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''The Sun Also Rises'' is a 1926 novel by American writer
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...
, his first, that portrays American and British expatriates who travel from
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
to the
Festival of San Fermín The festival of San Fermín is a weeklong, historically rooted celebration held annually in the city of Pamplona, Navarre, in northern Spain. The celebrations start at noon on July 6 and continue until midnight on July 14. A firework starts o ...
in
Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...
to watch the
running of the bulls A running of the bulls ( es, encierro, from the verb ''encerrar'', 'to corral, to enclose'; oc, abrivado, literally 'haste, momentum'; ca, correbous, 'run-bulls') is an event that involves running in front of a small group of bulls, typicall ...
and the bullfights. An early
modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
novel, it received mixed reviews upon publication. Hemingway biographer Jeffrey Meyers writes that it is now "recognized as Hemingway's greatest work" and Hemingway scholar Linda Wagner-Martin calls it his most important novel.Meyers (1985), 192 The novel was published in the United States in October 1926 by
Scribner's Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Ra ...
. A year later,
Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...
published the novel in London under the title ''Fiesta''. It remains in print. The novel is a ''
roman à clef ''Roman à clef'' (, anglicised as ), French for ''novel with a key'', is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship be ...
'', the characters are based on people in Hemingway's circle and the action is based on events, particularly Hemingway's life in Paris in the 1920s and a trip to Spain in 1925 for the Pamplona festival and fishing in the Pyrenees. Hemingway presents his notion that the "
Lost Generation The Lost Generation was the social generational cohort in the Western world that was in early adulthood during World War I. "Lost" in this context refers to the "disoriented, wandering, directionless" spirit of many of the war's survivors in th ...
"—considered to have been decadent, dissolute and irretrievably damaged by
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
—was in fact resilient and strong. Hemingway investigates the themes of love and death, the revivifying power of nature and the concept of masculinity. His spare writing style, combined with his restrained use of description to convey characterizations and action, demonstrates his "
Iceberg Theory The iceberg theory or theory of omission is a writing technique coined by American writer Ernest Hemingway. As a young journalist, Hemingway had to focus his newspaper reports on immediate events, with very little context or interpretation. When h ...
" of writing.


Background

In the 1920s Hemingway lived in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
as a
foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locat ...
for the ''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...
'', and traveled to
Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prom ...
to report on the Greco–Turkish War. He wanted to use his journalism experience to write fiction, believing that a story could be based on real events when a writer distilled his own experiences in such a way that, according to biographer Jeffrey Meyers, "what he made up was truer than what he remembered".Meyers (1985), 98–99 With his wife Hadley Richardson, Hemingway first visited the
Festival of San Fermín The festival of San Fermín is a weeklong, historically rooted celebration held annually in the city of Pamplona, Navarre, in northern Spain. The celebrations start at noon on July 6 and continue until midnight on July 14. A firework starts o ...
in
Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...
in 1923, where he was following his recent passion for
bullfighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms w ...
.Meyers (1985), 117–119 The couple returned to Pamplona in 1924—enjoying the trip immensely—this time accompanied by Chink Dorman-Smith,
John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a young man, visit ...
and Donald Ogden Stewart and his wife.Balassi (1990), 128 The two returned a third time in June 1925 and stayed at the hotel of his friend
Juanito Quintana Juan Quintana Urra (1891-1974) was a Spanish hotelier, bullfight businessman, and activist in the Spanish Republic. He was the basis for the character Juanito Montoya in Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises. Life in Pamplona Quintan ...
. That year, they brought with them a different group of American and British
expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...
s, Hemingway's
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...
boyhood friend Bill Smith, Stewart, recently divorced
Duff, Lady Twysden Mary Duff Stirling Smurthwaite, Lady Twysden (22 May 1891 – 27 June 1938) was a British socialite best known for being the model for Brett Ashley in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel ''The Sun Also Rises''.M. C. Rintoul, ''Dictionary of Real Peo ...
, her lover Pat Guthrie and Harold Loeb. Hemingway's memory spanning multiple trips might explain the inconsistent time frame in the novel indicating both 1924 and 1925. In Pamplona, the group quickly disintegrated. Hemingway, attracted to Duff, was jealous of Loeb, who had recently been on a romantic getaway with her; by the end of the week the two men had a public fistfight. Against this background was the influence of the young
matador A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...
from
Ronda Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...
, Cayetano Ordóñez, whose brilliance in the
bullring A bullring is an arena where bullfighting is performed. Bullrings are often associated with the Iberian Peninsula, but they can also be found through Iberian America and in a few Spanish and Portuguese ex-colonies in Africa. Bullrings are ...
affected the spectators. Ordóñez honored Hemingway's wife by presenting her, from the bullring, with the ear of a bull he killed. Outside of Pamplona, the fishing trip to the Irati River (near Burguete in
Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
) was marred by polluted water.Nagel (1996), 89 Hemingway had intended to write a nonfiction book about bullfighting, but then decided that the week's experiences had presented him with enough material for a
novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...
. A few days after the fiesta ended, on his birthday (21 July), he began writing what would eventually become ''The Sun Also Rises''.Meyers (1985), 189 By 17 August, with 14 chapters written and a working title of ''Fiesta'' chosen, Hemingway returned to Paris. He finished the draft on 21 September 1925, writing a foreword the following weekend and changing the title to ''The Lost Generation''. A few months later, in December 1925, Hemingway and his wife spent the winter in Schruns, Austria, where he began revising the manuscript extensively.
Pauline Pfeiffer Pauline Marie Pfeiffer (July 22, 1895 – October 1, 1951) was an American journalist, and the second wife of writer Ernest Hemingway.Harris, Peggy ( Associated Press) (30 July 2000)Ernest Hemingway Museum Popular in Quiet Farm Town ''The Tus ...
joined them in January, and—against Hadley's advice—urged him to sign a contract with
Scribner's Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Ra ...
. Hemingway left Austria for a quick trip to New York to meet with the publishers, and on his return, during a stop in Paris, began an affair with Pauline. He returned to Schruns to finish the revisions in March. In June, he was in Pamplona with both Richardson and Pfeiffer. On their return to Paris, Richardson asked for a separation, and left for the south of France. In August, alone in Paris, Hemingway completed the proofs, dedicating the novel to his wife and son. After the publication of the book in October, Hadley asked for a divorce; Hemingway subsequently gave her the book's
royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...
.


