The sun also rises, by Ernest Hemingway

The Paris Wife, the recently published fictionalized account of Hemingway's early years as a writer as told through the eyes of his first wife, Hadley, made me want to go back and read Hemingway's work. I was really only familiar with his short stories and novellas. The sun also rises drew heavily on his experiences and acquaintances in Paris during the twenties when the expatriates who clustered there were called "the lost generation" by Gertrude Stein. Most probably know the plot of the book -- its depiction of the hard-drinking, creative, and amoral world of artists and authors in Paris, many damaged by World War I, and the famous scenes of the fiesta, bull-running, and bullfights in Pamploma, before it became famous (probably because of Hemingway's work) and visited by tourists. Even though it has been 85 years since The sun also rises was published, the style Hemingway made famous in this novel is still modern and startling. One can understand why it has often been imitated, and parodied, in later years, but also be astonished at how fresh it seems. And he is sometimes very funny as well. I'm glad I went back to the original. On to For whom the bell tolls! 251 pp.