Fiesta, or the Sun also rises, is the first novel of Hemingway. Before reading it I read his last novel: The Old Man And The Sea.
Both novels are up to a certain extent about the Spanish language. The latter is focused on Cuba, the first on Spain.
In the old man and the sea, the writer is often playing with the Spanish language. For instance when he contemplates about "el mar" and "la mar;" The differences between the sea and sea.
In Fiesta there are many cultural references. Writing novels is basically about culture and how the writer experiences a certain culture. In the case of Fiesta it is about the European culture versus the American culture. And even between the first two there are many differences as the culture of the decay in Paris and the culture - much more closer to nature - right across the border with France in Spain, with mountains and of course the bull fights.
There are many explicit references, for instance about people representing ethnicity:
"He had a hard, Jewish, stubborn, streak..." and "... She was a Canadian and had all their easy social graces.."
There is also a reference to an Italian hospital "ospedal Maggiore" ... In The man and the sea the hero football player is called "Di Maggio.."
In the second book, the culinary culture gets attention:
"The first meal in Spain was always a shock with the hors d'oeuvres, and egg course, two meat courses, vegetables, salad, desert and fruit...You have to drink plenty of wine to get it all down."
About sex:
".. I couldn't tell you that in new York (that you are impotent) . It'd mean I was a faggot. That was what the civil war was about. Abraham Lincoln was a faggot. He was in love with general grant..." Does he mean here that in Europe it was ok (for Jake) to be impotent, but not in a country like the US (of that time?)"
About passion:
He is an "aficionado" to? "Aficion" means passion. An aficionado is someone who is passionate about bull-fights. Are the Americans passionate? And are the Spanish citizens to most passionate as they have the bull fights?
Somewhere in book three:
"You can never tell whether a Spanish waiter will thank you. Everything is on such a clear financial basis in France. It is the simplest country to live in... If you want people to like you you only have to spend a little money." (nothing seems to have changed).
But what to think of the story in general, in relation to culture? The bull fights - other than the Fiesta of St Fermin - didn't have the negative association it has today. In the story it contrasts deliberately with the dull life in Paris, in a period right after the first World War.
One interpretation of the story could be that it is more natural to live the fiesta in Spain including the bull fights and bull runs through the streets than to live in Paris where people have nothing to do. Hemingway must have preferred the culture closest to nature.
Or in a modern critic: are culture is drifting further and further away from nature.
Copyright © 2009 Hans Bool
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