Publication history

Hemingway maneuvered Boni & Liveright into terminating their contract with him so that ''The Sun Also Rises'' could be published by Scribner's instead. In December 1925 he quickly wrote '' The Torrents of Spring''—a satirical
novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) fact ...
attacking
Sherwood Anderson Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and ...
—and sent it to his publishers Boni & Liveright. His three-book contract with them included a termination clause should they reject a single submission. Unamused by the satire against one of their most saleable authors, Boni & Liveright immediately rejected it and terminated the contract.Mellow (1992), 317–321 Within weeks Hemingway signed a contract with Scribner's, who agreed to publish ''The Torrents of Spring'' and all of his subsequent work.''The Torrents of Spring'' has little scholarly criticism as it is considered to be of less importance than Hemingway's subsequent work. See Oliver (1999), 330 Scribner's published the novel on 22 October 1926. Its
first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...
consisted of 5090 copies, selling at $2.00 per copy. Cleo Damianakes illustrated the
dust jacket The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back boo ...
with a
Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
design of a seated, robed woman, her head bent to her shoulder, eyes closed, one hand holding an apple, her shoulders and a thigh exposed. Editor Maxwell Perkins intended "Cleon's respectably sexy"Leff (1999), 51 design to attract "the feminine readers who control the destinies of so many novels". Two months later the book was in a second printing with 7000 copies sold. Subsequent printings were ordered; by 1928, after the publication of Hemingway's short story collection '' Men Without Women'', the novel was in its eighth printing. In 1927 the novel was published in the UK by
Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...
, titled ''Fiesta'', without the two epigraphs. Two decades later, in 1947, Scribner's released three of Hemingway's works as a boxed set, including ''The Sun Also Rises'', ''
A Farewell to Arms ''A Farewell to Arms'' is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, set during the Italian campaign of World War I. First published in 1929, it is a first-person account of an American, Frederic Henry, serving as a lieutenant () in the a ...
'', and ''
For Whom the Bell Tolls ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigne ...
''. By 1983, ''The Sun Also Rises'' had been in print continuously since its publication in 1926, and was likely one of the most translated titles in the world. At that time Scribner's began to print cheaper mass-market paperbacks of the book, in addition to the more expensive trade paperbacks already in print. In the 1990s, British editions were titled ''Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises.'' In 2006
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publi ...
began to produce
audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...
versions of Hemingway's novels, including ''The Sun Also Rises''. In May 2016 a new "Hemingway Library Edition" was published by Simon & Schuster, including early drafts, passages that were deleted from the final draft, and alternative titles for the book, which help to explain the author's journey to produce the final version of this acclaimed work.


Plot summary

On the surface, the novel is a love story between the
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
Jake Barnes—a man whose war wound has made him unable to have sex—and the promiscuous divorcée Lady Brett Ashley. Jake is an expatriate American journalist living in Paris, while Brett is a twice-divorced Englishwoman with bobbed hair and numerous love affairs, and embodies the new sexual freedom of the 1920s. Brett's affair with Jake's college friend Robert Cohn causes Jake to be upset and break off his friendship with Robert; her seduction of the 19-year-old
matador A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...
Romero causes Jake to lose his good reputation among the Spaniards in
Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...
. Book One is set in the
café society Café society was the description of the "Beautiful People" and "Bright Young Things" who gathered in fashionable cafés and restaurants in New York, Paris and London beginning in the late 19th century. Maury Henry Biddle Paul is credited with ...
of young American
expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...
s in Paris. In the opening scenes, Jake plays tennis with Robert, picks up a prostitute (Georgette), and runs into Brett and Count Mippipopolous in a nightclub. Later, Brett tells Jake she loves him, but they both know that they have no chance at a stable relationship. In Book Two, Jake is joined by Bill Gorton, recently arrived from New York, and Brett's fiancé Mike Campbell, who arrives from Scotland. Jake and Bill travel south and meet Robert at
Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine r ...
for a fishing trip in the hills northeast of
Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...
. Instead of fishing, Robert stays in Pamplona to wait for the overdue Brett and Mike. Robert had an affair with Brett a few weeks earlier and still feels possessive of her despite her engagement to Mike. After Jake and Bill enjoy five days of fishing the streams near Burguete, they rejoin the group in Pamplona. All begin to drink heavily. Robert is resented by the others, who taunt him with
antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Ant ...
remarks. During the fiesta the characters drink, eat, watch the
running of the bulls A running of the bulls ( es, encierro, from the verb ''encerrar'', 'to corral, to enclose'; oc, abrivado, literally 'haste, momentum'; ca, correbous, 'run-bulls') is an event that involves running in front of a small group of bulls, typicall ...
, attend bullfights, and bicker with each other. Jake introduces Brett to the 19-year-old matador Romero at the Hotel Montoya; she is smitten with him and seduces him. The jealous tension among the men builds—Jake, Mike, Robert, and Romero each want Brett. Robert, who had been a champion boxer in college, has a fistfight with Jake and Mike, and another with Romero, whom he beats up. Despite his injuries, Romero continues to perform brilliantly in the bullring. Book Three shows the characters in the aftermath of the fiesta. Sober again, they leave Pamplona; Bill returns to Paris, Mike stays in Bayonne, and Jake goes to
San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the ...
on the northern coast of Spain. As Jake is about to return to Paris, he receives a
telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
from Brett asking for help; she had gone to
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
with Romero. He finds her there in a cheap hotel, without money, and without Romero. She announces she has decided to go back to Mike. The novel ends with Jake and Brett in a taxi speaking of the things that might have been.


