See caption at end of this post |
PILLAR
TO POST’s SEMI BOOK CLUB
PLOT
FOR THE SUN ALSO RISES—Tonight’s
the night to shut off the TV, put the cat out and curl up with a good
book. Problem is who reads anymore? Hmmm? How about curling up
with a good synopsis of a good book. That’s better than nothing.
THE
SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway. Published in 1926 by Scribner’s.
The
protagonist of “The Sun Also Rises” is Jake Barnes, an expatriate
American journalist living in Paris. Jake suffered a war wound that
has caused him to be impotent; the nature of his injury is not
explicitly described in the novel. He is in love with Lady Brett
Ashley, a twice-divorced Englishwoman. Brett, with her bobbed hair,
embodies the new sexual freedom of the 1920s, having had numerous
love affairs.
Book
One is set in the Café society of Paris. In the opening scenes, Jake
plays tennis with his college friend Robert Cohn, picks up a
prostitute (Georgette), and runs into Brett and Count Mippipopolous
in a nightclub. Brett and Jake leave together; in a taxi she tells
him she loves him, but they know they have no chance at a lasting
relationship.
In
Book Two Jake is joined by Bill Gorton, recently arrived from New
York, and Brett's fiancé Mike Campbell, who arrives from Scotland.
Jake and Bill travel to Spain, where they meet Robert Cohn north of
Pamplona for a fishing trip. Cohn, however, leaves for Pamplona to
wait for Brett and Mike. Cohn had an affair with Brett a few weeks
earlier and still feels possessive of her despite her engagement to
Mike.
Jake
and Bill enjoy five days of tranquility, fishing the streams near
Burguete, after which they rejoin the group in Pamplona, where they
begin to drink heavily.
Cohn's
presence is increasingly resented by the others, who taunt him with
anti-semitic remarks.
During
the fiesta the characters drink, eat, watch the running of the bulls,
attend bullfights, and bicker with each other. Jake introduces Brett
to Romero at Montoya's hotel; she is smitten with the 19-year-old
matador and seduces him. The jealous tension among the men builds;
Jake, Campbell, Cohn, and Romero each love Brett. Cohn, who had been
a champion boxer in college, has fistfights with Jake, Mike, and
Romero, whom he injures. Despite the tension, Romero continues to
perform brilliantly in the bullring.
Book
Three shows the characters in the aftermath of the fiesta. Sober
again, they leave Pamplona. Bill returns to Paris, Mike stays in
Bayonne, and Jake goes to San Sebastián in northeastern Spain. As
Jake is about to return to Paris, he receives a telegram from Brett
asking for help; she had left with Romero for Madrid. He finds her in
a cheap hotel, without money, and without Romero. She announces she
has decided to go back to Mike. The novel ends with Jake and Brett in
a taxi speaking of the things that might have been.
CAPTION:
To
be a nosy waiter at this table? The Ernest Hemingway Party of Six
sits at an outdoor café in Pamplona, Spain during the July, 1925
Fiesta of San Fermin. Individuals at the table were supposedly
depicted in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises.”
Left
to right: Hemingway, Harold Loeb, Lady Duff Twysden, Elizabeth Hadley
Richardson Hemingway, Ogden Stewart and Pat Guthrie.
Reportedly,
Hemingway left Spain with his wife and returned to their home in
Austria, where he began writing “The Sun Also Rises.” It was
published in 1926.
SUNDAY REVIEW—A new online literary review
appearing exclusively on Pillar to Post (www.tomshess.blogspot.com).
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