Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Scribner (2010), Edition: Reprint, 256 pages
Description
Published posthumously in 1964, A Moveable Feast remains one of Ernest Hemingway's most beloved works. It is his classic memoir of Paris in the 1920s, filled with irreverent portraits of other expatriate luminaries such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein; tender memories of his first wife, Hadley; and insightful recollections of his own early experiments with his craft. It is a literary feast, brilliantly evoking the exuberant mood of Paris after World War I and the youthful spirit, unbridled creativity, and unquenchable enthusiasm that Hemingway himself epitomized.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Smiler69
I fell in love with this book—which was at the time my first experience of Hemingway—when I read it a few years ago, and was very much looking forward to this new edition. Hemingway's grandson Seán Hemingway oversaw this project, and in his introduction he explains that Hemingway was
I especially loved the stories about his contemporaries such a Ford Maddox Ford and F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as Gertrude Stein, among many of the people referred to whom he doesn't hesitate to poke fun at. Though one senses that there is a sense of longing for what may have been simpler times for him, or at least, more youthful ones, there is a dry sense of humour throughout which gives an impression of lightheartedness even when he broaches difficult topics. The first time I read this book, I had no idea what he was talking about half the time, but was so enamoured with his famously pared down style that it didn't matter to me. This time around, maybe I was trying to find meaning too hard, which proved slightly less satisfying. I have many more books of his still to read and I'm sure that once I've read those, as well as other works by his peers, along with various other fiction and non-fiction books about the times, I'll come back to this book again and again with renewed appreciation.
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continually making changes and adjustments to his text up until the end of his life, sometimes reverting to previous versions, and that he had not written a satisfactory introduction, nor a last chapter, nor found titles for the individual stories or for the book itself, these having been chosen by the editor at Sribner's before the original 1964 publication. Here the stories are presented in a different order and with Hemingway's last changes to the text taken into consideration, and best of all, we find sketches of unfinished stories which he wrote as material for the book, which of course had never been published before.I especially loved the stories about his contemporaries such a Ford Maddox Ford and F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as Gertrude Stein, among many of the people referred to whom he doesn't hesitate to poke fun at. Though one senses that there is a sense of longing for what may have been simpler times for him, or at least, more youthful ones, there is a dry sense of humour throughout which gives an impression of lightheartedness even when he broaches difficult topics. The first time I read this book, I had no idea what he was talking about half the time, but was so enamoured with his famously pared down style that it didn't matter to me. This time around, maybe I was trying to find meaning too hard, which proved slightly less satisfying. I have many more books of his still to read and I'm sure that once I've read those, as well as other works by his peers, along with various other fiction and non-fiction books about the times, I'll come back to this book again and again with renewed appreciation.
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LibraryThing member sarah_jaffray
I was 19, on a study abroad in Paris and my English Lit teacher assigned this book as part of his curriculum on the Lost Generation. What better place to read this love letter to Paris cum tome to past mistakes? In this book Hemingway teaches us how to write, what it feels like to experience
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simplicity and how regret creates longing. I aching love this book more than I can say. That cold spring, sat in my warm dorm room overlooking Parc Montsouris I feel in love with reading. At the end, Hemingway reflects that Pairs is a moveable feast that he carried with him for the rest of his days. I re-read this book as a souvenir of Paris; the seemingly contrived, wistful melancholy of the city is more than artistic fabrication - life transformation happens here because it is allowed to. Hemingway's rendition of Paris is a sensibly accurate explanation of the city and one's reactions within it: the habits, the romance, the opportunities and the willing sacrifices. So, for me it is my moveable feast. Show Less
LibraryThing member knightlight777
I have to say I enjoyed this book more than his fiction.
LibraryThing member RichardWise
I have read it (the originally published edited edition) and referred back to it several times during the course of my ongoing education as a writer.
If you access the Amazon edition you will find two scanned manuscript pages labeled 3 & 4. Those two pages contain the best advice I have ever
Also, you will find Hemingway's famous dictum to "write one true sentence". There is more wisdom contained in those two pages than in all the other books about writing combined.
I printed out the pages. Don't you just love the digital universe?
If you access the Amazon edition you will find two scanned manuscript pages labeled 3 & 4. Those two pages contain the best advice I have ever
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received as a writer. First, stop while you still have something to say, second, don't think about what you wrote, let your subconscious "work on it" until the next day.Also, you will find Hemingway's famous dictum to "write one true sentence". There is more wisdom contained in those two pages than in all the other books about writing combined.
I printed out the pages. Don't you just love the digital universe?
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LibraryThing member Columbo
"Limned in acid" is how one biographer described Hemingway's last and maybe best book, and indeed it is. Yet A Moveable Feast also captures Hemingway's extraordinary sensitivity to his internal and external environment, his fine sense of humor, and his authentic love for his first wife Hadley.