Themes and analysis


Paris and the Lost Generation

The first book of ''The Sun Also Rises'' is set in mid-1920s Paris. Americans were drawn to Paris in the
Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in th ...
by the favorable
exchange rate In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of t ...
, with as many as 200,000 English-speaking expatriates living there. The '' Paris Tribune'' reported in 1925 that Paris had an American Hospital, an American Library, and an American Chamber of Commerce. Many American writers were disenchanted with the US, where they found less artistic freedom than in Europe. (For example, Hemingway was in Paris during the period when '' Ulysses'', written by his friend
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...
, was banned and burned in New York.)Oliver (1999), 316–318 The themes of ''The Sun Also Rises'' appear in its two epigraphs. The first is an
allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...
to the "
Lost Generation The Lost Generation was the social generational cohort in the Western world that was in early adulthood during World War I. "Lost" in this context refers to the "disoriented, wandering, directionless" spirit of many of the war's survivors in th ...
", a term coined by
Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...
referring to the post-war generation;Hemingway may have used the term as an early title for the novel, according to biographer James Mellow. The term originated from a remark in French made to Gertrude Stein by the owner of a garage, speaking of those who went to war: "C'est une génération perdue" (literally, "they are a lost generation"). See Mellow (1992), 309Meyers (1985), 191 the other epigraph is a long quotation from
Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly us ...
: "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose." Hemingway told his editor Max Perkins that the book was not so much about a generation being lost, but that "the earth abideth forever." He thought the characters in ''The Sun Also Rises'' may have been "battered" but were not lost.Baker (1972), 82 Hemingway scholar Wagner-Martin writes that Hemingway wanted the book to be about morality, which he emphasized by changing the working title from ''Fiesta'' to ''The Sun Also Rises.'' Wagner-Martin argues that the book can be read either as a novel about bored expatriates or as a morality tale about a protagonist who searches for integrity in an immoral world.Wagner-Martin (1990), 6–9 Months before Hemingway left for Pamplona, the press was depicting the Parisian
Latin Quarter The Latin Quarter of Paris (french: Quartier latin, ) is an area in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne. Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistro ...
, where he lived, as decadent and depraved. He began writing the story of a matador corrupted by the influence of the Latin Quarter crowd; he expanded it into a novel about Jake Barnes at risk of being corrupted by wealthy and inauthentic expatriates. The characters form a group, sharing similar norms, and each greatly affected by the war. Hemingway captures the angst of the age and transcends the love story of Brett and Jake, although they are representative of the period: Brett is starved for reassurance and love and Jake is sexually maimed. His wound symbolizes the disability of the age, the disillusion, and the frustrations felt by an entire generation. Hemingway thought he lost touch with American values while living in Paris, but his biographer Michael Reynolds claims the opposite, seeing evidence of the author's midwestern American values in the novel. Hemingway admired hard work. He portrayed the matadors and the prostitutes, who work for a living, in a positive manner, but Brett, who prostitutes herself, is emblematic of "the rotten crowd" living on inherited money. It is Jake, the working journalist, who pays the bills again and again when those who can pay do not. Hemingway shows, through Jake's actions, his disapproval of the people who did not pay up.Reynolds (1990), 45–50 Reynolds says that Hemingway shows the tragedy, not so much of the decadence of the Montparnasse crowd, but of the decline in American values of the period. As such, the author created an American hero who is impotent and powerless. Jake becomes the moral center of the story. He never considers himself part of the expatriate crowd because he is a working man; to Jake a working man is genuine and authentic, and those who do not work for a living spend their lives posing.


Women and love

The twice-divorced Brett Ashley represented the liberated
New Woman The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence well into the 20th century. In 1894, Irish writer Sarah Grand (1854–1943) used the term "new woman" in an influential article, to refer to ...
(in the 1920s, divorces were common and easy to be had in Paris). James Nagel writes that, in Brett, Hemingway created one of the more fascinating women in 20th-century American literature. Sexually promiscuous, she is a denizen of Parisian nightlife and cafés. In Pamplona she sparks chaos: in her presence, the men drink too much and fight. She also seduces the young bullfighter Romero and becomes a
Circe Circe (; grc, , ) is an enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and religion. She is either a daughter of the Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse or the goddess Hecate and Aeëtes. Circe was renowned for her vas ...
in the festival.Nagel (1996), 94–96 Critics describe her variously as complicated, elusive, and enigmatic; Donald Daiker writes that Hemingway "treats her with a delicate balance of sympathy and antipathy." She is vulnerable, forgiving, independent—qualities that Hemingway juxtaposes with the other women in the book, who are either prostitutes or overbearing nags. Nagel considers the novel a tragedy. Jake and Brett have a relationship that becomes destructive because their love cannot be consummated. Conflict over Brett destroys Jake's friendship with Robert Cohn, and her behavior in Pamplona affects Jake's hard-won reputation among the Spaniards. Meyers sees Brett as a woman who wants sex without love while Jake can only give her love without sex. Although Brett sleeps with many men, it is Jake she loves. Dana Fore writes that Brett is willing to be with Jake in spite of his disability, in a "non-traditional erotic relationship." Other critics such as Leslie Fiedler and Nina Baym see her as a supreme bitch; Fiedler sees Brett as one of the "outstanding examples of Hemingway's 'bitch women.Fiedler (1975), 345–365 Jake becomes bitter about their relationship, as when he says, "Send a girl off with a man .... Now go and bring her back. And sign the wire with love." Critics interpret the Jake–Brett relationship in various ways. Daiker suggests that Brett's behavior in Madrid—after Romero leaves and when Jake arrives at her summons—reflects her immorality. Scott Donaldson thinks Hemingway presents the Jake–Brett relationship in such a manner that Jake knew "that in having Brett for a friend 'he had been getting something for nothing' and that sooner or later he would have to pay the bill." Daiker notes that Brett relies on Jake to pay for her train fare from Madrid to
San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the ...
, where she rejoins her fiancé Mike. In a piece Hemingway cut, he has Jake thinking, "you learned a lot about a woman by not sleeping with her." By the end of the novel, although Jake loves Brett, he appears to undergo a transformation in Madrid when he begins to distance himself from her.Balassi (1990), 144–146 Reynolds believes that Jake represents the "
everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...
," and that in the course of the narrative he loses his honor, faith, and hope. He sees the novel as a morality play with Jake as the person who loses the most.


