“There was a real danger that “The Sun Also Rises” could have just been seen as a naughty roman a clef coming out of Paris. I mean, at that time, you know, all of the ex-pats were writing about each other, and they all were up to terrible behavior. And what Hemingway did in “The Sun Also Rises” is he elevated all of that bad behavior and gossip into high literature. And with this material, he created the first work of commercially successful modern literature.”
– Lesley M. M. Blume, npr.org
The Sun Also Rises was my first Hemingway, way back in my university days. I loved it right away. Since then, I’ve been reading everything Hemingway ever wrote plus everything that has ever been written about him. Everybody Behaves Badly tells the story of Hemingways’ life around the time he wrote The Sun Also Rises, which is what some consider to be the most interesting Papa time period since it was just as he was getting his start. It’s Paris, Gertrude Stein, Hadley, Pauline, love, anger. All the elements of an interesting story.
What are you reading?