LibraryThing member ValerieAndBooks
“That’s what you are. That’s what you all are,” Miss Stein said. “All of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation.”
“Really?” I said.
“You are,” she insisted. “You have no respect for anything. You drink yourselves to death….”
–Conversation between
I started out reading the restored edition of A Moveable Feast (Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster).
A Moveable Feast was posthumously published in 1964 (Hemingway died in 1961). It was unfinished at the time of his death, with undesignated chapter order. The 1964 version was put together by editors and Hemingway’s widow (and fourth wife), Mary.
This recent restored edition (published 2009), edited by Hemingway’s grandson Seán Hemingway (I’m guessing that with the accent mark in his name, it’s pronounced Shane and not Shawn), has the addition of some stories not in the original; moves some chapters around; and changes some passages back to what was in the original manuscripts.
It didn’t take me very long to decide that I had to have a copy of the original version, too.
So, I went back and forth between the two editions while reading. In Seán Hemingway’s introduction to the restored edition, he discusses the changes that were made and the decisions behind them, so I did not need (or want to) read word-for-word each version for every little difference.
Bottom line? I suppose if I was a serious student (i.e. doing a dissertation) of Hemingway, I could decide which one was better, but I feel that either edition would be a pleasure to read. Or, if you are curious like I am, read both!
Now, let’s move on to why I found A Moveable Feast a pleasure to read. Hemingway says in his preface (original edition; not included in the restored edition) that:
“If the reader prefers, this book may be regarded as fiction. But there is always the chance that such a book of fiction may throw some light on what has been written as fact.”
Whether some incidents really happened or not, I loved Hemingway’s descriptions of the people he knew when he was in Paris in the 1920s — these included Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald (Hemingway’s toddler son “Bumby” had a cat, F. Puss, that kept watch over Bumby), Alice B. Toklas, Ford Madox Ford (who Hemingway heartily disliked), Picasso, and more. Hadley, Hemingway’s first wife, has a large role in this novel, also.
I also loved the conversations Hemingway had with these people — they were often amusing, whether or not they actually happened as he recalls them.
About meeting Scott Fitzgerald (a friend, Dunc Chaplin is with them):
“Scott, I was to find, believed that the novelist could find out what he needed to know by direct questioning of his friends and acquaintances. The interrogation was direct.
“Ernest,” he said. “You don’t mind if I call you Ernest, do you?”
“Ask Dunc,” I said.
“Don’t be silly. This is serious. Tell me, did you and your wife sleep together before you were married?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I don’t remember.”
“But how can you not remember something of such importance?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It is odd, isn’t it?”
“It’s worse than odd,” Scott said. “You must be able to remember.”
“I’m sorry. It’s a pity, isn’t it?”
“Don’t talk like some limey,” he said. “Try to be serious and remember.”
“Nope,” I said. “It’s hopeless.”
“You could make an honest effort to remember.”
The speech comes pretty high, I thought. I wondered if he gave everyone the speech, but I didn’t think so because I had watched him sweat while he was making it.”
–page 127, The Restored Edition
One gets the feeling from reading A Moveable Feast that Hemingway did not lead a dull life; you would not need to already know that his entire life was actually an eventful one. This was further evidenced by my recently reading Running With the Bulls, a memoir by his daughter-in-law Valerie Hemingway (and mother of Seán). Finally, I loved the feeling of being in Paris long ago. A Moveable Feast really does give the reader that experience.
“But Paris was a very old city and we were young and nothing was simple there, not even poverty, nor sudden money, nor the moonlight, nor right and wrong nor the breathing of someone who lay beside you in the moonlight.”
–page 49; The Restored Editon
“Really?” I said.
“You are,” she insisted. “You have no respect for anything. You drink yourselves to death….”
–Conversation between
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Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway, p. 61 of A Moveable Feast: The Restored EditionI started out reading the restored edition of A Moveable Feast (Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster).
A Moveable Feast was posthumously published in 1964 (Hemingway died in 1961). It was unfinished at the time of his death, with undesignated chapter order. The 1964 version was put together by editors and Hemingway’s widow (and fourth wife), Mary.
This recent restored edition (published 2009), edited by Hemingway’s grandson Seán Hemingway (I’m guessing that with the accent mark in his name, it’s pronounced Shane and not Shawn), has the addition of some stories not in the original; moves some chapters around; and changes some passages back to what was in the original manuscripts.
It didn’t take me very long to decide that I had to have a copy of the original version, too.
So, I went back and forth between the two editions while reading. In Seán Hemingway’s introduction to the restored edition, he discusses the changes that were made and the decisions behind them, so I did not need (or want to) read word-for-word each version for every little difference.