The ''corrida'', the fiesta, and nature

In ''The Sun Also Rises'', Hemingway contrasts Paris with Pamplona, and the frenzy of the fiesta with the tranquillity of the Spanish countryside. Spain was Hemingway's favorite European country; he considered it a healthy place, and the only country "that hasn't been shot to pieces." He was profoundly affected by the spectacle of bullfighting, writing,
It isn't just brutal like they always told us. It's a great tragedy—and the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and takes more guts and skill and guts again than anything possibly could. It's just like having a ringside seat at the war with nothing going to happen to you.qtd. in Balassi (1990), 127
He demonstrated what he considered the purity in the culture of bullfighting—called ''afición''—and presented it as an authentic way of life, contrasted against the inauthenticity of the Parisian bohemians.Müller (2010), 31–32 To be accepted as an ''aficionado'' was rare for a non-Spaniard; Jake goes through a difficult process to gain acceptance by the "fellowship of ''afición.''"Kinnamon (2002), 128 The Hemingway scholar Allen Josephs thinks the novel is centered on the '' corrida'' (the bullfighting), and how each character reacts to it. Brett seduces the young matador; Cohn fails to understand and expects to be bored; Jake understands fully because only he moves between the world of the inauthentic expatriates and the authentic Spaniards; the hotel keeper Montoya is the keeper of the faith; and Romero is the artist in the ring—he is both innocent and perfect, and the one who bravely faces death. The ''corrida'' is presented as an idealized drama in which the matador faces death, creating a moment of
existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and val ...
or ''nada'' (nothingness), broken when he vanquishes death by killing the bull.Stoltzfus (2005), 215–218 Hemingway presents matadors as heroic characters dancing in a bullring. He considered the bullring as war with precise rules, in contrast to the messiness of the real war that he, and by extension Jake, experienced. Critic Keneth Kinnamon notes that young Romero is the novel's only honorable character. Hemingway named Romero after
Pedro Romero Pedro Romero Martínez (19 November 1754 – 10 February 1839) was a legendary bullfighter from the Romero family in Ronda, Spain. His grandfather Francisco is credited with advancing the art of using the muleta; his father and two brothers we ...
, an 18th-century bullfighter who killed thousands of bulls in the most difficult manner: having the bull impale itself on his sword as he stood perfectly still. Reynolds says Romero, who symbolizes the classically pure matador, is the "one idealized figure in the novel." Josephs says that when Hemingway changed Romero's name from Guerrita and imbued him with the characteristics of the historical Romero, he also changed the scene in which Romero kills a bull to one of ''recibiendo'' (receiving the bull) in homage to the historical namesake. Before the group arrives in Pamplona, Jake and Bill take a fishing trip to the Irati River. As
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking worl ...
points out, the scene serves as an interlude between the Paris and Pamplona sections, "an oasis that exists outside linear time." On another level it reflects "the mainstream of American fiction beginning with the Pilgrims seeking refuge from English oppression"—the prominent theme in American literature of escaping into the wilderness, as seen in
Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...
, Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, and Thoreau. Fiedler calls the theme "The Sacred Land"; he thinks the American West is evoked in ''The Sun Also Rises'' by the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...
and given a symbolic nod with the name of the "Hotel Montana." In Hemingway's writing, nature is a place of refuge and rebirth, according to Stoltzfus, where the hunter or fisherman gains a moment of transcendence at the moment the prey is killed. Nature is the place where men act without women: men fish, men hunt, men find redemption. In nature Jake and Bill do not need to discuss the war because their war experience, paradoxically, is ever-present. The nature scenes serve as counterpoint to the fiesta scenes. All of the characters drink heavily during the fiesta and generally throughout the novel. In his essay "Alcoholism in Hemingway's ''The Sun Also Rises''", Matts Djos says the main characters exhibit alcoholic tendencies such as depression, anxiety and sexual inadequacy. He writes that Jake's self-pity is symptomatic of an alcoholic, as is Brett's out-of-control behavior. William Balassi thinks that Jake gets drunk to avoid his feelings for Brett, notably in the Madrid scenes at the end where he has three martinis before lunch and drinks three bottles of wine with lunch. Reynolds, however, believes the drinking is relevant as set against the historical context of
Prohibition in the United States In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a nationwide constitutional law prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, an ...
. The atmosphere of the fiesta lends itself to drunkenness, but the degree of revelry among the Americans also reflects a reaction against Prohibition. Bill, visiting from the US, drinks in Paris and in Spain. Jake is rarely drunk in Paris where he works but on vacation in Pamplona, he drinks constantly. Reynolds says that Prohibition split attitudes about morality, and in the novel Hemingway made clear his dislike of Prohibition.


