"The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to his place where he arose. The wind goes toward the south, and turns about to the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; to the place from where the rivers come, thither they return again."
I was browsing books and I found THIS awesome book for my dad for father's day. It is a compilation of short stories of terror hand picked by Mr. Alfred Hitchcock himself. And then I also picked up The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I had never read Hemingway and felt intimidated, but also ready. I was intrigued by the script on the back cover..."wild nightlife of 1920s Paris...bull-fighting rings of Spain...bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions."
So I read it. It is now one of my favorite books. I liked thinking of it in context. How was Hemingway regarded in his era? Did people think his writing style was revolutionary, or too plain and simple? Did people think his subject matter a bit scandalous? Where there people who related to these characters and felt exposed?
I've never read a story with so much emptiness. It felt like the characters had big cannonball sized holes in their gut. How did they drink all that wine with no stomachs to keep it in? I think these characters closely reflected Hemingway's life; how sad.
It was also thrilling for a girl trying to figure out where to honeymoon! Paris, San Sebastian, Bayonne, Pamplona, Burguete, Madrid it seems like quite a trip! Yes, I really tried to talk Brian into San Sebastian for a few days.
It has inspired me to try some more classics that I have previously been intimidated by...
Oh, I read For Whom the Bell Tolls this spring for the first time, and was shocked at how good it is. It's great! I guess that stuff is classic for a reason, right? It was my first Hemingway; now I'm definitely going to look up Sun Also Rises.
ReplyDelete