Bottom line? I suppose if I was a serious student (i.e. doing a dissertation) of Hemingway, I could decide which one was better, but I feel that either edition would be a pleasure to read. Or, if you are curious like I am, read both!
Now, let’s move on to why I found A Moveable Feast a pleasure to read. Hemingway says in his preface (original edition; not included in the restored edition) that:
“If the reader prefers, this book may be regarded as fiction. But there is always the chance that such a book of fiction may throw some light on what has been written as fact.”
Whether some incidents really happened or not, I loved Hemingway’s descriptions of the people he knew when he was in Paris in the 1920s — these included Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald (Hemingway’s toddler son “Bumby” had a cat, F. Puss, that kept watch over Bumby), Alice B. Toklas, Ford Madox Ford (who Hemingway heartily disliked), Picasso, and more. Hadley, Hemingway’s first wife, has a large role in this novel, also.
I also loved the conversations Hemingway had with these people — they were often amusing, whether or not they actually happened as he recalls them.
About meeting Scott Fitzgerald (a friend, Dunc Chaplin is with them):
“Scott, I was to find, believed that the novelist could find out what he needed to know by direct questioning of his friends and acquaintances. The interrogation was direct.
“Ernest,” he said. “You don’t mind if I call you Ernest, do you?”
“Ask Dunc,” I said.
“Don’t be silly. This is serious. Tell me, did you and your wife sleep together before you were married?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I don’t remember.”
“But how can you not remember something of such importance?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It is odd, isn’t it?”
“It’s worse than odd,” Scott said. “You must be able to remember.”
“I’m sorry. It’s a pity, isn’t it?”
“Don’t talk like some limey,” he said. “Try to be serious and remember.”
“Nope,” I said. “It’s hopeless.”
“You could make an honest effort to remember.”
The speech comes pretty high, I thought. I wondered if he gave everyone the speech, but I didn’t think so because I had watched him sweat while he was making it.”
–page 127, The Restored Edition
One gets the feeling from reading A Moveable Feast that Hemingway did not lead a dull life; you would not need to already know that his entire life was actually an eventful one. This was further evidenced by my recently reading Running With the Bulls, a memoir by his daughter-in-law Valerie Hemingway (and mother of Seán). Finally, I loved the feeling of being in Paris long ago. A Moveable Feast really does give the reader that experience.
“But Paris was a very old city and we were young and nothing was simple there, not even poverty, nor sudden money, nor the moonlight, nor right and wrong nor the breathing of someone who lay beside you in the moonlight.”
–page 49; The Restored Editon
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
A Moveable Feast is a relatively light-hearted collection of essays and vignettes about Hemingway’s life in post-war Paris with his first wife Hadley. His uber-mensch personality explodes from the page, as he expresses even the minutest details of his life at this time. From his obvious enjoyment
His essays are a veritable who’s who of the literary elite, as he shares his impressions on such notables as Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, among others. As one would expect from such a larger-than-life character, he does not hold back in his praise, his sarcasm, or his honesty. The reader gets a very clear image of the life these expatriates lived at this time, all the while learning a bit more about Hemingway’s frame of mind. As acquaintance after acquaintance succumbs to mental instability, poverty, infamy, or illness in the form of suicide or death, Hemingway’s easy acceptance of such events is chilling, especially given the family history and his own unfortunate demise.
Hemingway’s obsession with taking a novel into new directions is apparent to even the casual reader, as he plays with his sentence structure and word choice in each new essay. He does not bother to hide his aspirations to be considered one of the world’s greatest authors and frequently references the fact that his own opinion of his ability as well as his works are extremely high already. The evolution of his skills and well as the growing sense of egotism at those skills is interesting to watch unfold, especially if the reader has experienced any of Hemingway’s other works.
A Moveable Feast is one of those novels of which a reader can easily finish in one sitting and enjoy every minute of it. Even the most depressing essays have their charm, while their glimpses of the artistic Parisian life in the 1920s are unparalleled. Ernest Hemingway simply comes alive again on each page. It is easy to see why some consider A Moveable Feast one of his best works, as Ernest Hemingway comes alive on each page.
Acknowledgements: I purchased this on my own.
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at eating and drinking, to his somewhat guilty pleasure at gambling on horses, to his very serious and methodical approach to his writing, every word is carefully crafted to afford the reader a very intimate glimpse into Papa Hemingway’s life as a young man and young father.His essays are a veritable who’s who of the literary elite, as he shares his impressions on such notables as Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, among others. As one would expect from such a larger-than-life character, he does not hold back in his praise, his sarcasm, or his honesty. The reader gets a very clear image of the life these expatriates lived at this time, all the while learning a bit more about Hemingway’s frame of mind. As acquaintance after acquaintance succumbs to mental instability, poverty, infamy, or illness in the form of suicide or death, Hemingway’s easy acceptance of such events is chilling, especially given the family history and his own unfortunate demise.