Masculinity and gender

Critics have seen Jake as an ambiguous representative of Hemingway manliness. For example, in the bar scene in Paris, Jake is angry at some homosexual men. The critic Ira Elliot suggests that Hemingway viewed homosexuality as an inauthentic way of life, and that he aligns Jake with
homosexual men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, includin ...
because, like them, Jake does not have sex with women. Jake's anger shows his self-hatred at his inauthenticity and lack of masculinity. His sense of masculine identity is lost—he is less than a man.Elliot (1995), 86–88 Elliot wonders if Jake's wound perhaps signifies latent homosexuality, rather than only a loss of masculinity; the emphasis in the novel, however, is on Jake's interest in women. Hemingway's writing has been called homophobic because of the language his characters use. For example, in the fishing scenes, Bill confesses his fondness for Jake but then goes on to say, "I couldn't tell you that in New York. It'd mean I was a faggot." In contrast to Jake's troubled masculinity, Romero represents an ideal masculine identity grounded in self-assurance, bravery, competence, and uprightness. The Davidsons note that Brett is attracted to Romero for these reasons, and they speculate that Jake might be trying to undermine Romero's masculinity by bringing Brett to him and thus diminishing his ideal stature. Critics have examined issues of gender misidentification that are prevalent in much of Hemingway's work. He was interested in cross-gender themes, as shown by his depictions of effeminate men and boyish women. In his fiction, a woman's hair is often symbolically important and used to denote gender. Brett, with her short hair, is
androgynous Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression. When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in ...
and compared to a boy—yet the ambiguity lies in the fact that she is described as a "damned fine-looking woman." While Jake is attracted to this ambiguity, Romero is repulsed by it. In keeping with his strict moral code he wants a feminine partner and rejects Brett because, among other things, she will not grow her hair.


Antisemitism

Hemingway has been called antisemitic, most notably because of the characterization of Robert Cohn in the book. The other characters often refer to Cohn as a Jew, and once as a '
kike The word ''kike'' () is an ethnic slur for a Jew. Etymology The earliest recorded use of the word dates to the 1880s.
'.Oliver (1999), 270 Shunned by the other members of the group, Cohn is characterized as "different", unable or unwilling to understand and participate in the fiesta. Cohn is never really part of the group—separated by his difference or his Jewish faith. Barry Gross, comparing Jewish characters in literature of the period, commented that "Hemingway never lets the reader forget that Cohn is a Jew, not an unattractive character who happens to be a Jew but a character who is unattractive because he is a Jew." Hemingway critic Josephine Knopf speculates that Hemingway might have wanted to depict Cohn as a "
shlemiel Schlemiel ( yi, שלומיאל; sometimes spelled shlemiel or shlumiel) is a Yiddish term meaning "inept/incompetent person" or "fool". It is a common archetype in Jewish humor, and so-called "''schlemiel'' jokes" depict the ''schlemiel'' falling ...
" (or fool), but she points out that Cohn lacks the characteristics of a traditional shlemiel. Cohn is based on Harold Loeb, a fellow writer who rivaled Hemingway for the affections of Duff, Lady Twysden (the real-life inspiration for Brett). Biographer Michael Reynolds writes that in 1925, Loeb should have declined Hemingway's invitation to join them in Pamplona. Before the trip he was Duff's lover and Hemingway's friend; during the fiasco of the fiesta, he lost Duff and Hemingway's friendship. Hemingway used Loeb as the basis of a character remembered chiefly as a "rich Jew."


