The Paris Wife

Ever since I read “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway has been one of my favorite authors of all time.  I’m fascinated by the power in his simple writing structure.  His sentences are succinct and clear.  He gets the point across without a lot of flowery language, which is sometimes a relief after reading earlier American or British authors.  (Not to mention current novels where the author describes for the zillionth time the “sweet breath” of a certain vampire stud.)

Continuing with my love for Hemingway, I went on to write many literary essays in grad school in which I compared everything I possibly could to The Old Man and the Sea.  In just a few declarative phrases, Hemingway can tell an entire story.  I’ve even tried to emulate his writing style into my own narratives, but there’s just something about the way he does it that is classic, eloquent, and timeless.  I could never be Hemingway. 

It has been a few years since I’ve actually read anything by Hemingway, but I have fallen in love with him all over again after reading The Paris Wife.   This book is narrated by Hadley Richardson, who was Hemingway’s first (of four) wives.  When she meets Ernest, he is only 21 years old.  He is what we might call a “party boy.”  He drinks all night and lives in a house full of other young men that come and go as they please any time of the day.  Hadley is 29 years old, and in the year 1920, is considered to be practically a spinster.  She and Ernest fall madly and passionately in love, but it seems almost doomed from the beginning.  Hadley describes herself to be simple and not modern like all the other young women on the 20's.  For example, when she finally cuts her old-fashioned long hair into the modern bob, she hates it.  Her conventionalism and desire to start a family seem to be a constant battle with Ernest and the book describes their short but passionate marriage.  Even as they are facing the end of their relationship, their love and emotion for each other is strong.   

During their five years together, Hemingway creates one of his most famous novels, The Sun Also Rises, and is just becoming famous with the help of Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many other familiar 20th century American authors.  This is what I loved about the book -- seeing Hemingway and the others in their every day life, facing struggles and excitement as they become famous.

Very early in Hemingway's career, one of his mentors affirms him of his unique writing style:  "...strong declarative sentences, that's what you do best (83)."  And continues to advise him: "...[strip] language all the way down...cut everything superfluous.  Let the action speak for itself (89)."

This is why I love Ernest Hemingway.  What you see is what you get.  As his first wife Hadley described, he visualized "...new stories and saw so clearly the books they could be, it was almost as if they already fully existed (127)."  Heminway possessed the talent for creating American classic literature based on his life and the life he viewed around him.  His writing is something to which anyone can relate, and that is why he is great.