Hemingway Hungover: Why "Fiesta" is a Remarkable Mess 

When reading Ernest Hemingway, two things about him must be kept in mind, he is an alcoholic and a genius who writes intensively about the “Lost Generation”- a group of young people left emotionally numb by the war.  This wasn't just some writer who dabbled in cocktails – Hemingway wrote drunk, edited sober, however, he wasn’t just an alcoholic who wrote, he was a mastermind. Imagine the functionality of someone’s brain that drinks Scotch before breakfast and “usually” washes his face with whiskey. Let's be honest, the man probably had a liver of steel, but that is simply the one and only Ernest Hemingway. Impressively, he managed to churn out many classics, such as "Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises."

I read the novel months ago, and like any other book, I only thoughtfully analyzed it and moved on. However, it somehow left a lingering aftertaste. Not a bad one, mind you, but more like a complex hangover of emotions. Here is the thing: while most books spoon-feed us descriptions and character details, Hemingway on the other hand throws all the rules out the window. I believe the reason why I am still taken aback is because it was my first time genuinely feeling that I was reading a drunk man’s work. Scattered words, messy time transitions, and little to no descriptions of what characters looked like.

A woman called Brett. For example, in “The Sun Also Rises” we only learn in the final few pages of the book that Brett, a protagonist, is 34 and has short hair. It seemed that Hemingway would rather go in depth about how the characters moved on from one bar to another and the details of what they ordered there. You see, honestly, I am not complaining about his takes, in fact, I fully enjoyed reading what seemed like a hangover of complex emotions that breaks all the rules that a reader is looking for. To me, The spark about “The Sun Also Rises” is all about what is not said. Take the clipped dialogue and exchange between Jake and Mike as an example. Two friends pining over the same woman (Brett) who is slipping away from them both:

“Brett, you know. She’s gone off with the bull-fighter chap.”
“No.”
“Yes. She looked for you to say good-bye. They went on the seven o’clock train.”
“Did they?”
“Bad thing to do,” Mike said. “She shouldn’t have done it.”
“No.”
“Have a drink? Wait while I ring for some beer.”
“I’m drunk,” I said. “I’m going to lie down.”
“Are you blind? I was blind myself.”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m blind.”
“Well, bung-o,” Mike said. “Get some sleep, old Jake.”

Now, isn’t this a messy dialogue? a dialogue that feels raw, almost unconscious. But within those clipped sentences lies a world of hurt, longing, and a shared sense of loss. The characters banter with a cryptic charm, their words loaded with unspoken desires and unspoken pain – And just like that, most of the story lies hidden beneath the surface, it’s like Hemingway is waiting for you to piece it together. This can be frustrating at times, but it also captures the essence of this "Lost Generation”.

Perhaps the only thing Hemingway picturized so vividly is the bullfights. Yes, you read this right. He might have gotten a little carried away with the bullfight descriptions in "Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises". It made me curious why, and after researching I found out that he was a real aficionado of bullfighting. He saw it as a complex and symbolic art form, representing grace, danger, and the confrontation between man and beast. This passion for the spectacle might have translated into excessively detailed descriptions in his writing, where I imagine he wanted to capture every nuance for readers.

While some readers might appreciate the vivid imagery and the deeper symbolic meaning Hemingway injected into the bullfight scenes, others, like me, might find the excessive detail tedious. In my humble opinion, It bogged down the narrative flow and overshadowed the other important aspects of the story.

In other words, I believe there’s a fine line between setting the scene and getting stuck in the minutiae, and Hemingway might have crossed that line a little bit for my taste.

Written by Nada