continued to arrive in search of the Speculative Songstress of the Southwest, now also known as the Innkeeper of Intellectual Intimacy.  While many were turned away, a procession of prominent visitors joined the local men in Emily's newest parlour throughout the early 1930s.  Physicist Ernest Lawrence - fortunately not a cat-hater - explained his new invention, the cyclotron, from the spartan divan, and King Alfonso XIII of Spain decried his ousting while perched on Emily's best ottoman. 

Italy 's barking mad poet laureate, Gabriele D'Annunzio, found his way into Emily's front room, delivering his proto-Fascist doggerel from a stool in the corner.

Even Italy 's barking mad poet laureate, Gabriele D'Annunzio, found his way into Emily's front room, delivering his proto-Fascist doggerel from a stool in the corner.  Far into the night, Emily puffed silently on her pipe and listened intently as the essayist, revolutionary, aviator and art collector expounded the tenets of the mass political movement that dominated southern and central Europe.  A journal entry from March 1931 provides insight into Emily's rapt attention on that night:

"While I disagree with Signor D'Annunzio that the nation should be the regulator of all life, I must admit his idea of society uniting powerfully behind the indisputable authority of a single leader is a stimulating concept.  His intellect is towering.  His manner is captivating.  My cranium is quivering.  I wonder if we will meet again." 

In the weeks that followed, Emily found it hard to concentrate on her writing and the nightly discussion group.  Clearly, D'Annunzio was as enraptured by Emily's prodigious intellectual prowess as she was by his; letters, floral arrangements and political manifestos began to arrive from Italy daily.  When an invitation to visit D'Annunzio's opulent estate at Lake Garda was proffered, Emily jumped at the chance.  Uncertain how long she would be gone, Emily engaged Veracity Best, a young and vibrant Canadian girl who had recently arrived in St. Pol-sur-Mer with splendid references, to run the household and keep the village men mentally virile in her absence.  Packing her two best suits and a substantial supply of pipe tobacco, Emily set out for northern Italy.

Next Part: Lake Garda .....>