THE SUN ALSO RISES
Background notes on
Ernest Hemingway and
The Lost Generation
BACKGROUND ON
HEMINGWAY
• Ernest Hemingway, a
giant of American
literature, won the Nobel
Prize for Literature in
1954.
• Major works are The Sun
Also Rises (1926), A
Farewell to Arms (1929),
For Whom the Bell Tolls
(1940), and The Old Man
and the Sea (1952).
ICEBERG METAPHOR
• Hemingway’s writing
seems very simple, but he
writes using the “Iceberg
Theory” (understatement).
• With an iceberg, 7/8th’s of
the iceberg is beneath the
surface; this is analogous
to Hemingway’s prose,
where there is just a little
bit above the surface-most of the meaning is
beneath the surface.
THE LOST GENERATION
• Gertrude Stein, a writer who ran
a literary “salon” in Paris in the
1920’s, said to Hemingway,
“All you people who served in
the war, you are all a lost
generation.” Originally this
term referred to all the young
men who died in WWI, but
Stein used it to refer to the
writers and artists who lived in
Paris after the war. They were
“lost” in that they eschewed
traditional lives.
LOST GENERATION continued
• Violently affected by the carnage of WWI
and disillusioned with their society’s values
characterized by greed, materialism and
provincialism (such as prohibition),these
expatriate American writers and artists fled
to Paris where they could pursue their art
and live a bohemian lifestyle, which meant
living life in the fast lane (parties, drinking,
relationships, travel).
American Expatriates in Paris
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
(The Great Gatsby)
and his wife, Zelda,
like Hemingway, were
among the writers and
artists who hung out in
Paris in the 1920’s.
Dominant Belief of the
Expatriates
• After suffering so from the
horror that was WWI, the
expatriates embraced a
philosophy of carpe diem
(live life to its fullest
now), for after death is
death. The converse of
carpe diem is “memento
mori,” which means
remember death and
repent (Calvinistic idea).
MAJOR CHARACTERS IN THE
NOVEL
Jake Barnes—
• the main character
• is an American journalist living
in post-war Paris
• likes to drink, fish, watch the
bullfights
• Was wounded in the war on the
Italian front
• Is deeply in love with Lady
Brett Ashley
Robert Cohn—
• is a sometime writer
• plays tennis
• former Princeton boy who
boxed in college
• is a bit of an outsider in his
crowd because he’s Jewish
• is a dilettante (likes to dabble in
different things)
• at the beginning of the novel, he
is seeing Frances.
MAJOR CHARACTERS CONT.
Frances—
• is a strong-willed
American woman
• speaks fluent French
• is having an affair at the
beginning of the novel
with Robert Cohn
Brett Ashley—
• a drop-dead gorgeous
Englishwoman
• has a history with Jake
• was a nurse in the war
• is unconventional (likes to
drink, party, flirt, have
fun)
HEMINGWAY’S CODE
• The Hemingway hero has to adhere to a strict code,
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including:
self-discipline
being able to hold one’s liquor
always being in control of oneself and able to handle any
situation
belief that action matters, not talk
belief that work/skill is what matters
loyalty to a small group of friends (not country or God)
enjoying the small things in life
THE THREE SECTIONS OF
THE SUN ALSO RISES
• The Paris section,
which is a series of
loosely linked stories
Three Sections continued
• The fishing trip in
northern Spain (is an
escape from the city
and from women and
represents a sort of
Edenic paradise).
Three Sections finis
Fiesta at Pamplona,Spain
• An aficionado of bullfighting, Hemingway
saw the bullfights as
representing man’s
struggle against death
The End