I introduce scholarly books for studying the works of Hemingway and Fitzgerald that are helpful to compare Hemingway and Fitzgerald. I also explain the reason why I chose them.
- Ronald Berman, Translating Modernism: Fitzgerald and Hemingway, 2009
- Ronald Berman, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and the Twenties, 2001.
- Catherine Morley, Modern American Literature, 2012.
Ronald Berman, Translating Modernism: Fitzgerald and Hemingway, 2009
This book explores the texts of Fitzgerald and Hemingway psychologically and artistically. Fitzgerald’s works are seen through the lens of Freudian theory. Hemingway’s texts are reinterpreted by Cézanne’s artistic style.
Freudian interpretation allows us to read that Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dream” is not an autobiography, even though it contains the dreams he had in his childhood.
As for Hemingway, Cézanne’s painting style influenced his writing. Cézanne uses the artistic technique, the simplification, which eliminates unnecessary things and applies only the essential elements. Hemingway was inspired by the idea of going back to the original form to capture the complexity of nature.
I chose this book because this is an interesting point, applying Freud’s dream theory. I think that the dream work in Freud’s theory is similar to the work of narrative. Due to the secondary revision, neither dream nor narrative reaches the real meaning, for consciousness intervenes in the work of narrative. Seen in this light, I can observe common elements between Freud’s dream theory and Cézanne’s artistic style. Cézanne’s artistic principle of returning to the basic form is parallel to the attempt of tracing the latent contents from manifest contents by approaching the unconscious domain.
Ronald Berman, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and the Twenties, 2001.
This book explores new ways of examining the potentials of Fitzgerald and Hemingway as writers. The book observes that the ideas of both writers transcend the realm of the Jazz Age and the Lost Generation.
Not only are they writers, but they are also enthusiastic readers. For this reason, they acquired abilities and sensitivities to read the intellectual trends of the time. They were living in the age that ideas and ideologies are contradicting and clashing each other, and tried to unify those conflicting elements in their novels.
Berman views that The Great Gatsby is not an evolutionary form of his novel, but is mutation. The reason why he says this novel is a mutation is that a new American novel not only captures the present moment but also encompasses new experiences in American history.
In the study of The Sun Also Rises, Berman discovers tension between binary oppositions, such as Paris-Spain, insider-outsider, medieval- modern, etc. I chose this book because this viewpoint is important for exploring the exchange of values.
Catherine Morley, Modern American Literature, 2012.
This book sheds light on the reflection of the Lost Generation and the Jazz Age by tracing the origins of American modernism.
The book explains the impact of World War I on writers of the Lost Generation, human relations, American expatriates in France, and consumerism. The study of an American expatriate living in France drew my attention, so I chose this book.
Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night are argued in this book. The study points out that France in both novels is not a new home, but a temporary place on the way to another place. On the other hand, however, living abroad can serve as a catalyst to reveal hidden parts of identity. In this respect, the journey to France is a spiritual expedition for the characters to overcome obstacles to attain their destination.
