Of all the American writers who went to Paris in the twenties Elliot Paul may have been the most representative. At least his career has all the elements associated in the popular mind with the expatriate community. A born bon vivant, Paul fit the bohemian cafe society of Montparnasse perfectly. His love of good food and drink showed in his portly figure, and his love of women was legendary. As a coeditor of transition , he helped promote the works of Gertrude Stein and James Joyce and became identified with the forces of the avant-garde in literature, art, and music. His Paris years were interrupted by five years spent in Spain, which led to his first commercially successful book, The Life and Death of a Spanish Town (1937), containing a powerful indictment of the fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War. That war ended Paul's Spanish sojourn, and he returned...