French Connections: Hemingway and Fitzgerald Abroad [Paperback]

J. Gerald Kennedy (Editor), Jackson R. Bryer (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312224508 | ISBN-13: 978-0312224509 | Publication Date: October 29, 1999

Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald met in 1925, two weeks after the publication of The Great Gatsby, in the Dingo Bar in Paris. From that night on they maintained a complicated friendship born of mutual admiration, envy, and implicit rivalry. French Connections is a collection of thoughtful and often stirring essays devoted to exploring the shared influence that these two legendary writers had on each other’s work. The essayists examine the role of France, particularly Paris, in both writers’ bodies of work, and how their sustained contact with one another in France as opposed to the States determined the sometimes hilarious, sometimes resentful tenor of their relationship.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway first met in Paris in 1925, and France played an influential role in their writing, their personal relationship, and their lives. The idea for this book, and the source for 13 of its 17 essays, was the Hemingway/ Fitzgerald International Conference held in Paris in July 1994. The essays provide thoughtful insight into each writer's association with France and the impact France had on some of their characters. The collection is divided into four sections, beginning with "Overviews: Two American Writers in Paris," which establishes the background and focus of the volume. The subsequent sections devote attention to each writer individually and conclude with intertextual similarities between them. This book takes an interesting approach for students and readers of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Recommended.?Cynde Bloom Lahey, New Canaan Lib., CT
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Hemingway and Fitzgerald once made a pact to write about each other and thereby ensure their mutual fame. In this book of scholarly essays, 17 critics write about both of these spoiled American geniuses, specifically throwing light on the influence each had on the other's writing--particularly during their Paris years (1925^-26 and 1929). The essays are conveniently divided into four sections: an overview of 1920s France and the budding relationship between the two writers; Hemingway in France, concentrating on his affinity with the denizens of the Left Bank; Fitzgerald living the Parisian high life, with its consequent literary influences that diverged from Hemingway's; and a grouping of various "intertextual" essays, in one of which, for instance, James Plath offers the somewhat startling opinion that The Sun Also Rises began as a deliberate parody of The Great Gatsby. A goldmine for buffs of these two great writers, with valuable research references after each essay. Allen Weakland --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (October 29, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312224508
• ISBN-13: 978-0312224509
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,416,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars LOOKING FOR ONE SUCH BOOK, THIS IS IT, August 26, 2007

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This review is from: French Connections: Hemingway and Fitzgerald Abroad (Paperback)

Some of the best recounting of the contentious relationship between Hemingway and Fitzgerald out there. Chapter 2 -- Fitzgerald's Blue Pencil -- is priceless.