The History of Literature 779 Ernest Hemingway and The Sun Also Rises (with Mike Palindrome) RECLAIMED
Mike Palindrome, longtime literature enthusiast who often returns to beloved books, reflects on Ernest Hemingway and The Sun Also Rises. He and Jacke trace Hemingway’s Paris years, wartime effects on character, and the book’s move from Paris to Spain. They debate macho posturing, moments of vulnerability, bullfighting scenes, and the novel’s spare, journalistic style.
01:06:36
Hemingway's War Injury and Milan Romance
- Hemingway served as a Red Cross ambulance driver in WWI, was wounded by a mortar, and recovered in Milan where he fell for his nurse.
- Jacke connects this Milan romance directly to material later used in A Farewell to Arms.
How To Start Reading Hemingway
- If introducing someone new to Hemingway, start with a mix of short stories then read The Sun Also Rises or A Farewell to Arms, followed by A Movable Feast.
- Jacke explains novels give forgiveness and context short stories might not for new readers.
Impotence Grounds Hemingway's Machismo
- The Sun Also Rises balances macho posturing with vulnerability by making Jake Barnes both narrator and impotent war veteran.
- Jacke notes Hemingway reveals emotion mostly when characters are half drunk, using alcohol to loosen restraint.
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Intro
00:00 • 3min
Jacke's travel memories and Hemingway's appeal
02:39 • 3min
Hemingway's early biography and influences
05:15 • 1min
Episode context and letter from a listener
06:33 • 4min
Hemingway's formative years and Paris scene
11:01 • 3min
Introducing The Sun Also Rises
14:01 • 3min
Ad break
16:34 • 1min
Conversation start: Mike joins to discuss Hemingway
17:45 • 2min
Where to begin with Hemingway
19:19 • 3min
Hemingway's Paris anecdotes and social circle
21:59 • 1min
Hemingway's bully side versus charm
23:05 • 3min
Jake Barnes' interior life and narration
25:50 • 21sec
Impotence as the novel's balancing motif
26:10 • 2min
Anti-Semitism and Robert Cohn's role
28:36 • 2min
Paris versus Spain: shifting settings
30:24 • 3min
Hemingway's spare style and craft
33:10 • 4min
Dialogue, drunkenness, and bullfighting scenes
36:54 • 2min
Literary dedication and emotional vulnerability
38:27 • 2min
Hemingway's enduring cultural image
40:00 • 11min
Ad break
51:03 • 45sec
Hemingway's aficionado motif and exclusion
51:48 • 3min
Adolescent bravado and American identity
54:32 • 3min
Character flatness vs. atmospheric success
57:14 • 5min
Final praise: balance and readability
01:01:55 • 3min
Outro
01:04:47 • 2min
#91419
The Literary Cafes of Paris
Noel Riley Fitch
The Literary Cafes of Paris by Noel Riley Fitch is a compact guidebook that maps the cafés and hangouts of famous writers in Paris, offering anecdotes and historical context.
The book provides readers with evocative descriptions of places associated with Joyce, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and others, making it a handy companion for literary walking tours.
Fitch's approachable prose balances scholarship with lively storytelling, capturing the atmosphere of interwar Parisian cafés.
It is especially useful for readers wanting tactile connections to the Lost Generation's social life and creative genesis.
The volume serves both as practical travel guide and as an affectionate chronicle of literary place.
#89006
Hemingway's Walks
Noel Riley Fitch
Hemingway's Walks by Noel Riley Fitch is a compact guidebook and collection of anecdotes that traces the streets and cafés Ernest Hemingway frequented in Paris.
Combining historical detail with vivid storytelling, Fitch reconstructs the writer's daily routes and the sites of key events and interactions from his expatriate years.
The book appeals to readers wanting a walking companion through literary Paris, offering context about the Lost Generation's social and creative life.
Through anecdotes about Pound, Stein, and other contemporaries, it illuminates how place shaped Hemingway's experiences and writing.
Its accessible tone makes it useful for both scholars and general readers interested in literary tourism.
#85455
Sylvia Beach and the lost generation
Noel Riley Fitch
Noel Riley Fitch's Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation traces the life of Sylvia Beach, founder of the Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris, and her central role in fostering expatriate writers of the 1920s.
The book details Beach's relationships with authors like Joyce, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald, and explores how her shop became a hub for modernist publishing and literary community.
Fitch combines archival research with vivid storytelling to portray an influential cultural figure and a transformative literary era.
The work highlights the practical and emotional support Beach offered to writers, including publishing Joyce's Ulysses, and examines the broader dynamics of expatriate life in Paris.
It is valued for its scholarship and affectionate portrait of a key literary patron.
#4045
• Mentioned in 12 episodes
A Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemingway
In 'A Moveable Feast', Hemingway recounts his life in Paris during the 1920s, detailing his experiences as a young, unknown writer.
The book is filled with vivid descriptions of the city, its nightlife, and the literary figures he encountered, including James Joyce, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein.
Hemingway reflects on his poverty, his writing, and his personal relationships, all set against the backdrop of Paris's vibrant cultural scene.
The memoir was written during the last years of Hemingway's life and published posthumously in 1964 by his widow, Mary Hemingway.
