Hemingway and company

In 1921, Hemingway arrived in Paris with his wife, Hadley, feverish ambition, a charming grin and not much else. He left seven years later with a different wife, an international reputation and a host of scorched relationships,  some of whom had become the characters in his breakthrough novel, The Sun Also Rises. What happened in-between was the subject of Everybody Behaves Badly, by Leslie Blume.

Hemingway was a genius at ingratiating himself with the literary expat crowd in Paris, becoming in short order a key part of the literary scene while working as a journalist. Reading the two books back to back was a very interesting experience, and most of us were really interested in the juxtaposition. The novel itself, to most of us, felt dated, tired and not very compelling, at least not until the very last pages. With a few notable exceptions, I have never been much of a Hemingway fan and now I know why.

A week holiday in Pamplona to see the bullfights with a group of his literary friends from Paris provided the material for the novel Hemingway was desperate to produce in order to create his literary star. Blume's book made a few things very apparent that would otherwise be lost on an audience three generations removed.

First, that Hemingway used his friends to create characters, not very flattering ones, for his novel, and was so blatant that until final versions, he used their real names. That of course, did not endear him to most of those featured, as the portraits were not kind.

Second was that The Sun was a deliberate act. The creative process to me had always seemed removed from the world; an artist got inspiration, sat down and made it happen and that was that. This book showed that,  for Hemingway at least, an artist could create with an end game in mind. In his case it was a new style of literature that was commercially successful, leaving his peers and predecessors in his dust. Was it any different for Picasso, a contemporary? Maybe not.

It was interesting to all of us that F. Scott Fitzgerald is, as the somewhat older, wildly successful author, is the mold to break in Hemingway's scenario. Yet, our group still preferred The Great Gatsby to The Sun Also Rises all these many years late. Hemingway may have, through his determination to create a new style, set the table for others, but Fitzgerald made a story that transcends its time. The Sun felt dated and stale.

These two books did set off a great discussion about books that have stuck with us and why. We thought it would be a good theme for our annual book exchange at Christmas - start thinking now!

In a burst of organization beyond the norm, we decided on a number of books and dates to come. Our next meeting is September 19. We decided to meet at Travinia, a restaurant that Jean recommended as it has a separate room we can use for our group. The book will be The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. This book imagines the Underground Railroad as a physical thing and the book has had great attention.

October will be on the 17th, at Catherine's lovely townhouse in Short Pump. The book is Six Suspects  by Vikas Swarup. This is a novel from South Asia (India) of the perspectives of six suspects in a crime. 

November is on the 14th, which is a departure from our usual third Monday of the month,  to accommodate travel for Thanksgiving. The location is at Susan Smithwick's (lucky us!) and the book is The Bridal Wreath by Sigrid Undset. Undset won the Nobel prize for literature in 1928, obviously unusual for a woman at that time. Her best-known work is Kristin Lavransdatter, a trilogy about life in Scandinavia in the Middle Ages, portrayed through the experiences of a woman from birth until death. This is the first of that trilogy and I encourage you to get the volume that includes all three books. It is a wonderful historic novel and my edition has outstanding footnotes that really explain the historic differences in the legal structure and culture from our own. This is one of my all time favorite books. 

December is also an adjusted date to accommodate Christmas, so we will meet on Dec. 12, location is my house unless someone else wants to volunteer for our annual book Yankee Swap. Details to follow, just think about a book you want others to read and why. This will be maybe our fifth time and it is always fun. 

January, get back to normal with the meeting on the third Monday of the Month, in this case Jan. 16, book is Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. We are jumping on the bandwagon, and hopefully I can get to see the show. So fun! 

February in on the 20th, the book is The Housekeeper and the Professor. That is it, more details to follow on that. 

That is about enough organizing for the moment - of course if anyone objects we can modify if needed but we are planned out for 5 months! When has that happened? Never. 

Because we had such a great brainstorming on books, here are a number of the others we discussed. 

The Nightingale. Another WWII novel set in France, Jean says it is good. 

Lake House  by Kate Morton, another Jean recommendation.

Mislaid by Neil Zink - evidently a sendup of a Virginia women's college, Catherine says it is good. 

LaRose by Louise Erdrich. Her latest novel, unbearably sad for the first 150 pages, uplifting after that. She can do no wrong as far as I am concerned.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid 

Mr. Pip

Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood. Who doesn't want to ready Margaret Atwood. 

Heads up, Louise Penny's new novel, A Great Reckoning is coming out on August 30. Let's plan a trip to Quebec to celebrate! I want to go see the hallowed ground. 

Weigh in if you have info to add, see you on Sept. 19 at 6:30 at Travinia. Yeah!