Haoming Tang
Professor Francine Masiello
Comparative Literature 60AC
September 23, 2016
Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and the Expatriate Modernism
No classification previously could encapsulate the diversified themes and goals of such disparate literary heavyweights: Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, E. E. Cummings, and Sherwood Anderson. In the 1920s, these American writers gathered together, not in the United States, surprisingly, but in the foreign land of Paris under the banner of the newly-coined Expatriate Modernism. Marked by utter dissatisfaction of their homeland’s attitudes, morals and ambience, they flew to Paris, aiming to create new identities, generate new values and scrutinize unconventional themes.
 | ||
Gertrude Stein with Ernest Hemingway’s son, Jack Hemingway, in Paris, 1924.
J. Gerald Kennedy, in his 1993 book Imagining Paris, pinpointed what was intriguing about Expatriate Modernism: “In the difference between the immediate scene of exile… and those real, remembered scenes of homeland, one confronts the anxiety of the ungrounded self” (Kennedy 27). The conflict between the former self and the foreign self permeates the expatriate writings, highlighting the instability of identities and the orphan-like sense of placelessness. Ernest Hemingway was one of the representatives of this expatriate crew. He befriended numerous famous literary masters in Paris, especially Stein, Anderson and Dos Passos, all of whom he would have tempestuous relations with in the years to come. For Ernest Hemingway, the voice that best represented the movement was in his novel The Sun Also Rises, which describes the experiences of several American and British expatriates who traveled from Paris to Spain to watch the bullfights in the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona. The novel was based on Hemingway’s 1925 trip to Pamplona with John Dos Passos and other expatriate friends. The protagonist of the story, Jake Barnes, was wounded in such a way that he is incapable of sexual intercourse, but he retains sexual desires. His disability contributes to the emotional traumas of Lady Brett Ashley, who descends into alcoholism and promiscuity because of the troubles caused by the death of her financé in the military service. The destructive influences of the war are fully unleashed during their trip to Pamplona, where Brett has multiple love affairs and Jake struggles with the title of aficionado, a person knowledgeable about the sport of bullfights. The story ends with two of them riding in a cab, wondering the possibility of their lives had the war not robbed them of their capacity to love. “We could have had such a damn good time together,” Brett says, to which Jake responds, “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” (Hemingway 251) The role of the “New Woman” in the 1920s, the assertion of masculinity, and the influence of war toward the psychology of people all come into play in the story — just as Dos Passos suggests in The 42nd Parallel.
The Expatriate Modernist Movement is particularly intriguing due to its conception of abandoning one’s homeland and taking refuge in a foreign land to hide from reality. While writers during this time frequently encountered identity crises, they were also introduced to foreign rituals that supplied new meaning to modern life, just like the bullfights mentioned in The Sun Also Rises. The members of this movement tried to obtain a catharsis through the construction of a new reality, and this purging offered them an unprecedented opportunity to achieve a clarity of vision impossible had they not left their native land.
|
Works Cited
By A Long Shot! A Photoblog. Bumby Is Born. Hemingway's Paris. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2016.
Curnutt, Kirk. Ernest Hemingway and the Expatriate Modernist Movement. Gale Group, 2000. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926. Print.
Kennedy, J. Gerald. Imagining Paris: Exile, Writing, and American Identity. Yale UP, 1993. Print.
Vintageski. "Vintageski." Vintage Ski. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2016.
Discussion Question: Why would writers like Ernest Hemingway moved to France to write about things happening in Michigan in his literature? What's the implications of these writings and how do they reflect the authors' attitudes toward their homeland and France?
Your comments brought up the interesting question of national identity and how this dissidence with American ideals at the time lead to the proliferation of literature during the 20th century. Jake Barnes epitomizes the lost individual, who, as you point out, was destroyed by the war. (Furthermore, I think it's interesting to compare Barnes to Ward, who was utilized the war for his personal gain and completely failed to recognize the destructive nature of it, but that's a whole other story.)
