The Sun Also Rises

The Sun Also Rises is the first significant novel by Ernest Hemingway, first published in 1926, following a group of expatriate Americans in Europe during the 1920s. The book's title is taken from Ecclesiastes 1:5, but it was selected by Hemingway's publisher. Hemingway's own title for the novel was "¡Fiesta!", which was also used in the UK edition of the novel.

Related Topics:
Novel - Ernest Hemingway - 1926 - Expatriate - Americans - Europe - 1920s - Ecclesiastes - UK

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The novel is a powerful exposé of the life and values of the Lost Generation, including characters Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley, wounded by the horrors of World War I. Barnes had his penis shot off in World War I (some commentators mistakenly think it was his testicles that were lost, but Hemingway's personal letters make it clear this is not what he intended), and thus cannot have sexual relations with Brett. He is told: "You...have given more than your life" when he lost his penis in the War.

Related Topics:
Lost Generation - Jake Barnes - Brett Ashley - World War I

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The novel was a roman à clef, with most of the characters based on Hemingway and a gaggle of pals who accompanied him to Spain in 1925. The character of Robert Cohn is a savage portrait of novelist Harold Loeb, who had aroused the anger of Hemingway by indulging in an amorous journey with Lady Duff Twysden in Normandy before bringing her to Spain. Twysden was turned into the character Brett Ashley. Hemingway based the character of Barnes on himself.

Related Topics:
Roman à clef - Spain - Harold Loeb

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The novel has a heavy undercurrent of suppressed emotions and buried values pulsing and throbbing beneath the surface of the visible text. It depicts through the shell-shocked, weary and aimless expatriates, the story of humanity losing the broad and wide optimism in itself as a consequence of the war, and instead taking flight and refuge in the narrow, dreary and confining dungeons of everyday survival, to seek out and find a purpose or motive for existence. Nevertheless, there is a rattling, almost tacitly jarring silence on the war itself, which is rarely invoked or spoken about by the characters, but whose scars are evident with some scenes. A famous scene from the book, detailing the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain helped popularise that event in English-speaking culture.

Related Topics:
Optimism - The running of the bulls - Pamplona - Spain

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