Hemingway’s obsession with taking a novel into new directions is apparent to even the casual reader, as he plays with his sentence structure and word choice in each new essay. He does not bother to hide his aspirations to be considered one of the world’s greatest authors and frequently references the fact that his own opinion of his ability as well as his works are extremely high already. The evolution of his skills and well as the growing sense of egotism at those skills is interesting to watch unfold, especially if the reader has experienced any of Hemingway’s other works.
A Moveable Feast is one of those novels of which a reader can easily finish in one sitting and enjoy every minute of it. Even the most depressing essays have their charm, while their glimpses of the artistic Parisian life in the 1920s are unparalleled. Ernest Hemingway simply comes alive again on each page. It is easy to see why some consider A Moveable Feast one of his best works, as Ernest Hemingway comes alive on each page.
Acknowledgements: I purchased this on my own.
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LibraryThing member SigmundFraud
Overrated. Some call it his best. In my opinion is isn't even near his best.
LibraryThing member technodiabla
I decided to read this after finishing The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein. It was amazing how different the two accounts are of the same time, place, and people. I have to say Hemingway is simply brilliant. He made me want to eat oysters even though I know I hate oysters. Every
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description made me feel I was there, though he clearly doesn't make a point of being descriptive. There's no real plot to the book; it's more like a series of vignettes, a travelogue almost. So, you won't be dying to find out what happens, but if you're at all interested in Paris in the 20s and writers' lives, you should read this. Show Less
LibraryThing member Sarah_Holroyd
I'm not entirely sure what I think of this book. It's basically a series of essays about Hemingway's early years in Paris, but there's not much of a connection between most of them, and they're not all necessarily in chronological order. But given that I read the book while in Paris, it was
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enjoyable to read about streets and quarters that I've been in. Show Less
LibraryThing member aelizabethj
It's still hard for me to fully enjoy Hemingway, especially with reading the Paris Wife alongside this. However, it's a very specific picture he paints of Paris and his writing, and I can appreciate and respect that.
LibraryThing member aylin1
Will rate this after a re-read of the classic version (possibly back to back with a re-read of this version depending on the time-table). Oh- seems like it is already rated by me. It is not differentiating between this edition and the classic one.
LibraryThing member konastories
Joy's review: Hemmingway's memories of his time in Paris in the 20's. A self-indulgent, poorly written book (yes, I really wrote that). Obviously there are flashes of great writing, but he really should have stuck to fiction. Worthwhile if you're on the way to Paris and a big Hemmingway fan or
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you're into the 1920's, but otherwise, don't bother. Show Less
LibraryThing member rmckeown
Part One: The Original
I love Paris in the summer, in the spring, and in the winter. Before each and every trip there, I re-read Hemingway’s great work on his years in Paris between the wars. When I heard about the restored edition, I could not wait to compare it to the version I know and love.
This memoir never grows old. Someday I want to spend a long period of time in Paris, and wander through the streets and visit the cafes Hemingway mentions. Some of them I have sat in and watched the boulevardiers pass along with strolling musicians, magicians, and mimes. I always made time to have a drink at Aux du Magots – a favorite hangout of writers, artists, and philosophers. Montmartre, the artist’s quarter, also played a role in his story. I still love this book.
Part Two: The Restored Edition
Two chapters have been moved another two deleted and replaced with another two. Other than that not many changes to the book. A casual reader might barely notice the differences. The additional chapter on F. Scott Fitzgerald added another incident to that tragic life. The chapter entitled “The Education of Mr. Brumby,” Hemingway and Hadley’s son, was interesting, because it revealed something of Hemingway as the doting father.
The best part of the revisions, however, came in a collection of fragments not included in the earlier version. One involved Hemingway’s assignment to follow a young Canadian boxer fighting for the first time in France. Another involved numerous fragments of a preface, which he never finished. The stops and starts and restarts of these show an interesting insight into the process of writing. The introduction provides a history of the manuscript. Apparently, Hemingway worked on this while he was in Paris between the wars, then lost track of it until the late 50s. He was still revising the manuscript when he died in 1961.
As I said, one of my all-time favorites, and the new material hasn’t changed my mind about that. If you plan on visiting Paris, read it on the plane to France. Make some notes and visit some of the places which are still there, visit some new spots, and you can create your own “Moveable Feast.” 5 stars
--Jim, 11/29/09
I love Paris in the summer, in the spring, and in the winter. Before each and every trip there, I re-read Hemingway’s great work on his years in Paris between the wars. When I heard about the restored edition, I could not wait to compare it to the version I know and love.
