A Moveable Feast

Spring has finally come, and along with it comes a new book to discuss! For the month of April it's all about non-fiction books, and the title I've chosen to read and critique is Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. I was worried that I might not find a non-fiction novel that I can read and enjoy since I've always had the impression that the non-fiction genre composed of tedious historical accounts of wars, political careers, and everything in between. I'm glad to have found this book because I had almost given up finding a non-fiction novel that centers on things that interest me. Read on if you'd like to know what the buzz is all about!

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Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast

Summary

Since this title is non-fiction, I will not withhold any information that could be potential spoilers. The book is fairly short and doesn't focus on a main story line which makes spoilers relatively trivial. A Moveable Feast is one of the many novels of Hemingway that were published posthumously. It is an autobiography which centers on Hemingway's life with his wife, and other artists and writers in Paris during the early 20's.

Hemingway gives insight to how he, along with his wife Hadley and their son Bumby, lived below the line of poverty in the City of Lights. He recounts going to the horse racing tracks to earn money by gambling, along with writing short stories for various publishers like the Transatlantic Review and Vogue. The novel is chronologically categorized into small chapters most of which mentions Hemingway's encounters and relationships with various figures in literature such as Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Ezra Pound and many more. The main story lies in Hemingway's evolution as a writer from when he was first a journalist to when he signed with Scribner's, an American publisher, to have his first novel The Sun Also Rises published.

Writing Style

Hemingway narrates the story from his perspective which enables the reader to see the city of Paris through his eyes. He is known for writing prose, or in a manner which is direct and literal, which makes his depiction of the scenery in Paris very effective. Whether recounting a conversation or a trip he had made, Hemingway describes the littlest of details so as to let the reader walk in his shoes.

Le Dôme Café, featured in "With Pascin at the Dôme"

I found this to be enjoyable in most occasions, however, there were some times when I found his descriptions to be confusing. When Hemingway walks the streets of Paris, such as when he leaves his apartment by 74 rue du Cardinal Lemoine for a Café at the Place St. Michel, he likes to describe the streets and roads he crosses in order to get there. I did not find this to be too much of a bother since Hemingway mentions a path he takes only when he finds something noteworthy about it, such as if it's a scenic route or a shortcut, and he only does it a few times throughout the book.

During his encounters with other people, Hemingway describes his thoughts prior to their meeting regardless of relevance. His insights can be humorous at times, and I found most of what he writes about the people he knew interesting. I found it interesting since his perceptions of them are his own, they weren't heavily influenced by other sources in any way. Two instances of this come to mind, the first is his depiction of Gertrude Stein and his disposition towards Ezra Pound. Hemingway is friends with Stein and brazenly talks about the way she is biased towards people who praise her books, and against those who criticize them, despite her social status at the time. Ezra Pound is known to have been associated with Nazis and I found it interesting how Hemingway holds him in such a high regard, describing him as a kind, caring, and generous friend, a disposition that not many people have.

Effectiveness (is the book engaging?)

As usual, whether the book is engaging or not depends on who is reading it. The book would best suit readers who would enjoy reading short sequential stories which don't necessarily relate to one another. The book is composed of 20 chapters of different mini-stories which mostly recounts Hemingway's encounters with different expatriate artists and writers. Personally, I found the structure of the book to be engaging as I tend to lose track of small details of what I've read which makes me lose interest in long winded stories. In a way, I could consider this novel a collection of short stories about Hemingway's life since many of the chapters don't have direct ties to the main story of the book.

Ernest Hemingway with his first wife Hadley Hemingway

I've also found the way he talks about his relationship with his wife and the things they do - living and loving despite being poor in the city of Paris - very interesting. Although not all people can appreciate romance, I find that Hemingway's recollection of his relationship with his wife Hadley to be something that will interest people who are into romance and relationships in general. Their lives as a young married couple is something I enjoyed reading about; I find that it's the perfect depiction of the "Happy Ever After" that we don't see after a movie. I found Hemingway's descriptions of his wife to be very affectionate, which I concluded to mean that he immensely loved Hadley, and dearly regretted his affair with Pauline, his second wife.

Biases

As an autobiography, this book cannot be without the author's personal biases. The fact that it was published posthumously further contributes to the bias found in this book. At the start of the novel Hemingway gives a foreword for the reader, "if the reader prefers, this book may be regarded as fiction." Which could either allude to the whimsical nature of the book, since non-fictional books are relatively more serious than other fictional titles, or hint that Hemingway stretched the truth in some sections of the story, which is understandable if he did since it's hard to remember every single detail of the olden days of one's life. Hemingway's disposition towards the people he writes about could also be different in the way other writers might describe them, which is something to consider if you read how Zelda Fitzgerald drove her husband to drink, neglect his writing, and jealousy, and think that she's a very terrible person. In Hemingway's eyes she evidently is, others, however, do not share the same sentiment.

