BookReview
TheSunAlsoRises by ErnestHemingway
LIVE THE LIFE
The novel opens with this quote from Gertrud Stein“You are the lost generation.”and
a passage from Ecclesiastes in which the title the sun also rises appears and the view
that life goes on even though we individual humans pass.
The Sun Also Rises is Ernest Hemingway’s first novel which sets in the bars and cafes
of Paris and the bull rings of Pamplona during the Festival of San Fermin and the
running of the bulls in the 1920s. The story is about a group of young Americans and
English expatriats in Paris trying to enjoy their lives after World WarI.
It successfully portrays its characters as survivors of a “lost generation.”The story is
told from the perspective of Jake Barnes, an expatriate journalist who works for an
American station in Paris.
At first , Barnes introduces the circle of his friends,among them are Robert Cohn,
Lady Brett, Mike and Bill.
.
While reading I find that the narrator,Jake Barnes, is different. Firstly because he is on
a quest, almost scientific in nature, to discover a deeper meaning and pattern to life.
His way of reacting to the chaos is still to strive to convince himself that the world is
“a good place to buy in” (148). Secondly , He most closely resembles Hemingway's
own voice insomuch that he likes booze, broads, fights, bulls, and all things macho.
So I turn to the Internet,there I find out that the material for the novel resulted from a
journey Hemingway made with his first wife, Hadley Richardson, and several friends
to Pamplona, Spain, in 1925. Among them were the sources of those main characters.
So this is a "book of real characters".
Actually,I think the book gets some holes.When I am halfway through,the boozy
scenes, contrarian dialogue, and witty interpersonal conflicts begin to run together and
it feels a little bit boring. But just as I gets to the point to stop reading ,the action
moves to Spain, Papa's(Hemingway’s nickname) gorgeous eye for detail reappears,
and the novel starts to come back to life again., his last third of the bookdescrib the
fiesta in Pamplona, with its bulls, its breathless country, and the romantic
entanglements of his circle of friends. I am absorbed.
Hemingway’s account is both gripping and as vivid as photographs. It resonates with
me is due to their collection of moments, breathtaking moments either in detail,
dialogue or action and it's succinctness, clarity and austerity.
His words are so simple at times that I feel that a little child might have written it ("I
could not find the bathroom. After a while I found it.") but then there comes through
an honesty .Back to his time,the real, meaningless life is simple like that，isn’t it?
Then I recall that Mr Huang xie’an said this writing style went on to influence
American short story writing for decades.
As a result, I began to pay attention to the language, and find these sentences :
I can't stand it to think my life is going so fast and I'm not really living it.
Don't you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you're not taking
advantage of it? Do you realize you've lived nearly half the time you have to live
already?
... and a feeling of things coming that you could not prevent happening.
Though the lost generation is in agony, the philosophy of this book is "face life like it
is." People are lost because they are striving to find an order for their world, a world
that has been shattered. Their hope is to create a ritual like that of the bull fighters in
order to give their life meaning. At worst, they merely have the courage to see that
they are forlorn. They are "brought in by a birth they did not choose and a death
toward which they must inexorably move." The excessive drinking of the entire group
is symptomatic of their dread of cold reality.They are alive but not really live.
In fact,not only them ,everyone in modern society has ,more or less,the same
problem.I will feel my life going by too fast to grab at times and I even tend to evade
difficulties.But,like the title says,the sun rises in spite of world’s chaos. So just take
the phylosophy of “facing life like it is”. Live the life to the fullest!