Saturday, November 18, 2006

First Novel Published





Fired with the fictional possibilities that he saw during his visit to the Pamplona bullfights in 1925, Hemingway started translating them into a novel, initially titled, Fiesta, soon after leaving the Spanish town. Within roughly two months, the first draft of what would eventually be titled The Sun Also Rises was done. Although this work is a classic today, one reviewer charged, at its publication in 1926, that Hemingway was hiding his talents "under a bushel of sensationalism and triviality." Many others, however, disagreed. One critic claimed that its "lean, hard narrative prose" put a good deal of "literary English to shame," and yet another noted that the novel contained the best dialogue to be found in contemporary fiction.
The celebrity that the novel brought him marked the beginning of the end of the early innocence of the Paris years.
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13 comments:

Carlos said...

Fiesta, the Portuguese title, was the second Hemingway book I have read (the first was The Old Man and the Sea). It was more than 20 years ago. Thanks for reminding me about it... I'll have to search it cause, now, I honestly don't have the slightest idea about the story.

Icarus said...

Carlos are you sure? By chance, I happened to see the Portuguese version in my local livraria last Friday & recognised it instantly as "O Sol Tambem Levanta-se". But as my new friend & neighbour, Crisitna Silva, gave me a signed copy of her just-published 4th novel, "À Meia-Luz" on Saturday, I'm working my way through that first. But a return to Papa in English soon would be welcome! I haven't ever read "The Sun, etc".

Nikon said...

Hello Carlos & Mile stones,
Fiesta would make a good title - it's about Hemingway's trip to Pamplona, Spain to watch the bullfights. Remember? Lady Brett Ashley, and Jake was the main character? He had a war wound..........
Paul

Carlos said...

Hello Mile and Paul,
That's probably a new edition (or a new translation). Fnac has several editions with the name "Fiesta" and one "O Sol Nasce Sempre"

Icarus said...

Oh dear! Which title is correct? Mind you, Carlos. i wasn't entirely sure about ....'Levanta-se'.
Now, I think I remember that it was...'Nasce Sempre' Just like me!

Meg said...

Non-Hemingway-Reader coming through.

I've been giving too much credit to critics - I've been buying books based on what I read written about the books. But they have got to earn a living, and they have to say something new, and I bet they want to be quoted also... so... would they go for a bit of sensationalist and/or "I know better than the author" type of thing?

Now, Paul, is THIS the one with Bergman with dirt on her face up in the hills?

Nikon said...

Meg,
The one with Bergman with her luminous face with green eyes & the cutest short hair up in the hills - (don't forget that sleeping bag.)
Seriously, compared to some novels and writers, I just like Hemingway's style. It is very similar to my terse way of speaking - so an affinity! On something as simple as that.

Nikon said...

The one with Ingrid up in the hills, is "For Whom The Bell Tolls."
If you're a history buff, Fidel Castro said he used that book to learn guerrilla warfare.

Meg said...

You told me that once before, too, didn't you. OK, I'll go sit in the corner facing the wall for a while now.

Meg said...

Ooops, Nikon, I hope my ignorance didn't turn the more learned persons away.

Anyway, I was thinking about Papa H and how it seems it's often men that adore him, and I was wondering if it's because his writing is so... masculine. I think one time you described it as "terse"?

Nikon said...

Meg,
Yes, terse, I can't come up with an example of his - since most books are in boxes right now.
But let's say he wrote, "He ran down the hill. Bullets buzzed by as he saw the river." As opposed to, "He ran towards the river, the machine gun bullets were barely missing him now, the Spanish gunners had their aim."
What do you want for free :)
I can't wait to see where this leads to!!

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

What a thought provoking blog. I shall be back.

Nikon said...

Thank you Lynn -it was http://Cheltenhamdailyphoto.blogspot.com/ I think?