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First, I re-read the original.This memoir never grows old. Someday I want to spend a long period of time in Paris, and wander through the streets and visit the cafes Hemingway mentions. Some of them I have sat in and watched the boulevardiers pass along with strolling musicians, magicians, and mimes. I always made time to have a drink at Aux du Magots – a favorite hangout of writers, artists, and philosophers. Montmartre, the artist’s quarter, also played a role in his story. I still love this book.
Part Two: The Restored Edition
Two chapters have been moved another two deleted and replaced with another two. Other than that not many changes to the book. A casual reader might barely notice the differences. The additional chapter on F. Scott Fitzgerald added another incident to that tragic life. The chapter entitled “The Education of Mr. Brumby,” Hemingway and Hadley’s son, was interesting, because it revealed something of Hemingway as the doting father.
The best part of the revisions, however, came in a collection of fragments not included in the earlier version. One involved Hemingway’s assignment to follow a young Canadian boxer fighting for the first time in France. Another involved numerous fragments of a preface, which he never finished. The stops and starts and restarts of these show an interesting insight into the process of writing. The introduction provides a history of the manuscript. Apparently, Hemingway worked on this while he was in Paris between the wars, then lost track of it until the late 50s. He was still revising the manuscript when he died in 1961.
As I said, one of my all-time favorites, and the new material hasn’t changed my mind about that. If you plan on visiting Paris, read it on the plane to France. Make some notes and visit some of the places which are still there, visit some new spots, and you can create your own “Moveable Feast.” 5 stars
--Jim, 11/29/09
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LibraryThing member Narshkite
A beautiful glimpse into a moment, a place, which will never be repeated. Sure, Hemingway is delusional, and unable or unwilling to grasp his responsibility for everything, but that doesn't make the story less.
LibraryThing member bibliophile_pgh
This is a must read for anyone who has read Hemmingway.
LibraryThing member Anne_Green
His classic "memoir" of the early writing days in Paris - engrossing and at times bitchy account of his contemporaries in the literary world of Paris in the 1920s.
LibraryThing member JenBurge
I really admire Hemingway's ability to tell it how it is without giving us pages of description. The stories come across as more real, more true to life even though they took place almost a century ago. Much of what was true then is true now, especially when it comes down to the character of a
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person. I don't think that the additions to the end of this particular version are of any special worth other than to show he was a writer dedicated to perfecting his craft- don't we know this already? I also think that, had I not known of some of the characters and the general life of Hemingway in Paris, this would have been confusing. It means more knowing the background of his story, whether its fictionalised or not. That said, I enjoyed the book thoroughly and enjoyed the view of 1920's Paris it provided me. Show Less
LibraryThing member Carmenere
I read A Moveable Feast several years ago and enjoyed it quite a lot. Surprisingly, the restored edition was made even more enjoyable by Sean Hemingway's Introduction to the original text. When the reader looks at each of the nineteen sections of this book as "The Paris Sketches", as Sean suggests,
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you are able to see not only Hemingway's personality come through but also of those he writes about. The eccentricities of his contemporaries is enlightening and amusing. His love of his wife, Hadley, son, Bumby, skiing and writing are evident. Yet, as A Moveable Feast was written 30+ years after his separation from Hadley, his regret and sadness seem to add a somberness to the book and as an older man he contemplates the fate of his old friends and his former self. Show Less
LibraryThing member nicolewbrown
Ernest Hemingway talks about many topics in his atrocious book A Moveable Feast. He covers his dislike of F. Scott Fitzgerald as a person. Skiing in Austria with his young son Bumby and his wife Hadley. His friendship with Ezra Pound. His acquaintanceship with Miss Gertrude Stein and her wife Alice
His friendship with Fitzgerald was a rocky one in that Fitzgerald was friendlier to him then he was to Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was an alcoholic. Not that Hemingway likely was one too. They were just different kinds of alcoholics. Fitzgerald was bright and brassy until everything wasn't type of alcoholic. Hemingway was the calm and quiet drink your troubles away type of alcoholic. Hemingway liked The Great Gatsby and saw talent in Fitzgerald if only he could get his act together. But he hated his short stories. Which I can't believe because I've read Fitzgerald's short stories and they're brilliant. Yes. Confession time. I'm more of a Fitzgerald person than a Hemingway person. I've never liked Hemingway and only read this book for my book club.
His relationship with Miss Gertrude Stein was an interesting one considering Hemingway's machoness wouldn't allow for gays to exist. He even says so in a conversation they have that he keeps a knife on him for the purpose of killing any gay man that comes on to him. What surprised me was Stein's response in that "the act male homosexuals commit is ugly and repugnant and afterwards they are disgusted with themselves. They drink, take drugs, to palliate this, but they are disgusted with the act and they are always changing partners and cannot be really happy." But that women do nothing disgusting between themselves and therefore happy and healthy. It's hard to believe that a gay person would believe this of another gay person.