Biases found in the book could also be attributed to the fact that Hemingway had passed years before A Moveable Feast was published. His widow, Mary Hemingway, contributed a great deal to the finishing stages of the book. She edited the book using the manuscripts and notes he had written before, and as such, it's very likely that the book did not end up as the author would have wanted it to. According to this article, written by A.E. Hotchner, a friend of Hemingway, a new edition of the book is circulating in bookstores, an edition which has been heavily revised due to one of Hemingway's grandsons not liking the depictions of his grandmother, Pauline, at the end of the book. The edition of the book I read did not include any descriptions of Pauline, and it irritated me when I found out that I was reading a heavily revised edition since I wanted to read what Hemingway intended for the reader. If you plan on reading A Moveable Feast, be sure to get the version first published by Scribner's. 

Hemingway's Influences

This book couldn't have been written better by any other writer in my opinion. What makes this story very engaging and interesting is the way Hemingway writes about his life in the 20's and Paris. While reading the book I could see that he had an innate passion for the beauty of Paris, and all the little aspects of his life which others might find mundane. There's no other writer whose work I've read that lets the omissions strengthen the story being told. Hemingway talks about how in a short story he wrote called Out of Season, he "omitted the real end which was that the old man hanged himself." He goes on to explain that "this was omitted on my new theory that you could omit anything ... and the omitted part would strengthen the story," which gave birth to the well-known Iceberg Theory. 

The Iceberg Principle, loosely based on Hemingway's original theory

Being a writer of prose, Hemingway found that he needed to write 'truly,' as he liked to describe it, and that in doing so, he lets the reader experience the story as he intended. He didn't believe in omitting things because it was a mystery, he liked to omit things which he knows the reader will conclude on their own through the story. His excellence in writing prose is attributed to the fact that he worked for Toronto Star before becoming a short story writer. As a journalist, Hemingway needed to write about factual events with little to no interpretation on his part, and he kept writing in this manner as he became a short story writer. He believed that the reader should be able to make conclusions as to the deeper meaning in his stories on their own by giving them the necessary information in a minimal and concise manner. This belief makes A Moveable Feast shine, although it's short, the story is extended between the lines; I found that although Gertrude Stein and Hemingway seemed like good friends, there was some tension between them due to their different beliefs and convictions, something which I concluded on my own by reading their dialogue since there's a reason why Hemingway put certain conversations in the book after all.

Real World Connections

Hemingway's life in Paris with his family during the 20's certainly seemed like heaven in the book. Although they lived in poverty, they were able to go on various trips like the festival of San Fermin in Spain, or the mountains of Schruns, Austria. Hemingway enjoyed found joy in the little things he was able to have with his unstable income, whether it was a having a café au lait while working on a short story, or reading a book while watching fishermen under bridges the crossed the Seine river. In the book he states: 

"We ate well and cheaply and 

drank well and cheaply and

slept well and warm together

and loved each other."

A popular quote which describes how happy he truly was with his humble life with his wife and son. Which addresses the question of whether money can bring us happiness or not. It is evident that in the story, money has nothing to do with their happiness. It was a driving factor for Hemingway's work, but it was not the goal he oriented himself towards. It's true that people need money to live comfortably and happily, but other luxuries are simply unnecessary to live a good happy life. These luxuries include things like big houses, cars and clothes (Hemingway once described how he sometimes had to wear makeshift underwear), and in our society, we are led to believe that whatever we have is simply not enough. We are always told to own the latest and shiniest devices and accessories in order to fit in catch up with everybody else so that we may be happy. But it's wrong to say that money or materialistic things can bring us happiness, which is shown by the ending of the book when Hemingway signs with rich publishers but later regrets it as he is forced to make revisions for his book which he does not want or approve of, all for the sake of earning more and living a better lifestyle, even though he knew that his life was already good since he was happy and lived comfortably. In the end, his relationship with his wife deteriorated and he felt like a sell out, for which he expresses his regrets in the book. 

Rating: 5/5

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I love Hemingway's depictions of Paris, and his dreamlike life with his family and various friends. I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this book seeing as it is a non-fiction title, and wish to read more books such as this one. I could have enjoyed this book a greater deal had I been somewhat familiar with the people Hemingway encounters and talks about, I had to do a bit of research, but at least I can appreciate this book to a greater extent because of it. If you want to read about the lives of expatriate artists and writers in the gorgeous city of Paris during the 1920's then I would highly recommend this book, even if you've never heard of Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, or any other person who is mentioned in the book, although a bit of research is incumbent upon you to do, it'll be very rewarding.