ReplyDeleteIn particular, I appreciate your comment that "the conflict between the former self and the foreign self permeates the expatriate writings, highlighting the instability of identities and the orphan-like sense of placelessness." Indeed, the internal realization of self in a changing world, a world confronted by war and destruction and machines, is a huge theme in modernist novels.
Your comments brought up the interesting question of national identity and how this dissidence with American ideals at the time lead to the proliferation of literature during the 20th century. Jake Barnes epitomizes the lost individual, who, as you point out, was destroyed by the war. (Furthermore, I think it's interesting to compare Barnes to Ward, who was utilized the war for his personal gain and completely failed to recognize the destructive nature of it, but that's a whole other story.)
ReplyDeleteIn particular, I appreciate your comment that "the conflict between the former self and the foreign self permeates the expatriate writings, highlighting the instability of identities and the orphan-like sense of placelessness." Indeed, the internal realization of self in a changing world, a world confronted by war and destruction and machines, is a huge theme in modernist novels.
Kara described the Jake Barnes as the Lost Individual very well. I also think it is interesting that Barnes is unable to express his sexual desires and emotions like how Jeff and Melanctha are unable to fully express themselves in through dialogue. Though, like Professor said, this is probably common amongst all novels and not just those that are Modernist.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you chose the expat movement to write about, especially Hemingway. His characters are far more deeper than the ones we've been reading currently in class, and it's nice to see that shallow characters do not have to define Modernism. What I think defines the Modernist movement is the constant questioning of tradition and values, and Hemingway is great in that he is criticizing American society and the war while not being embroiled in it himself.
I also found it interesting that both Hemingway and Charles from The 42nd Parallel end up getting jobs driving ambulances during WWI (well, Charles is trying to do that the last time we see him). Did Dos Passos do this on purpose? He would've known that Hemingway was an ambulance driver during the war since they were close friends as you said. I'm not sure what the significance of this would be if it were true, however.
I agree with both Gautham and Kara about Jake Barnes. While I haven't had enough exposure to modernist texts to form a well-rounded observation about them, the fact that many of these characters are lost is undeniable. I'm excited to read about some of these deeper characters in the future and hope to understand more about how the wars and the changing standards of society forced people to adapt.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really see Expatriate Modernism as a means of escaping reality before so I thought that this was a really interesting perspective. While travelling is an essential part of modernist literature, the motive for the wanderlust is sometimes unclear. In the case of Mac, the travel seems politically motivated while in the case of Ward, it is professionally related. Each of them has a reason to escape their past experiences and move on to something new. The escapism can thus also be viewed as an optimistic reaction to life - something that is a common theme in modernist literature.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the question, there is certainly a large number of very famous Modernist writers who chose to leave their homeland. Another example not mentioned in the article is Joyce. These writers, it seems, choose to leave in large part to gain perspective. Teachers of creative writing usually tell their students to be wary of writing in the first person for a similar reason I think. What one gains in authenticity one loses in objectivity and universality. As in Hemingway's case I think the move to Europe (Hemingway fought in WWI) allowed many of these writers to gain the maturity they needed in order to say what they needed to. Not to mention there must have been a tremendous artistic benefit to being around so many other great artists.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Leonel's response to the discussion question. Often times living in a new environment can lead to a person's perspective of the world change drastically. I don't think it's strange for writers like Hemingway to have written about America after moving to Europe as it would have led to them developing a new mindset and attitude towards society.
ReplyDeleteI think your article gives us a really fascinating new perspective into the modernist movement, and it is true that the expatriation many of the modernist authors have had to go through cannot be overlooked.
ReplyDeleteConcerning your discussion question, I think that we also have to put our perspectives in the political context of the time: the beginning of the XXth century marks the socialist movement is gaining momentum, with a first failed revolution against the tsar in Russia. "Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains" being the motto of the socialist revolution, I also believe that the authors' expatriations has a lot to do with their socialist ideal (especially since we are talking about Hemingway). After all, how can you conduct a world revolution if you have never been abroad?
I think your article gives us a really fascinating new perspective into the modernist movement, and it is true that the expatriation many of the modernist authors have had to go through cannot be overlooked.