I honestly hated this book. Though it was interesting to read about how they went skiing back then. There were no ski lifts so you had to walk up the mountain to the top to ski down it which was dangerous. It was mostly filled with Hemingway's usual style of macho bullshit which I cannot abide. This wasn't so much a book about his time in Paris in the twenties as a "look at how great I am" vignettes. And the last one was the worst because he blames the breakup of his marriage on his third wife when it was likely his fault. I give this book one star out of five.
Quotes
“Is Ezra a gentleman?” I asked. “Of course not,” Ford said. “He’s an American.”
-Ernest Hemingway (A Moveable Feast p 78)
They say the seeds of what we will do are in all of us, but it always seemed to me that in those who make jokikes in life the seeds are covered with better soil and with a lighter grade of manure.
-Ernest Hemingway (A Moveable Feast p 86)
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P. Tolkas. It talks about his writing and how hard it can be sometimes to get time to write. This book includes unfinished sketches he had written and placed them in the back of the book.His friendship with Fitzgerald was a rocky one in that Fitzgerald was friendlier to him then he was to Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was an alcoholic. Not that Hemingway likely was one too. They were just different kinds of alcoholics. Fitzgerald was bright and brassy until everything wasn't type of alcoholic. Hemingway was the calm and quiet drink your troubles away type of alcoholic. Hemingway liked The Great Gatsby and saw talent in Fitzgerald if only he could get his act together. But he hated his short stories. Which I can't believe because I've read Fitzgerald's short stories and they're brilliant. Yes. Confession time. I'm more of a Fitzgerald person than a Hemingway person. I've never liked Hemingway and only read this book for my book club.
His relationship with Miss Gertrude Stein was an interesting one considering Hemingway's machoness wouldn't allow for gays to exist. He even says so in a conversation they have that he keeps a knife on him for the purpose of killing any gay man that comes on to him. What surprised me was Stein's response in that "the act male homosexuals commit is ugly and repugnant and afterwards they are disgusted with themselves. They drink, take drugs, to palliate this, but they are disgusted with the act and they are always changing partners and cannot be really happy." But that women do nothing disgusting between themselves and therefore happy and healthy. It's hard to believe that a gay person would believe this of another gay person.
I honestly hated this book. Though it was interesting to read about how they went skiing back then. There were no ski lifts so you had to walk up the mountain to the top to ski down it which was dangerous. It was mostly filled with Hemingway's usual style of macho bullshit which I cannot abide. This wasn't so much a book about his time in Paris in the twenties as a "look at how great I am" vignettes. And the last one was the worst because he blames the breakup of his marriage on his third wife when it was likely his fault. I give this book one star out of five.
Quotes
“Is Ezra a gentleman?” I asked. “Of course not,” Ford said. “He’s an American.”
-Ernest Hemingway (A Moveable Feast p 78)
They say the seeds of what we will do are in all of us, but it always seemed to me that in those who make jokikes in life the seeds are covered with better soil and with a lighter grade of manure.
-Ernest Hemingway (A Moveable Feast p 86)
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LibraryThing member OccassionalRead
A Moveable Feast is non-fiction, an account of Hemingway's years in Paris, young and poor, with his wife Hadley, his infant son, John, nicknamed Bumby, and their cat, F Puss. It's eminently readable, broken into mostly short chapters, where you are introduced to and are privy to some of the
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conversations he had with Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Sylvia Beach, and others. You also drink with him at various bars and cafes, join him on a ski trip to Austria, stroll along the Seine with him where he knew and admired many of the fishermen and book sellers, learn about his writing habits, experience some of his thoughts. He wrote the book in his late 50s, near the end of his life by suicide, before he lost the ability to write. You'd think he had a remarkable memory, but in fact he kept notes and used these to shape the book, which Hemingway tells you in the introduction you can consider fiction if you wish. There is a vast love of Paris contained in these pages, and of the life he had once led before he divorced his first wife whom he seemed to adore. Along with this love there is an unmistakable sorrow, that of an old man reminiscing about a distant and longed for past when you were young and had all the world to live for. Show Less
LibraryThing member LoveAtFirstBook
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
My third Jazz Age January pick is A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. After my reviews of The Paris Wife and The Sun Also Rises
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway is in short story form, sharing anecdotes that cover his early years in Paris. There are tales of Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and of more drinking partners than I can probably name!
I believe that a huge part of the appeal to this book is his closeness with other famous writers. I know that it’s something that kept me interested in the stories.
My favorite story is called Birth of a New School, where Hemingway is writing at “his” cafe, a cafe that’s kind of off the beaten path for his group of friends, when an acquaintance starts talking to him and won’t leave him alone. It’s a really witty tale, and I think it shows how Hemingway wants to have things go his way all the time.
I also loved Hemingway’s talk of books. There was a rental library where he had to pay a subscription in order to check out books. It’s like the public library, but charges a fee, which is kind of cool.
