The Sun Also Rises
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Author | Ernest Hemingway |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre(s) | Novel |
Publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons (USA) & Jonathan Cape (UK as ¡Fiesta!) |
Released | June 1926 (USA) & 1927 (UK) |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Pages | 259 pp (hardback first edition) |
ISBN | NA |
The Sun Also Rises is considered the first significant novel by Ernest Hemingway. Published in 1926, the plot centers on a group of expatriate Americans in Europe during the 1920s. The book's title, selected by Hemingway's publisher, is taken from Ecclesiastes 1:5: "The sun also ariseth". Hemingway's own title for the novel was ¡Fiesta!, which was used in the UK and Spanish edition of the novel.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The novel is a powerful exposé of the life and values of the lost generation, a generation deeply scarred by World War I. The main characters are Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley. Barnes suffered an injury during World War I which makes him unable to sustain a relationship with Brett sexually but it does not stop his constant pre-occupation for her as he fishes, drinks and broods across both Spain and France during the summer.
[edit] Major themes
The novel has heavy undercurrents of suppressed emotions and buried values. Its weary and aimless expatriates serve as metaphors for society's lost optimism and innocence after the war. Ironically, there is a marked silence regarding the war itself — it is a topic rarely discussed by any of the characters. Instead, its effects are alluded to through the sexual impotence of Jake which was caused by a war wound. Thus, while the topic is never overtly discussed, it is always prevalent as the tragedy which robs both Jake and Brett of their happiness. This theme of inadequacy and loss is ever-present in the narrative. It maintains a feeling of loss and death, as portrayed by the quote at the opening of the book: "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever." A famous scene from the book, graphically describing the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, helped popularize that event in English-speaking cultures.[citation needed]
[edit] Allusions/references to actual history, geography
The novel was a roman à clef, as many of the characters were based on Hemingway and his friends who accompanied him to Spain in 1925. The character of Robert Cohn is a savage portrait of novelist Harold Loeb, who aroused the anger of Hemingway by indulging in a tryst with Lady Duff Twysden in Normandy before bringing her to Spain. Twysden was the model for Brett Ashley; Hemingway based the character of Barnes on himself. Jacob Barnes is also an allusion to Jacob in the Old Testament.
Sources?
[edit] Release details
- 1926, USA, Charles Scribner's Sons, Pub date ? June 1926, hardback
- 1927, UK, Jonathan Cape, Pub date ? ? 1927, hardback (UK edition as ¡Fiesta!)
- 1980, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0-686-63550-7, Pub date ? June 1980, paperback
- 1982, USA, Holiday House, Inc. ISBN 0-684-17472-3, Pub date ? February 1982 paperback
- 1982, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0-684-80071-3, Pub date ? March 1982 paperback
- 1983, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0-684-10250-1, Pub date ? March 1983, paperback
- 1984, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0-684-15327-0, Pub date ? February 1984, hardcover
- 1990, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 1-55888-267-7, Pub date ? January, 1990, hardcover
- 1994, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0-8161-5969-6, Pub date ? February 1994, hardcover
- 1995, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0-684-80071-3, Pub date ? January 1995 paperback
- 1996, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0-684-83051-5, Pub date ? May 1996, hardcover
- 1999, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0-8085-1572-1, Pub date ? October 1999, hardcover
[edit] See also
Ernest Hemingway Books |
Novels: The Torrents of Spring | The Sun Also Rises (¡Fiesta!) | A Farewell to Arms | To Have and Have Not | For Whom the Bell Tolls | Across the River and Into the Trees | The Old Man and the Sea | Adventures of a Young Man | Islands in the Stream | The Garden of Eden |
Non-fiction: Death in the Afternoon | Green Hills of Africa | The Dangerous Summer | A Moveable Feast | Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917–1961 | Under Kilimanjaro |
Short story books: Three Stories and Ten Poems | In Our Time | Men Without Women | Winner Take Nothing | The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories | The Snows of Kilimanjaro | The Essential Hemingway | The Hemingway Reader | The Nick Adams Stories | The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway | The Collected Stories |