ReplyDeleteConcerning your discussion question, I think that we also have to put our perspectives in the political context of the time: the beginning of the XXth century marks the socialist movement is gaining momentum, with a first failed revolution against the tsar in Russia. "Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains" being the motto of the socialist revolution, I also believe that the authors' expatriations has a lot to do with their socialist ideal (especially since we are talking about Hemingway). After all, how can you conduct a world revolution if you have never been abroad?
Your comment at the end of your post regarding the clarity of vision of writers such as Hemmingway, Stein, and Dos Passos (among others) achieve upon leaving their homeland is particularly interesting to me. These writers seem to all write about a sense "placelessness", as you said in your post, which seems to be commonly achieved by physically removing oneself from ones homeland. Such a removal from everything familiar and exposure to such new stimuli, as Hemingway does in Pamplona, gives way to a new reality where outsiders observe away from the masses and are able to create a new kind of art and originality in their writing. In The 42nd Parallel for example, Dos Passos is able to hone in on the nature of society and the masses during this time in the United States because he is able to stand apart as an observer.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Leonel, when writing, if you limit yourself to one perspective your writing suffers. Hemingway like many others, wrote about their homeland but because of moving no longer held the closed in view that came with being constantly surrounded by their topic. The attitude for their homeland while in France falls in the mindset of looking at something that is damaged or dying from within. You cannot truly see the pain till you get the full picture and separating ones self from the familiar allows you to do just that.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first came across your topic, my thought was that it was ironic that so many of the authors we are reading should have ties to Europe when this is an "American Cultures" class. But after seeing everyone else's comments, I'm beginning to come around to your point of view. Perhaps it is easier to take an objective view on American culture and events when you're an ocean away, but I also agree with Kara in saying that there is a certain "placelessness" to the modernist aesthetic that seems relevant here. Modernist writers seem keen to find insight in new and foreign geographical locations, just like society in the early 20th century was struggling to finding itself in a tumultous and foreign new sociopolitical era.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed that you brought up the issue of one's sense of self and the "orphan-like" feelings one is overwhelmed by when leaving their homeland. In class we discussed the modernist movements rejection of past ideals and values and even of history. I think that perhaps in this case, rejection might extend to these artists physically escaping the homeland and thus escaping from those ideals, too. It's about leaving the past behind and creating one's perception of the world from scratch.
ReplyDeleteI like that you brought out themes from Ernest Hemingway's that are also prevalent in The 42nd Parallel. However, I think one main difference that you pointed out is Hemingway's story is focused specifically on one relationship (between Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley). Dos Passos hardly ever spends more than a few chapters on a character's relationship, and each principle character has at least two or three romantic interests throughout the novel. This leads to an interesting question about how the male-female dynamic was viewed by modernists, since two prominent modernist writers took different interpretations of it.
ReplyDeleteI thought your comment about physical displacement being used to confront "the anxiety of the ungrounded self" was interesting because I hadn't made that connection before. However, now that I see it, it definitely explains part of the reason why so many modernist authors tended to leave the United States, either for inspiration or to meet with other writers. It's kind of a way of making the sense of being internally "placeless" match the external conditions. That idea especially reminds me of Mac, because as soon as he settles down in one place he feels the urge to displace himself again.
ReplyDeleteI found it fitting that you used Hemingway as a comparison to our current reading. The comments above describe his text, in the sense that Jake Barnes, a member of the lost generation, also wanders away from his homeland to further explore it, objectively. Hemingway uses this device as an illustration of himself and his own reflection and self. Their motives for their escape are ever changing and unsure. The idea of placement and wanderlust is apparent in Modernist literature although, the use of device is different depending on the character's world view. Most of time, the character is trying to figure out his place in society by looking at it from an outside perspective.
ReplyDeleteWhat you bring up about hiding from reality is especially intriguing; something drove a disproportionately high number of these modernists (relative to members of other cultural movements) away from their homeland, yet that country was the focus of much of their work. It's a provocative statement about the nature of 'home' in that while they felt so repressed and constricted in the United States that they had no desire to stay there, they were at the same time fascinated by the U.S. and felt compelled to, in their writing, try to say something definitive about it.
ReplyDelete