For the full review, visit Love at First Book
My third Jazz Age January pick is A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. After my reviews of The Paris Wife and The Sun Also Rises
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published, I had more than a few people recommend A Moveable Feast to me.A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway is in short story form, sharing anecdotes that cover his early years in Paris. There are tales of Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and of more drinking partners than I can probably name!
I believe that a huge part of the appeal to this book is his closeness with other famous writers. I know that it’s something that kept me interested in the stories.
My favorite story is called Birth of a New School, where Hemingway is writing at “his” cafe, a cafe that’s kind of off the beaten path for his group of friends, when an acquaintance starts talking to him and won’t leave him alone. It’s a really witty tale, and I think it shows how Hemingway wants to have things go his way all the time.
I also loved Hemingway’s talk of books. There was a rental library where he had to pay a subscription in order to check out books. It’s like the public library, but charges a fee, which is kind of cool.
For the full review, visit Love at First Book
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LibraryThing member ladycato
I had to read The Old Man and the Sea in college. I did not like it. Found it dry as a bone. Some of Hemingway's stories were not as bad, but I would never consider myself a fan.
Having read A Moveable Feast, though, I find myself moved more toward neutrality than dislike. I recognized many lines
The way he writes about Paris in the early 1920s is absolutely mesmerizing. This cosmopolitan city of incredible gardens, museums, and diverse cafes, where in the morning goats are still herded through the streets, with milk fresh from the source to those who pay.
My edition of the book had an informative intro that explained changes that Hemingway's last wife made to the first edition of this book, published after his death, and appended material at the end includes unfinished chapters and a fascinating couple pages of drafts of the starting paragraphs of the book.
Having read A Moveable Feast, though, I find myself moved more toward neutrality than dislike. I recognized many lines
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throughout, having encountered them as inspirational quotes for writers in one place or another. Further more, I respected him for his ability to compartmentalize his own life--looking at his early time in Paris, his young adulthood, within the context of the time period rather than with the full weight of age and bitterness. This is especially true of how he writes about his first wife, Hadley, who he betrays with the woman who will become his second wife. He also paints a vivid portrait of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda--not a flattering portrait, but one that feels complex and honest (note to self: never, ever take a trip with the Fitzgeralds).The way he writes about Paris in the early 1920s is absolutely mesmerizing. This cosmopolitan city of incredible gardens, museums, and diverse cafes, where in the morning goats are still herded through the streets, with milk fresh from the source to those who pay.
My edition of the book had an informative intro that explained changes that Hemingway's last wife made to the first edition of this book, published after his death, and appended material at the end includes unfinished chapters and a fascinating couple pages of drafts of the starting paragraphs of the book.
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LibraryThing member hardlyhardy
Published in 1964 after Ernest Hemingway's death, “A Moveable Feast” is itself something of a movable feast. Just as Easter, a movable feast, skips around on the calendar from one year to the next, so this book doesn't stay put. The copy I purchased at Hemingway House in Key West a few years
The title, though a good one, wasn't his idea. Among the titles Hemingway had considered were “The Part Nobody Knows,” “To Hope and Write Well (The Paris Stories),” To Love and Write Well,” “To Write It True,” “How It Began” and “How Different It Was When You Were There.” The restored edition includes 19 chapters, plus 10 other Paris "sketches," many of which had clearly been omitted previously for good reason.
In this book, even the truth is something of a movable feast. Although generally regarded as a memoir of his experiences in Paris in the 1920s, Hemingway himself called it fiction, and often it reads like his fiction. When he quotes other people, they all talk like characters in his novels.
Various people have had a hand in shaping “A Moveable Feast” over the years. His last wife, Mary, put the original book together, which may have been a challenge since much of it is about his first wife, Hadley. Later Hemingway's sons had input into its contents. A son (Patrick) writes the foreword for this edition, and a grandson (Sean) writes the introduction.
Hemingway may be at his best in these essays (or stories or sketches or whatever they are) when speaking about writers and writing. Best of all are his pieces on F. Scott Fitzgerald, especially one about the two of them going by train to Lyon to pick up a car and drive it back to Paris. It is a comic tale, fueled by Fitzgerald's hypochondria, his inability to hold his liquor and the fact that the car lacks a top and it rains frequently on the drive home. Elsewhere Fitzgerald is portrayed as a sadder figure because of his drinking, his difficulty in writing and Zelda's (his wife) jealousy whenever he attempts to write rather than spend time drinking with her.
Comments about Gertrude Stein, Ford Madox Ford and Ezra Pound are also fine, as is his short piece on Sylvia Beach, owner of Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris (not the same one that exists today along the Seine). At one point Hemingway refers to Pound as a saint, interesting because the poet later moved to Italy and supported the fascists.
