‘A Moveable Feast’ explores Hemingway’s secretive Paris
By John Soltes
Ernest Hemingway, the celebrated American author whose novels are rightly studied in classrooms throughout the world, often compiled his stories around the many cities he lived. Whether Havana or Madrid, he was a citizen of the world, untethered to politics and borders.
In A Moveable Feast, his missive (perhaps even love letter) about Paris, the writer uses his dressed-down prose to depict the goings-on of the late Belle Epoque era. Whether it was his friendship with Gertrude Stein and her lover Alice B. Toklas, or a hilarious road trip with F. Scott Fitzgerald, A Moveable Feast is a short novel that prides itself on name dropping.
Throughout his musings (and that’s probably the best word for this plot-less piece), Hemingway offers thoughts about his own writing, about his first wife and also the joys of the everyday, like wine and walking about the streets of Paris.
There may be no better literary testament to the historical capital city than Hemingway’s portrait, mostly because the writer prided himself on living in many places throughout the world, but never being of that place. This way, his commentary is always at arm’s length and smacks of a foreign truthfulness. Having a French person describe Paris is one thing, but having an American, with a masterful command of the English language, offer his thoughts is quite another. A Moveable Feast becomes as much about the story as it does the storytelling; it beckons us to learn from Hemingway and then experience the city ourselves.
For those on the hunt for digestible plot devices and vivid characters, the small book will likely leave a feeling of un-fulfillment. Consider it more of an essay, a litany of scenes written by an uncompromising artist, uninterested in showiness or posturing. This Feast is made up of just the exquisite bare bones.
A Moveable Feast
By Ernest Hemingway
Scribner, 208 pages
Retail price: $25 (hardcover)
Bubble score: 3.5 out of 4
Click here to purchase A Moveable Feast.
