In Ernest Hemingways A Moveable Feast he tells the tale of his early career and life in Paris. He tells of his meetings with famous writers, poets, and the times that they had.
He spoke especially of Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound. He did have a tendency to portray them a little bit unfairly. He was a little critical of them because of the fact that he shared so much time with them. Usually when people spend lots of time with each other they begin to be annoyed by their habits. The first of the authors he spoke of was Gertrude Stein. He portrayed her as a talkative, outgoing, and somewhat overbearing person.
She was very critical about writing. She said that she really liked most of his writing, but he could tell she didnt understand his idea of prose. She was kind of uppity and would talk about paintings and art a lot. She told him that you could do one of two things. Either buy nice clothes, or buy nice paintings. She herself opted for the paintings.
All in all he liked her and enjoyed her company, but he grew apart from her after a while. The second writer he talked about was Ezra Pound. He begins his chapter on Ezra Pound by saying that he “was always a good friend and he was always doing things for people”. He also said that Ezra was a kinder and more Christian person with people than Ernest was. He was very impressed by how Ezra could write so perfectly and hit things just right.
He was very meticulous about his errors. But, he said that sometimes he could be rather irascible. He also described him as the most generous writer he had ever known. He would help poets, painters, sculptors, writers, and anyone else the he believed in or was in trouble.
Ezra was probably his favorite person out of the many writers he met. He probably liked him so much because of how generous and helpful he was to him. The last big writer Hemingway talked about was Scott Fitzgerald. He talks to him just after The Great Gadsby was released. He was rather impressed at how smart Scott was.
But, it seemed he was annoyed with him at times. Scott ended up to be rather untrustworthy. He missed most of a trip they were suppose to make together because he was late. Hemingway finally figured out that the guys main problem was that he was an alcoholic. That was why he ended up being somewhat distant.
He was very persistent about what he thought was right and that bugged Hemingway greatly. Scott was almost to the point of being pugnacious at times. But, Hemingway still enjoyed his writing and liked him because he showed that it was possible for him to become a successful writer. Here is a little quote he had on him”His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on abutterflys wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterflydid and he did not know when it was brushed or marred. Later he becameconscious of his damaged wings and of their construction and he learnedto think and could not fly any more because the love of flight was goneand he could only remember when it had been effortless.
“In conclusion, Ernest Hemingway met many writers and was impacted by Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and Scott Fitzgerald the most. He liked them all but he had a tendency to portray them better if he liked them and worse if there were things about them he didnt like much. He let his feelings about them shine in his writing of his experiences with them.
