A Moveable Feast

Additional A Moveable Feast Information

-- ERNEST HEMINGWAY TO A FRIEND, 1950

Published posthumously in 1964, A Moveable Feast remains one of Ernest Hemingway's most beloved works. It is his classic memoir of Paris in the 1920s, filled with irreverent portraits of other expatriate luminaries such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein; tender memories of his first wife, Hadley; and insightful recollections of his own early experiments with his craft. It is a literary feast, brilliantly evoking the exuberant mood of Paris after World War I and the youthful spirit, unbridled creativity, and unquenchable enthusiasm that Hemingway himself epitomized.

Ernest Hemingway did more to change the style of English prose than any other writer in the twentieth century, and for his efforts he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. Hemingway wrote in short, declarative sentences and was known for his tough, terse prose. Publication of The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms immediately established Ernest Hemingway as one of the greatest literary lights of the twentieth century. As part of the expatriate community in 1920s Paris, the former journalist and World War I ambulance driver began a career that lead to international fame. Hemingway was an aficionado of bullfighting and big-game hunting, and his main protagonists were always men and women of courage and conviction, who suffered unseen scars, both physical and emotional. He covered the Spanish Civil War, portraying it in fiction in his brilliant novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, and he subsequently covered World War II. His classic novella The Old Man and the Sea won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. He died in 1961.

What Customers Say About A Moveable Feast:

Ernest Hemingway was a fascinating man, therefore his memoirs from Paris in the twenties make for captivating reading.

But, hey it was his book. Few contemporaries come off well, except maybe Ezra Pound. You'll find precious little today of what it was like back then in the years just after WWI. Scott Fitzgerald is portrayed as a lightweight drunk with a vixenish wife. But if you love Paris, and especially Paris in the 20s, then this little memoir, published posthumously, will be something to savor.

Hem himself is the hero here. So, read this to get a sense of what it must have been like. I find it's readable more than once, and each time, you notice something new. It takes awhile to warm up to Hemingway's style. People have been haunting these same Parisian spots ever since Hemingway made them famous.

F.

In any case, the best part of this book was not about Paris or major literary figures at all. I also found the many many descriptions of eating and alcoholic overdoses to be uninteresting and a bit nauseating. Scott Fitzgerald, Sylvia Beach, Gertrude Stein, and a few others. He presents himself as a starving writer, living from hand to mouth. At that time the skiers had to climb up the slopes. I don't think I'm a prude, maybe I am, but I don't find heavy drinking to be admirable and interesting.

I question the objectivity of Hemingway's accounts, however. Also Hemingway presents himself as such a good guy compared to all the other weirdoes lounging around the cafes of Paris that the book comes off as a series of pats on his own back for being such a swell chap. I strongly prefer other works by Hemingway. It was all very exciting, and engagingly described by Hemingway in his signature style.

What emerges from this story is a world of mental illness, unhappiness, and alcoholism. Montparnasse in the 1920s was not a world of "beauty and innocence" (the words of another reviewer). Oddly this is in the final chapter "There Is Never Any End to Paris." That is the best chapter in the book and the only one that should have been published IMO. I was disappointed.

The best part is Hemingway's descriptions of skiing in Austria. As an historical document A Moveable Feast might be valuable for those interested in the personalities of F. I have not read biographies of Hemingway, but I gather that he came from a wealthy family. Paris may have been, and still may be, beautiful, but the bohemians of that era were anything but innocent.

Paris in the twenties may have been a moveable feast, but this book is not. Avalanches were a constant danger. According to the Wikipedia article on Hemingway he had plenty of family money when he lived in Paris.

But spend just a bit more and get the print edition, paper or hardback, of this work, please. It is a shabby treatment of a great book. The Kindle edition of this great book is not worth a dime: almost ALL the illustrations are missing, at least in my copy, and the 2 that do appear, are hazy and smudgy, like poorly done mimeographed copies. Some chapter titles are mis-formatted: the two-sided text justification format is applied to the titles, resulting in ridiculous text placement. I do not believe I need to add anything to the many positive reviews of this immensely readable and enjoyable volume of (partly fictionalized) memoirs from Hemingway.

More than drawing a distinct and clear picture of what it was like to live, work, and breath in life in Paris during the time leading to World War II, which this book does well, "A Movable Feast" offers a unique first-person account of life before fame and popularity.Hauntingly, Hemingway ends "A Movable Feast" with this quote: "All things truly wicked start from innocence." Hemingway walks the reader through the many nuances of eating and drinking through a life of yes, poverty, but also happiness and (as he would likely phrase it) "joie de vivre," or a general joy of life and living. That notwithstanding, this is an interesting and illuminating book that is worth reading for its educational and biographical aspects. "A Movable Feast" offers a view of life in 1920s Paris through the eyes of a peripatetic American, Ernest Hemingway, who would later win the Nobel Prize for literature. He paints a picture of personal and world innocence, foreshadowing the coming War and the many changes to buffet his life and career.In the world of 2009, it is difficult to imagine living the life portrayed in this book (for example, living in a hotel in Austria for $2 a day for two adults and a child).