Host An Unforgettable Book Club Party

I have so far loved the Week 1 Chapters 1-9 A Moveable Feast Read-a-Long hosted by Wallace at Unputdownables.net.  I am thoroughly enjoying Hemingway’s depictions of life in Paris as an expat, and I long to visit Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare & Company bookstore, to listen to Gertrude Stein’s pontificating (Hemingway could have been describing someone very dear to me!), and most especially to know his first wife Hadley.

As I mentioned last week, I am reading the 1964 A Moveable Feast which was edited by Hemingway’s wife Mary.  But by Wednesday, I was extremely curious about the “restored” version written by his grandson Seán, so I downloaded A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition to my Kindle.

First off, I was rather turned off by the unpleasant tone in the Introduction of the “restored” A Moveable Feast in regards to the 1964 edition and Mary’s supposed self-interest slant in the editing.  So, I took the time this week to read up on the controversy between the editions and especially found relevance in this critique by A. E. Hotchner (close friend and biographer of Hemingway) shared by JacquelineM in the read-a-long discussion.

Don’t Touch ‘A Moveable Feast’

So far in Chapter 1-9, other than a little chapter shifting and some sentence editing, there isn’t much difference between the two versions, although, I know it’s coming.  I am trying to withhold judgment but can’t help feeling that Mary, married to Hemingway for 18 years up to his death, was in the stronger position of carrying out Papa’s wishes than Seán, born after his death.

vs.

Next Week:  Chapters 10-21