Writing style

The novel is well known for its style, which is variously described as modern,
hard-boiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence ...
, or understated. As a novice writer and journalist in Paris, Hemingway turned to
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
—who had a reputation as "an unofficial minister of culture who acted as mid-wife for new literary talent"—to mark and blue-ink his short stories. From Pound, Hemingway learned to write in the
modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
style: he used understatement, pared away sentimentalism, and presented images and scenes without explanations of meaning, most notably at the book's conclusion, in which multiple future possibilities are left for Brett and Jake.Wagner-Martin (1990), 2–4Hemingway wrote a fragment of an unpublished sequel in which he has Jake and Brett meeting in the Dingo Bar in Paris. With Brett is Mike Campbell. See Daiker (2009), 85 The scholar Anders Hallengren writes that because Hemingway learned from Pound to "distrust adjectives," he created a style "in accordance with the esthetics and ethics of raising the emotional temperature towards the level of universal truth by shutting the door on sentiment, on the subjective." F. Scott Fitzgerald told Hemingway to "let the book's action play itself out among its characters." Hemingway scholar Linda Wagner-Martin writes that, in taking Fitzgerald's advice, Hemingway produced a novel without a central narrator: "Hemingway's book was a step ahead; it was the modernist novel." When Fitzgerald advised Hemingway to trim at least 2500 words from the opening sequence, which was 30 pages long, Hemingway wired the publishers telling them to cut the opening 30 pages altogether. The result was a novel without a focused starting point, which was seen as a modern perspective and critically well received.Wagner-Martin (1990), 11–12 Wagner-Martin speculates that Hemingway may have wanted to have a weak or negative hero as defined by
Edith Wharton Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...
, but he had no experience creating a hero or protagonist. At that point his fiction consisted of extremely short stories, not one of which featured a hero. The hero changed during the writing of ''The Sun Also Rises'': first the matador was the hero, then Cohn was the hero, then Brett, and finally Hemingway realized "maybe there is not any hero at all. Maybe a story is better without any hero." Balassi believes that in eliminating other characters as the protagonist, Hemingway brought Jake indirectly into the role of the novel's hero. As a
roman à clef ''Roman à clef'' (, anglicised as ), French for ''novel with a key'', is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship be ...
, the novel based its characters on living people, causing scandal in the expatriate community. Hemingway biographer Carlos Baker writes that "word-of-mouth of the book" helped sales. Parisian expatriates gleefully tried to match the fictional characters to real identities. Moreover, he writes that Hemingway used prototypes easily found in the Latin Quarter on which to base his characters. The early draft identified the characters by their living counterparts; Jake's character was called Hem, and Brett's was called Duff. Although the novel is written in a journalistic style, Frederic Svoboda writes that the striking thing about the work is "how quickly it moves away from a simple recounting of events." Jackson Benson believes that Hemingway used autobiographical details as framing devices for life in general. For example, Benson says that Hemingway drew out his experiences with "what if" scenarios: "what if I were wounded in such a way that I could not sleep at night? What if I were wounded and made crazy, what would happen if I were sent back to the front?" Hemingway believed that the writer could describe one thing while an entirely different thing occurs below the surface—an approach he called the
iceberg theory The iceberg theory or theory of omission is a writing technique coined by American writer Ernest Hemingway. As a young journalist, Hemingway had to focus his newspaper reports on immediate events, with very little context or interpretation. When h ...
, or the theory of omission. Balassi says Hemingway applied the iceberg theory better in ''The Sun Also Rises'' than in any of his other works, by editing extraneous material or purposely leaving gaps in the story. He made editorial remarks in the manuscript that show he wanted to break from the stricture of Gertrude Stein's advice to use "clear restrained writing." In the earliest draft, the novel begins in Pamplona, but Hemingway moved the opening setting to Paris because he thought the
Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...
life was necessary as a counterpoint to the later action in Spain. He wrote of Paris extensively, intending "not to be limited by the literary theories of others, utto write in his own way, and possibly, to fail." He added metaphors for each character: Mike's money problems, Brett's association with the
Circe Circe (; grc, , ) is an enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and religion. She is either a daughter of the Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse or the goddess Hecate and Aeëtes. Circe was renowned for her vas ...
myth, Robert's association with the segregated steer.Balassi (1990), 125, 136, 139–141 It wasn't until the revision process that he pared down the story, taking out unnecessary explanations, minimizing descriptive passages, and stripping the dialogue, all of which created a "complex but tightly compressed story."Balassi (1990), 150; Svoboda (1983), 44 Hemingway said that he learned what he needed as a foundation for his writing from the style sheet for ''
The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...
,'' where he worked as cub reporter."Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative." The critic John Aldridge says that the minimalist style resulted from Hemingway's belief that to write authentically, each word had to be carefully chosen for its simplicity and authenticity and carry a great deal of weight. Aldridge writes that Hemingway's style "of a minimum of simple words that seemed to be squeezed onto the page against a great compulsion to be silent, creates the impression that those words—if only because there are so few of them—are sacramental." In Paris Hemingway had been experimenting with the prosody of the
King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of ...
, reading aloud with his friend
John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a young man, visit ...
. From the style of the biblical text, he learned to build his prose incrementally; the action in the novel builds sentence by sentence, scene by scene and chapter by chapter. The simplicity of his style is deceptive. Bloom writes that it is the effective use of
parataxis Parataxis (from el, παράταξις, "act of placing side by side"; from παρα, ''para'' "beside" + τάξις, ''táxis'' "arrangement") is a literary technique, in writing or speaking, that favors short, simple sentences, without conju ...
that elevates Hemingway's prose. Drawing on the Bible,
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
and ''
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or as it is known in more recent editions, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United S ...
'', Hemingway wrote in deliberate understatement and he heavily incorporated parataxis, which in some cases almost becomes cinematic. His skeletal sentences were crafted in response to
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
's observation that World War I had "used up words," explains Hemingway scholar Zoe Trodd, who writes that his style is similar to a "multi-focal" photographic reality. The syntax, which lacks subordinating conjunctions, creates static sentences. The photographic "snapshot" style creates a
collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an Assemblage (art), assemblage of different forms, thus creat ...
of images. Hemingway omits internal punctuation (colons, semicolons, dashes, parentheses) in favor of short declarative sentences, which are meant to build, as events build, to create a sense of the whole. He also uses techniques analogous to cinema, such as cutting quickly from one scene to the next, or splicing one scene into another. Intentional omissions allow the reader to fill the gap as though responding to instructions from the author and create three-dimensional prose. Biographer James Mellow writes that the bullfighting scenes are presented with a crispness and clarity that evoke the sense of a
newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, inform ...
. Hemingway also uses color and visual art techniques to convey emotional range in his descriptions of the Irati River. In ''Translating Modernism: Fitzgerald and Hemingway,'' Ronald Berman compares Hemingway's treatment of landscape with that of the
post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...
painter
Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...
. During a 1949 interview, Hemingway told Lillian Ross that he learned from Cézanne how to "make a landscape." In comparing writing to painting he told her, "This is what we try to do in writing, this and this, and woods, and the rocks we have to climb over." The landscape is seen subjectively—the viewpoint of the observer is paramount.Berman (2011), 55 To Jake, landscape "meant a search for a solid form .... not existentially present in islife in Paris."


