Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises

I finished this novel for the second time last night and felt compelled to write my first Hemingway review. I’ve been reading Hemingway for over 20 years, starting with For Whom The Bell Tolls in the mid-nineties, followed by the Old Man and the Sea on a trip to Cuba in 2001, where I visited the hotel that Hemingway stayed at before he bought his own place, and the two famous bars where he spent his days, the Floridita and the Bodegita del Medio. I’ve also read A Farewell to Arms and the complete short stories.Enough of that. The problem with Hemingway is he began his writing career in the 1920s when anti-Semitism and the use of the N word were acceptable, if not respectable. To be fair to Hemingway, in this novel the N word is only used when a character recounts a sympathetic anecdote about an African American boxer in dire straits in Vienna. However, the anti-Semitism is rife among several characters, and although the narrator is friends with Robert Cohn, the Jew in the novel, and is not overtly anti-Semitic himself, he doesn’t challenge the anti-Semitism of the other characters, which is a way of implying that it’s “OK”.This problem isn’t unique to Hemingway, and if we burned all the books that contain offensive references to women, Jews, gay people, Black people, an Amazon warehouseful of literature would go up in smoke. Yes, there are bits of this novel that make me wince, but I’ve found that’s the case with a great many books from this era, particularly American books. I read The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon a couple of years ago, after seeing both films a dozen times, and the novels both came out as surprisingly homophobic. Only after reading the novels did I detect traces of homophobia in the films (it had all gone over my head previously).The novel is about a group of American, English and Scottish ex-pats living in Paris in the 1920s. They are the “lost generation” who survived the Great War and are trying to rebuild their lives in exile with copious amounts of alcohol. It’s summer and they all decide to go down to Pamplona, Spain, for the fiesta. The narrator Jake Barnes and his mate Bill go first. They’re mad on fishing and bullfighting, so they go down to Spain and fish for trout for a few days and organise tickets for the bullfights that form the main attraction of the fiesta. The others come down later: the aristocratic Englishwoman, Lady Brett Ashley, and her Scottish fiancé, Mike Campbell, and the misfit, Robert Cohn, who has ditched his partner because he’s fallen for Brett. The fiesta presents opportunities for more drinking even than Paris, followed by conflict and violence as the group disintegrates.For me, there are two things that save Hemingway from the pyre: first, that over time his politics improved and he was on the right side of history in the Spanish Civil War and the Cuban Revolution. The second is the quality of his writing. All the stuff about hunting, fishing and bullfighting might seem overly macho and distasteful today, but it’s the way Hemingway writes about these things. His style seems so simple and direct – sometimes “manly” in the worst sense of the word – but underneath there is pounding emotion. This passage refers to a bull goring a bystander as it’s taken to the bullring. Later, a matador kills it in the ring and presents its ear to the novel’s heroine, Brett Ashley, who slept with him the previous night and the night after the bullfight:“The bull who killed Vicente Girones was named Bocanegra, was Number 118 of the bull-breeding establishment of Sanchez Taberno, and was killed by Pedro Romero as the third bull of that same afternoon. His ear was cut by popular acclamation and given to Pedro Romero, who, in turn, gave it to Brett, who wrapped it in a handkerchief belonging to myself, and left both ear and handkerchief, along with a number of Muratti cigarette-stubs, shoved far back in the drawer of the bed-table that stood beside her bed in the Hotel Montoya, in Pamplona.”One of the most remarkable things about this novel is that we have an impotent male narrator (result of a war wound) and a heroine who sleeps with three different men in the novel (one is her fiancé, the other two aren’t). Sexual power transferred from male to female. Difficult to explain for a writer who’s often dismissed as a misogynist. There’s no condemnation of Brett and you’re left with the feeling that she’s going to go on doing what she enjoys, whereas in too many novels by men women who like sex come to a bad end.Here’s another example where the narrator and his companions are watching a dance at a fiesta:“In front of us on a clear part of the street a company of boys were dancing. The steps were very intricate and their faces were intent and concentrated. They all looked down while they danced. Their rope-soled shoes tapped and spatted on the pavement. The toes touched. The balls of the feet touched. Then the music broke wildly and the step was finished and they were all dancing up the street.”The artistry here is in what’s not said. We don’t have a detailed description of what they were wearing or the moves of the dance. Hemingway focuses on their faces and feet, and even with my limited imagination I can see those dancers in front of me now.So, despite my misgivings about the N word and the anti-Semitism, I’m giving this book five stars. If you think you’ll be offended, don’t buy it; but if you want to see what made Hemingway such a brilliant story teller, take a punt.

"The Sun Also Rises" is one of those timeless classics that continues to captivate readers even decades after its publication. Ernest Hemingway's masterful storytelling and vivid character development make this a compelling read for anyone interested in the Lost Generation and the post-World War I era.The novel's exploration of love, disillusionment, and the search for meaning in a world scarred by war is as relevant today as it was when it was first written. Hemingway's prose is spare and direct, yet it conveys a depth of emotion and complexity that keeps you turning the pages.While I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I must admit that it might not be for everyone. Some readers might find the characters and their moral ambiguity frustrating, and the lack of a traditional plot may leave them wanting more. However, for those who appreciate Hemingway's unique style and his ability to capture the essence of a generation, "The Sun Also Rises" is a must-read.In conclusion, this is a book that deserves its status as a classic. It may not be a light or easy read, but it offers a profound and thought-provoking exploration of the human condition. If you're looking for a novel that challenges you to think and feel deeply, "The Sun Also Rises" won't disappoint.

The Sun will always rise: a light shone on a lost generation.In view of the fact this book was published in 1926, and how portentous aspects of it proved to be, I found the antisemitism within it appalling. The Cohn character seemed to be disliked not only for his overtures towards (these days it would be classified as the stalking of) a woman, but almost because of him being a Jew. The stuffy English come across as despised, too. Although one English character named Harris, a fellow war veteran and keen fisherman, is seen as a nice chap. But he is written in and out quite swiftly in the novel.Considered by some to be his finest novel, in "The Sun Also Rises", Hemingway captures the essence of that 'lost generation' of ex-patriates in between the world wars. Maybe we excuse their alcoholism and excesses because they are trying to numb the pain and in many cases, such as Jake's, the injuries sustained because of the war.Set against the Pamplona (that of the bull run) fiesta, the reader witnesses the meltdown of several male characters over a woman named Brett. There are said to be parallels with Hemingway's own life, and the vivid descriptions of the build-up and aftermath of the festival help to explain Hemingway's acclaim as an author.Hemingway was notorious for his easy dialogue, for example,"I said it wouldn't be fair to my creditors", and "Why didn't you hit him with a chair?", and skilful use of the English language. His sentences are short, and yet he builds up a perfect picture of landscape. As a reader, I felt I was travelling with him and his companions from Paris down to Spain.Jake is in love with a woman who returns his love, but his war injury means he can never make love to her. It is hard to discern whether Brett's promiscuous behaviour is her excuse for not getting the man of her dreams, or because she is one of those bright young things living life to the full before the flame of life is snuffed out. She is likened to Circe, who in Greek mythology was an enchantress, skilled in the magic of transmutation, illusion and necromancy, who detained Odysseus on her island of Aiaia/Aeaea with her nymph companions, and turned his men into swine. A film of the same name starring Ava Gardner, Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn was released in 1957, which might be worth checking out if available.