Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway *

10 thoughts on “Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway *”

1. what a review! never loved Hemingway myself, but paid great heed to his opinions on cocktails

2. I know, David … I felt so disheartened after I read it I could not even bring myself to think about it. I found it pointless. And yes, I know what people say about the character of Brett and all that … but it just felt like a bad Gatsby or ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’. I went to Cuba to all Hemingway’s places (Ambos Mundos, La Bodeguida, etc) and sampled his cocktails. Give me a good beer, any day.

3. here is a quick take, or maybe it’s a slow take, but written quickly: it’s masculine (at least by reputation) to know his writing and his cocktails.
   many years ago, when I was reading The book you reviewed so mercilessly I was also reading Henry Miller. Loved the one, was bored by the other. But it’s hard to say such a thing out loud at a time when Miller was ignored in Canada, for whatever reason…
   I have always joked about the cocktails thing, but really do think there is a weird man’s man issue around the attraction to his writing. I am sure there’re real reasons to love Hemingway, but not to me. Give me the perversity of Tropic of Cancer

4. And humour!

5. Not long ago, I made a calculation of many books I will read if I continue at the current rate and live to be 80. The scary thing is that I owe three times more, so there are two third of my books that will never get read. I do not have time for clunky writing, and I found Hemingway’s painfully so. (I should point out that i also don’t have time for the many crime novels I read, but that is an addiction I am trying to overcome). Your analysis is poignant and explains a lot David. I know many men for whom Hemingway is the pinnacle of literature … I am with you and between Miller and Hemingway I prefer Hemingway, although not by that long a shot. But Miller was Anais Nin’s lover and inspired Henry and June and that earns him points. He also wrote my favourite writing manifesto: https://www.lauragonzalez.co.uk/2012/02/23/11-writing-commandments-from-henry-miller/

   Who are you reading now, David?

6. I understand not loving Henry Miller particularly. I do love him, I think, because when i read those books I found myself in the presence of the same swinish thoughts that had filled m y head for a troubling time, and which i had thought made me a bad person, an untrustworthy asshole. I guess i loved miller for that consolation.
   Just like you I have a dangerous, distracting compulsion. In my case it’s the pulp horror fiction of HP Lovecraft. The Mountains of madness is what I just finished a couple of nights ago. Is that wrong? It’s all so soothing somehow…
   On a more doctoral note, I just got back from Anaheim where I presented my paper at Siggraph 2013. you can read the paper at leonardo’s current issue, if you are willing to pay. http://www.leonardo.info/isast/journal/currentiss.html

7. Will send you the paper for free in couple of months, after the editors say its OK…
   Am thinking a lot about open source issues, and kind of like it, coming to my phd so late…

8. Thank you so much, David. I would love to read your Siggraph paper.

   I have tried to overcome my addiction in 2013, by creating a book list. I have been doing very well and I have just had my first moment of weakness (see my next review). It has been very hard work, though. And although my books have more stars than those last year, I am not sure if pleasure was as high. Funny that. Perhaps I should only read Muriel Spark for the rest of my life, as she gives me everything. I have thought about it … Anything you recommend I MUST read for 2014? I am crafting my list here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6885416-laura-gonzalez?shelf=to-read-2014

9. This was one of the worst books I ever read. Racist, misogynistic, terrible writing, uninteresting flat characters. My review: http://www.mytwostotinki.com/?p=602

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