Host An Unforgettable Book Club Party

The Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway Week 3 Read-a-Long and discussion hosted by Wallace at Unputdownables.net was very enlightening this past week.  The focus of week 3 were the Hemingway sketches on F. Scott Fitzgerald.  There was quite an array of opinions expressed.  Below I’ve included a few personal comments and quotes from each of sketches.

Scott Fitzgerald

Was Hemingway friend or foe?

“Later he became conscious of his damaged wings and of their construction and he learned to think and could not fly any more because the love of flight was gone and he could only remember when it had been effortless.”

The celebrated book cover of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece.  Hemingway hated the book cover.

 *****

Hawks Do Not Share

Hemingway saw the troubled Zelda as a hawk.

“Scott did not write anything any more that was good until after he knew that she was insane.”

*****

A Matter of Measurements

Poor Scott!  He didn’t quite measure up to Zelda’s expectations.

“Zelda said that the way I was built I could never make any woman happy and that was what upset her originally.”

*****

The Birth of a New School

Hemingway encounters a struggling young writer in his favorite cafe, the La Closerie de Lilas.  This young writer just so happens to be homosexual.  This entire sketch was somewhat strange.

“‘I have to tell you I find your work just a little too stark.’
‘Too bad,’ I said.
‘Hem it’s too stripped, too lean.’
‘Bad luck.’
‘Hem too stark, too stripped, too lean, too sinewy.’
I felt the rabbit’s foot in my pocket guiltily.  ‘I’ll try to fatten it up a little.’”

 *****

I recommend heading over to Unputdownables.net to check out what the Read-a-Long participants are saying about the Fitzgeralds and Hemingway.  You won’t be disappointed!

We are now entering the final week of the Read-a-Long.  I wonder what Hemingway has to say in Ezra Pound and His Bel Esprit and There is Never Any End to Paris.