Reception

Hemingway's first novel was arguably his best and most important and came to be seen as an iconic modernist novel, although Reynolds emphasizes that Hemingway was not philosophically a modernist. In the book, his characters epitomized the post-war expatriate generation for future generations.Mellow (1992), 302 He had received good reviews for his volume of short stories, ''
In Our Time In Our Time may refer to: * ''In Our Time'' (1944 film), a film starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid * ''In Our Time'' (1982 film), a Taiwanese anthology film featuring director Edward Yang; considered the beginning of the "New Taiwan Cinema" * ''In ...
'', of which
Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publi ...
wrote, "Hemingway's prose was of the first distinction." Wilson's comments were enough to bring attention to the young writer. Good reviews came in from many major publications.
Conrad Aiken Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) was an American writer and poet, honored with a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and was United States Poet Laureate from 1950 to 1952. His published works include poetry, short ...
wrote in the ''
New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'', "If there is a better dialogue to be written today I do not know where to find it"; and Bruce Barton wrote in ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' that Hemingway "writes as if he had never read anybody's writing, as if he had fashioned the art of writing himself," and that the characters "are amazingly real and alive."Mellow (1992), 334–336 Many reviewers, among them H.L. Mencken, praised Hemingway's style, use of understatement, and tight writing.Wagner-Martin (2002), 1–2 Other critics, however, disliked the novel. ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
'' critic believed Hemingway's hard-boiled style was better suited to the short stories published in ''In Our Time'' than his novel. Writing in the '' New Masses'', Hemingway's friend John Dos Passos asked: "What's the matter with American writing these days? .... The few unsad young men of this lost generation will have to look for another way of finding themselves than the one indicated here." Privately he wrote Hemingway an apology for the review. The reviewer for the ''
Chicago Daily Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are ...
'' wrote of the novel, "''The Sun Also Rises'' is the kind of book that makes this reviewer at least almost plain angry." Some reviewers disliked the characters, among them the reviewer for ''
The Dial ''The Dial'' was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. From the 1880s to 1919 it was revived as a political review and ...
'', who thought the characters were shallow and vapid; and ''
The Nation and Atheneum ''The Nation and Athenaeum'', or simply ''The Nation'', was a United Kingdom political weekly newspaper with a Liberal/ Labour viewpoint. It was formed in 1921 from the merger of the '' Athenaeum'', a literary magazine published in London since 18 ...
'' deemed the characters boring and the novel unimportant. The reviewer for ''
The Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, al ...
'' wrote of the book that it "begins nowhere and ends in nothing." Hemingway's family hated it. His mother, Grace Hemingway, distressed that she could not face the criticism at her local book study class—where it was said that her son was "prostituting a great ability .... to the lowest uses"—expressed her displeasure in a letter to him:
The critics seem to be full of praise for your style and ability to draw word pictures but the decent ones always regret that you should use such great gifts in perpetuating the lives and habits of so degraded a strata of humanity .... It is a doubtful honor to produce one of the filthiest books of the year .... What is the matter? Have you ceased to be interested in nobility, honor and fineness in life? .... Surely you have other words in your vocabulary than "damn" and "bitch"—Every page fills me with a sick loathing.
Still, the book sold well, and young women began to emulate Brett while male students at
Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...
universities wanted to become "Hemingway heroes." Scribner's encouraged the publicity and allowed Hemingway to "become a minor American phenomenon"—a celebrity to the point that his divorce from Richardson and marriage to Pfeiffer attracted media attention. Reynolds believes ''The Sun Also Rises'' could have been written only circa 1925: it perfectly captured the period between World War I and the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, and immortalized a group of characters. In the years since its publication, the novel has been criticized for its antisemitism, as expressed in the characterization of Robert Cohn. Reynolds explains that although the publishers complained to Hemingway about his description of bulls, they allowed his use of Jewish epithets, which showed the degree to which antisemitism was accepted in the US after World War I. Cohn represented the Jewish establishment and contemporary readers would have understood this from his description. Hemingway clearly makes Cohn unlikeable not only as a character but as a character who is Jewish. Critics of the 1970s and 1980s considered Hemingway to be misogynistic and homophobic; by the 1990s his work, including ''The Sun Also Rises'', began to receive critical reconsideration by female scholars.


Legacy and adaptations

Hemingway's work continued to be popular in the latter half of the century and after his suicide in 1961. During the 1970s, ''The Sun Also Rises'' appealed to what Beegel calls the lost generation of the Vietnam era. Aldridge writes that ''The Sun Also Rises'' has kept its appeal because the novel is about being young. The characters live in the most beautiful city in the world, spend their days traveling, fishing, drinking, making love, and generally reveling in their youth. He believes the expatriate writers of the 1920s appeal for this reason, but that Hemingway was the most successful in capturing the time and the place in ''The Sun Also Rises''. Bloom says that some of the characters have not stood the test of time, writing that modern readers are uncomfortable with the antisemitic treatment of Cohn's character and the romanticization of a bullfighter. Moreover, Brett and Mike belong uniquely to the Jazz Age and do not translate to the modern era. Bloom believes the novel is in the canon of American literature for its formal qualities: its prose and style. The novel made Hemingway famous, inspired young women across America to wear short hair and sweater sets like the heroine's—and to act like her too—and changed writing style in ways that could be seen in any American magazine published in the next twenty years. In many ways, the novel's stripped-down prose became a model for 20th-century American writing. Nagel writes that "''The Sun Also Rises'' was a dramatic literary event and its effects have not diminished over the years." The success of ''The Sun Also Rises'' led to interest from
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
and
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...
. In 1927 two Broadway producers wanted to adapt the story for the stage but made no immediate offers. Hemingway considered marketing the story directly to Hollywood, telling his editor
Max Perkins William Maxwell Evarts "Max" Perkins (September 20, 1884 – June 17, 1947) was an American book editor, best remembered for discovering authors Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Thomas Wolfe. Early life and ...
that he would not sell it for less than $30,000—money he wanted his estranged wife Hadley Richardson to have.
Conrad Aiken Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) was an American writer and poet, honored with a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and was United States Poet Laureate from 1950 to 1952. His published works include poetry, short ...
thought the book was perfect for a film adaptation solely on the strength of dialogue. Hemingway would not see a stage or film adaption anytime soon: he sold the film rights to
RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...
in 1932, but only in 1956 was the novel adapted to a film of the same name. Peter Viertel wrote the screenplay.
Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James (193 ...
as Jake played the lead role opposite
Ava Gardner Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...
as Brett and
Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, freque ...
as Mike. The
royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...
went to Richardson. Hemingway wrote more books about bullfighting: '' Death in the Afternoon'' was published in 1932 and ''
The Dangerous Summer ''The Dangerous Summer'' is a nonfiction book by Ernest Hemingway published posthumously in 1985 and written in 1959 and 1960. The book describes the rivalry between bullfighters Luis Miguel Dominguín and his brother-in-law, Antonio Ordóñez, ...
'' was published posthumously in 1985. His depictions of Pamplona, beginning with ''The Sun Also Rises,'' helped to popularize the annual running of the bulls at the Festival of St. Fermin.Palin, Michael
"Lifelong Aficionado"
an

in ''Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure''. PBS.org. Retrieved 23 May 2011.