#1318
• Mentioned in 31 episodes
Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms is a semiautobiographical novel that captures the harsh realities of war and the pain of lovers caught in its sweep.
The story follows Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American ambulance driver on the Italian front, and his passionate relationship with Catherine Barkley, an English nurse.
The novel interweaves themes of love, war, loyalty, and desertion, reflecting Hemingway's own experiences as an ambulance driver during World War I. The book is known for its vivid and deeply felt portrayal of war and its impact on individuals, as well as Hemingway's distinctive writing style that emphasizes immediacy and simplicity.
#12217
• Mentioned in 4 episodes
The good soldiers
David Finkel
#7754
• Mentioned in 6 episodes
Death in the Afternoon
Ernest Hemingway
Death in the Afternoon is a non-fiction book that delves into the history, ceremony, and traditions of Spanish bullfighting.
Written by Ernest Hemingway, the book was published in 1932 and includes Hemingway's personal reflections on the sport, as well as a deeper contemplation on the nature of fear and courage.
The book is divided into sections that include Hemingway's writings, pictures, and a glossary of terms.
It also features a color frontispiece by Juan Gris and numerous photographs of bullfights and bullfighters.
Hemingway's work on bullfighting reflects his passion for Spain and the intense life and inevitable death associated with the sport.
#3480
• Mentioned in 14 episodes
Tristram Shandy
Laurence Sterne
#30998
• Mentioned in 2 episodes
The Lady with the Little Dog
And Other Stories
Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov's 'The Lady with the Little Dog' explores the complexities of love and human connection through the story of Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna.
Gurov, a married man with a history of infidelity, meets Anna, a young woman vacationing with her husband, in Yalta.
They begin an affair, initially viewing it as a trivial and fleeting encounter.
However, as the story progresses, their feelings deepen, and they find themselves unable to forget each other after returning to their respective lives.
The narrative delves into their inner turmoil and the challenges they face as they grapple with the unexpected and profound emotions that have disrupted their conventional existences.
The story examines themes of disillusionment, the search for meaning, and the transformative power of love.
#536
• Mentioned in 58 episodes
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
The novella tells the story of Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman who has gone 84 days without catching a fish.
Determined to break his unlucky streak, Santiago ventures far into the Gulf Stream, where he hooks a giant marlin.
Over the course of three days, he battles the marlin, showing respect and admiration for the fish.
Despite eventually killing the marlin, Santiago's catch is devoured by sharks on his journey back to shore.
The story highlights Santiago's endurance, his deep connection with nature, and the themes of struggle, dignity, and the indomitable human spirit.
#47146
Hills Like White Elephants
Ernest Hemingway
'Hills Like White Elephants' by Ernest Hemingway is a concise short story set in Spain, depicting a tense conversation between a man and a woman, Jig, as they await a train.
The story revolves around their veiled discussion about a pending operation, which is implied to be an abortion.
Hemingway's minimalist style and use of subtle dialogue reveal the emotional distance and underlying conflict between the characters.
The symbolism of the 'white elephants' in the landscape represents the unwanted and burdensome nature of the pregnancy.
Through its stark simplicity, the story explores themes of choice, communication, and the complexities of relationships.
#596
• Mentioned in 54 episodes
The sun also rises
Ernest Hemingway
Originally published in 1926, 'The Sun Also Rises' is Ernest Hemingway’s first novel and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style.
The novel follows a group of young American and British expatriates as they wander through Europe in the mid-1920s, capturing the moods, feelings, and attitudes of the cynical and disillusioned Lost Generation.
The story centers around Jake Barnes, a World War I veteran and journalist, and Lady Brett Ashley, as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain.
The novel portrays an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions, reflecting the existential disillusionment characteristic of the Lost Generation.
#29920
• Mentioned in 2 episodes
Indian camp
Ernest Hemingway
"Indian Camp" is a short story that depicts Nick Adams accompanying his father, a doctor, on a visit to an Indian camp to deliver a baby.
The story explores themes of life, death, and the loss of innocence through Nick's observations and experiences.
The primitive conditions of the birth and the subsequent suicide of the father deeply affect young Nick.
Hemingway's concise prose and stark imagery create a powerful and unsettling narrative.
The story is one of the first Nick Adams stories, marking an important part of Hemingway's early work.
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was one of the most famous American writers of the twentieth century. His plain, economical prose style--inspired by journalism and the King James Bible, with an assist from the Cezannes he viewed in Gertrude Stein’s apartment--became a hallmark of modernism and changed the course of American literature. In this episode, Jacke and Mike take a look at an author and novel, The Sun Also Rises (1927), they’ve been reading and discussing for decades.
Want more Hemingway? We took a new look at an old argument in Episode 47 Hemingway vs Fitzgerald.
Love everything about the Lost Generation? Spend some time with the coiner of the phrase in Episode 127 Gertrude Stein.
Rather be tramping through Europe? Try Episode 157 Travel Books (with Mike Palindrome).
[The bulk of this episode was originally released on October 3, 2018. It has been unavailable for several years.]
Join Jacke on a trip through literary England! Join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with John Shors Travel in May 2026! Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Learn more by emailing jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or masahiko@johnshorstravel.com, or by contacting us through our website historyofliterature.com. Act now - sign-up closes March 1!
The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com.
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