Thoughts On Fiesta A Book Review

This post is a book review of Fiesta by Hemingway. Again, as with my previous book review, this is not a summary but rather some thoughts and highlights. If you are interested in the book, go buy the book.

Writing Style

Hemingway is widely known for his short and concise writing style. As someone who has written some academic papers and is still writing technical documentation, i have to agree. The writing is great. It is very descriptive, but on the factual level. The language is easy and most words have only one or two syllables. Still, there is often a certain rhyme to it that distinguishes it from technical documentation.

One main recommendation that is often given when writing is to cater to the needs of the reader. This advice is not heeded by Hemingway. Rather, the main work is done by the reader. The reader ultimately needs to fill in the details and interpret the actions. The reader needs to do the heavy lifting when reading Hemingway.

Manliness

The main theme of the book Fiesta is probably manliness.

I was raised in a culture with a very stoic outlook on manliness. In my central European part of the world an ideal man has control over his emotions and desires. He overrules his animal instincts and nature with his intellect. This is the ideal of the ascetic that is not bothered by the material world and dwells in the place of intellectual pursuit.

Hemingway paints an entirely different picture of the ideal male. His ideal male is hot headed and easy to irritate. A materialist that is firmly rooted in the world with pastimes such as fishing, drinking, gambling, boxing, and bull fighting. Hemingway’s ideal male embraces the material world instead of rejecting it.

As an example, during the bull run one person was mauled and later dies. Instead of mourning it, we have the following scene:

“What a morning,” Bill said. “And what a night!”

It reminds me of the character Alexis Zorbas in Kazantzakis’ work.

Regarding the relationships with women, there is the nice guy Jake. Jake is the main character and is in love with Lady Ashley. Lady Ashley is unattainable, but has other lovers. In a typical nice guy fashion, Jake cannot disengage. Lady Ashley has other lovers, and blames fate that it did not work with Jake. She still uses Jake for emotional support and entertainment when she is lonely. This is a pattern that I have seen often, and i am both amused and surprised that this was already known in the 1920s. I should have probably read this in my teens.