References


Citations


Sources

* Aldridge, John W. (1990). "Afterthought on the Twenties and ''The Sun Also Rises''". in Wagner-Martin, Linda (ed). ''New Essays on Sun Also Rises''. New York: Cambridge UP. * Baker, Carlos (1972). ''Hemingway: The Writer as Artist''. Princeton: Princeton UP. * Baker, Carlos (1987). "The Wastelanders". in Bloom, Harold (ed). ''Modern Critical Interpretations: Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises"''. New York: Chelsea House. * Balassi, William (1990). "Hemingway's Greatest Iceberg: The Composition of ''The Sun Also Rises''". in Barbour, James and Quirk, Tom (eds). ''Writing the American Classics''. Chapel Hill: North Carolina UP. * Baym, Nina (1990). "Actually I Felt Sorry for the Lion". in Benson, Jackson J. (ed). ''New Critical Approaches to the Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway''. Durham: Duke UP. * Beegel, Susan (1996). "Conclusion: The Critical Reputation". in Donaldson, Scott (ed). ''The Cambridge Companion to Ernest Hemingway''. New York: Cambridge UP. * Benson, Jackson (1989). "Ernest Hemingway: The Life as Fiction and the Fiction as Life". ''American Literature''. 61 (3): 354–358 * Berman, Ronald (2011). ''Translating Modernism: Fitzgerald and Hemingway''. Tuscaloosa: Alabama UP. * Bloom, Harold (1987). "Introduction". in Bloom, Harold (ed). ''Modern Critical Interpretations: Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises"''. New York: Chelsea House. * Bloom, Harold (2007). "Introduction". in Bloom, Harold (ed). ''Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises"''. New York: Infobase Publishing. * Daiker, Donald (2009). "Lady Ashley, Pedro Romero and the Madrid Sequence of ''The Sun Also Rises''". ''The Hemingway Review''. 29 (1): 73–86 * Davidson, Cathy and Arnold (1990). "Decoding the Hemingway Hero in ''The Sun Also Rises''". in Wagner-Martin, Linda (ed). ''New Essays on Sun Also Rises''. New York: Cambridge UP. * Djos, Matt (1995). "Alcoholism in Ernest Hemingway's ''The Sun Also Rises''". ''The Hemingway Review''. 14 (2): 64–78 * Donaldson, Scott (2002). "Hemingway's Morality of Compensation". in Wagner-Martin, Linda (ed). ''Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises: A Casebook''. New York: Oxford UP. * Elliot, Ira (1995). "Performance Art: Jake Barnes and Masculine Signification in The Sun Also Rises". ''American Literature''. 63 (1): 77–94 * Fiedler, Leslie (1975). ''Love and Death in the American Novel''. New York: Stein and Day. * Fore, Dana (2007). "Life Unworthy of Life? Masculinity, Disability, and Guilt in ''The Sun Also Rises''. ''The Hemingway Review''. 16 (1): 75–88 * Hays, Peter L., ed. (2007). "Teaching Hemingway's ''The Sun Also Rises''." Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press. * Hemingway, Ernest (1926). ''The Sun Also Rises''. New York: Scribner. 2006 edition. * Josephs, Allen (1987). "Torero: The Moral Axis of ''The Sun Also Rises''". in Bloom, Harold (ed). ''Modern Critical Interpretations: Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises"''. New York: Chelsea House. * Kinnamon, Keneth (2002). "Hemingway, the ''Corrida'', and Spain". in Wagner-Martin, Linda (ed). ''Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises: A Casebook''. New York: Oxford UP. * Knopf, Josephine (1987). "Meyer Wolfsheim and Robert Cohn: A Study of a Jew Type and Sterotype". in Bloom, Harold (ed). ''Modern Critical Interpretations: Ernest Hemingway's ''The Sun Also Rises''"''. New York: Chelsea House. * Leff, Leonard (1999). ''Hemingway and His Conspirators: Hollywood, Scribner's and the making of American Celebrity Culture''. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. * Mellow, James (1992). ''Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. * Meyers, Jeffrey (1985). ''Hemingway: A Biography''. New York: Macmillan. * Müller, Timo (2010). "The Uses of Authenticity: Hemingway and the Literary Field, 1926–1936". ''Journal of Modern Literature''. 33 (1): 28–42 * Nagel, James (1996). "Brett and the Other Women in ''The Sun Also Rises''". in Donaldson, Scott (ed). ''The Cambridge Companion to Ernest Hemingway''. New York: Cambridge UP. * Oliver, Charles (1999). ''Ernest Hemingway A to Z: The Essential Reference to the Life and Work''. New York: Checkmark Publishing. * Reynolds, Michael (1990). "Recovering the Historical Context". in Wagner-Martin, Linda (ed). ''New Essays on Sun Also Rises''. New York: Cambridge UP. * Reynolds, Michael (1999). ''Hemingway: The Final Years''. New York: Norton. * Reynolds, Michael (1989). ''Hemingway: The Paris Years''. New York: Norton. * Reynolds, Michael (1998). ''The Young Hemingway''. New York: Norton. * Stoltzfus, Ben (2005). "Sartre, "Nada," and Hemingway's African Stories". ''Comparative Literature Studies''. 42 (3): 228–250 * Stoneback, H.R. (2007). "Reading Hemingway's ''The Sun Also Rises'': Glossary and Commentary." Kent, OH: The Kent State UP. * Svoboda, Frederic (1983). ''Hemingway & The Sun Also Rises: The Crafting of a Style''. Lawrence: Kansas UP. * Trodd, Zoe (2007). "Hemingway's Camera Eye: The Problems of Language and an Interwar Politics of Form". ''The Hemingway Review''. 26 (2): 7–21 * Wagner-Martin, Linda (2002). "Introduction". in Wagner-Martin, Linda (ed). ''Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises: A Casebook''. New York: Oxford UP. * Wagner-Martin, Linda (1990). "Introduction". in Wagner-Martin, Linda (ed). ''New Essays on Sun Also Rises''. New York: Cambridge UP. * White, William (1969). ''The Merrill Studies in The Sun Also Rises''. Columbus: C. E. Merrill. * Young, Philip (1973). ''Ernest Hemingway''. St. Paul: Minnesota UP.


External links

* * * * *
Hemingway Archives
John F. Kennedy Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun Also Rises, The 1926 American novels American autobiographical novels American novels adapted into films Bullfighting books Charles Scribner's Sons books Modernist novels Novels by Ernest Hemingway Novels set in France Novels set in Paris Novels set in Spain Novels set in the Roaring Twenties Roman à clef novels