The Sun Also Rises (1926)

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by Ernest Hemingway



Ernest Hemingway's classic novel explores the dissipated lives of expatriates in Europe in the years following WWI, most notably the ill-fated pair of Jake Barnes, who suffers from an emasculating war wound, and Lady Brett Ashley, the beautiful woman who entrances every man she meets but shares emotional intimacy only with Jake.

 


We are treated to the café lifestyle of the Lost Generation in Paris, followed by a trip to Pamplona to witness the running of the bulls, all of it liberally lubricated by alcohol.

 


But despite the nearly non-stop pleasure-seeking, there is very little joy for the characters in this book.

 


It all has the feel of a party that has gone on too long; the partygoers become irritated with each other because they should have all gone back to their "real" lives long ago.

 


Unfortunately, they are not sure what their real lives should consist of, so they grasp at temporary relationships that always end badly, leaving them ever more jaded and unsatisfied.

 


This is dramatized powerfully by the cloud of men buzzing around the lovely and charming Brett, who abandons each in turn when the threat of physical and emotional intimacy becomes too great.

 


It is Jake's inability to perform the physical act of love that enables their extended emotional connection, making him the person she turns to after each failed affair.

 


I suspect that if Jake were not wounded as he is, she would flee from him as well, and the final paragraphs of the novel make it clear that Jake thinks so, too.

 


If there are few pleasures for the characters, there are many for the reader.

 


In addition to Hemingway's masterful depiction of character, the novel works as a travelogue, particularly in his wonderful evocation of Spain.

 

Ernest Hemingway


This novel is rightly considered to be a classic.



"The Sun Also Rises" (French)

"The Sun Also Rises" (Turkish)

"Fiesta: The Sun Always Rises" (Portuguese)

"And the Sun Rises" (Estonian)

"Fiesta: The Sun Will Rise Again" (Italian)

"And the Sun Rises" (Dutch)

"The Sun Also Rises" (Slovak)

"And the Sun Rises" (Finnish)

"The Sun Also Rises" (Polish)

"And the Sun Runs Its Course" (Norwegian)

"The Sun Continues to Shine" (Persian)

"The Sun Also Rises" (Japanese)

"The Sun Rises Again" (Greek)

"Fiesta" (Romanian)

"Fiesta" (German)

"The Sun Also Rises as Usual" (Chinese)

"Fiesta" (Russian)

"The Sun Will Rise" (Arabic)

"And the Rise of the Sun" (Hebrew)

"The Sun Is Rising" (Bulgarian)

"The Sun Still Rises" (Vietnamese)

"The Sun Rises Again" (Korean)


Comments

  1. James ReasonerSeptember 11, 2022 at 3:20 PM

    My favorite Hemingway novel, and the movie is pretty darned good, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. David BSeptember 12, 2022 at 12:02 AM

    I haven't seen the movie yet, but I love the book.

    ReplyDelete

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