It seemed out of place to think of consequences during the Fiesta
by Charlotte Reads Classics
I continued on my Hemingway kick by reading a full length novel rather than short stories: Hemingway’s first novel Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises. The book follows a group of friends as they travel from Paris to Pamplona in Spain to watch the running of the bulls. Jake, the narrator, is in love with Brett. Brett is engaged to Mike. Brett is having an affair with Robert. Robert is in love with Brett… and so on. The relationships in the novel are quite modern, all the characters seem free to chase after whoever they like. Whilst this is a liberated portrayal, it doesn’t seem to make people happy. The opposite, in fact! The jealousy and sadness from these relationships is really touching.
Without ever mentioning the war, other than to hint about Jake’s injuries, the whole book smacks with the aimlessness of a lost generation. Hemingway isn’t judgmental about the way his characters behave, but maybe the whole book is a comment about whether the world provided for young men after the war. I’m sure there must be something to the writer of the novel being the most tragic character… There was understandably a lot of male insecurity after the war, as people tried to come to terms with what being a man meant. I think the characters in this book are struggling with this.
All these ideas are tied together with the bullfights; passion, violence, heart and soul, work, achievement, recognition, tradition, masculinity, bravery. Bullfighting represents everything the novel talks about. I really enjoyed this novel but I think it requires a lot of thought. On the surface the story is quite simple, but the more I think about it the greater its depths. I don’t think it is a book I could confidently say I understand after just one reading.
Charlotte Reads Classics 
Fiesta? No kidding. I had no idea the book had a different title in England.
I had no idea it wasn’t called that everywhere.
I added this novel to my wish list after reading A Moveable Feast last year – I understand much of it was based on his friends from Paris. Have not seen it titled Fiesta before.
I loved A Moveable Feast especially as a starting point to finding out which of his other books would appeal… loads of them, it would seem!
I haven’t read the book, but it automatically makes me think of that period when they lived in Paris and he was always off to Spain for the bullfights and the shock when Hadley read this novel, a parody of all those characters they were with, with the exception of her, I think this novel may have been Hemingway getting into his stride, we know he wasn’t shy about using people he knew to create characters, I actually like that he chose not to put Hadley in it – a small mark of respect perhaps.
I wonder how it is to consider it as a stand alone story without knowing the real life story that was playing out side by side. I see you have read ‘The Paris Wife’, that’s my only reference to what was going on in his life at the time.
Yes, when I was reading this I was trying to remember the parts of The Paris Wife that corresponded. I think as a stand alone novel with no research (I suppose you could just read it as a story about bullfighting!) it maybe wouldn’t have much impact. From my own experience I’ve enjoyed Hemingway much more when I’ve read around his life and theories about his writing. Otherwise there seems to be a lot I would have missed.
I remember the impact Spain and the bullfighting had on them from ‘The Paris Wife’ in particular the irony, that while Hadley was missing from the interplay of charcters in his book, it was she that was spotted in the crowd at the bullring by the famous Matador, who presented her with the bull’s ear. Rich pickings for a writer and I agree, it is interesting to read around his life and within a context, I enjoy to know where the writer was living and what their circle of influences were when they were penning their manuscripts.