There is much to like in “A Moveable Feast,” as well as much that will make one wonder why it was ever included.
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ago is called "the restored edition," supposedly put back the way Hemingway wanted it, except that Hemingway died before deciding what it should contain, or even if it was worth publishing at all.The title, though a good one, wasn't his idea. Among the titles Hemingway had considered were “The Part Nobody Knows,” “To Hope and Write Well (The Paris Stories),” To Love and Write Well,” “To Write It True,” “How It Began” and “How Different It Was When You Were There.” The restored edition includes 19 chapters, plus 10 other Paris "sketches," many of which had clearly been omitted previously for good reason.
In this book, even the truth is something of a movable feast. Although generally regarded as a memoir of his experiences in Paris in the 1920s, Hemingway himself called it fiction, and often it reads like his fiction. When he quotes other people, they all talk like characters in his novels.
Various people have had a hand in shaping “A Moveable Feast” over the years. His last wife, Mary, put the original book together, which may have been a challenge since much of it is about his first wife, Hadley. Later Hemingway's sons had input into its contents. A son (Patrick) writes the foreword for this edition, and a grandson (Sean) writes the introduction.
Hemingway may be at his best in these essays (or stories or sketches or whatever they are) when speaking about writers and writing. Best of all are his pieces on F. Scott Fitzgerald, especially one about the two of them going by train to Lyon to pick up a car and drive it back to Paris. It is a comic tale, fueled by Fitzgerald's hypochondria, his inability to hold his liquor and the fact that the car lacks a top and it rains frequently on the drive home. Elsewhere Fitzgerald is portrayed as a sadder figure because of his drinking, his difficulty in writing and Zelda's (his wife) jealousy whenever he attempts to write rather than spend time drinking with her.
Comments about Gertrude Stein, Ford Madox Ford and Ezra Pound are also fine, as is his short piece on Sylvia Beach, owner of Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris (not the same one that exists today along the Seine). At one point Hemingway refers to Pound as a saint, interesting because the poet later moved to Italy and supported the fascists.
There is much to like in “A Moveable Feast,” as well as much that will make one wonder why it was ever included.
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LibraryThing member lynelle.clark.5
It was recommended to me by an online writer’s masterclass I attended in January 2020. I need to add that I have never read any of Mr Hemingway’s books though I know him through the many quotes that frequent the writer’s world. I have learned to have respect for what he had achieved and the
My expectation quickly turned to confusion. Since I had done the writer’s masterclass in January, I cannot remember why it was recommended. It could be that we talked about memoirs and how to write it…
Maybe it has to do with the time difference, though I love a beautifully written historical. So, it cannot be the reason. On the plus side, Paris became alive through his telling and though he considered himself poor his life was not poor. Just imagine sitting at a café while you enjoy a glass of wine with equally skilled writers and poets; it would be a dream come true. Today we don’t have the privilege to mix with other writers like he did.
With that said, here are the things I didn’t like.
Too clunky, too many sticky words and too long sentences. Writing from then to now definitely had changed.
Then all the throat clearing. Pages of dialogue-soaked throat-clearing that you skip just to get to what he tries to say. In the end, I stopped with the book and thought if he could write and become famous, I can as well.
Did my respect for the older writers diminish? No, it didn’t. If not for them we would not have the writer’s community, we have today. They laid the foundation for us and for that they deserve our admiration.
The book will leave you with a mixture of admiration, awe, and confusion but it is still worth the time. Even if just for what you can learn from it.
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legacy he had left behind. So, I went in with great expectation but… there is always a but, correct.My expectation quickly turned to confusion. Since I had done the writer’s masterclass in January, I cannot remember why it was recommended. It could be that we talked about memoirs and how to write it…
Maybe it has to do with the time difference, though I love a beautifully written historical. So, it cannot be the reason. On the plus side, Paris became alive through his telling and though he considered himself poor his life was not poor. Just imagine sitting at a café while you enjoy a glass of wine with equally skilled writers and poets; it would be a dream come true. Today we don’t have the privilege to mix with other writers like he did.
With that said, here are the things I didn’t like.
Too clunky, too many sticky words and too long sentences. Writing from then to now definitely had changed.
Then all the throat clearing. Pages of dialogue-soaked throat-clearing that you skip just to get to what he tries to say. In the end, I stopped with the book and thought if he could write and become famous, I can as well.
Did my respect for the older writers diminish? No, it didn’t. If not for them we would not have the writer’s community, we have today. They laid the foundation for us and for that they deserve our admiration.
The book will leave you with a mixture of admiration, awe, and confusion but it is still worth the time. Even if just for what you can learn from it.
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2009-07 (restored edition)
LC: 2009017587
Physical description
256 p.; 8.44 inches
ISBN
143918271X / 9781439182710