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Hemingway's Paris and Pamplona, Then, and Now: A Personal Memoir

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English professors spend their careers teaching students not to confuse the author with the characters in the book. Shakespeare is not Hamlet, and Cervantes is not Don Quixote, or so they say.

But Hemingway's readers have a better idea, and Robert F. Burgess is one of Hemingway's best readers. Burgess knows that when Hemingway's fans read "The Sun Also Rises," they like to imagine how Hemingway himself drank in Paris and how he ran with the bulls in Pamplona.

Robert F. Burgess has written a book for those who read Hemingway as preparation for their own European adventures. Burgess knows that, for full appreciation of Hemingway's novels, one would do well to skip that college English class and make the grand tour. If you are planning to trace Hemingway's steps through Paris and Pamplona, then Burgess has prepared your itinerary.

Burgess knows that Hemingway's readers are not content with postcard views of the Eiffel Tower--they want to know precisely where Hemingway slept, ate, and walked. Burgess' book is encyclopedic in its detail, but it reads like a novel as Burgess introduces people he has met during his travels.

Wisely, Burgess has recognized that Hemingway has spawned a cult following as well as a critical reception. Hemingway's fans visit the author's bars and other haunts with the fervor of Bible scholars on a tour of the Holy Land. When they make their literary pilgrimage, Hemingway's readers want gospel truth--nothing apocryphal.

Burgess is such a stickler for authenticity that his book reminds one of how Hemingway began his writing career in Paris. Before he was famous, Hemingway looked out over the rooftops of Paris and decided that he should learn how to write one true sentence. Hemingway then wrote a few true sentences based upon straightforward observation of Paris street scenes.

In response to Hemingway's one true sentence, Robert F. Burgess has written one true book. He has documented the sites in Paris and Pamplona that Hemingway observed and described. Hemingway took pride in describing places precisely, and Burgess has gone to similar pains to trace Hemingway's legacy accurately.

Burgess' book is a thorough testament to the verisimilitude of Hemingway's fiction.

This is an enjoyable read.

I especially liked the fact that the author did not embellish or hype his conversations and contact with Hemingway in Pamplona. What Burgess writes is fascinating, and he tells his story simply in the best Hemingway tradition.

The book contains quite a lot of Hemingway lore and facts I had not heard or read before. Burgess presents this information in a writing style that is comfortable and interesting for the reader who might not be such a Hemingway addict as myself.

I've read a couple biographies about Ernest Hemingway but they seemed stiff, as though the authors were just compiling facts. If Hemingway's Paris and Pamplona, Then and Now is considered a biography then it is one of the most interesting ones I've ever read. Mainly because Burgess' writing style makes it read more like a novel. From a look at the book's credits I believe the author has drawn on almost everything that has ever been written about Mr. Hemingway. He not only brings it all together very smoothly but I found myself learning things I never knew about the man on several different levels. Often they were either details of experiences the author saw himself with Hemingway, or they were personal accounts from people who knew Hemingway intimately. The author weaves them in with details of Hemingway's early Paris years along with personal memoirs that were written after the authors' death. He even retraces intimate details of Hemingway's real-life character for Robert Cohen from a biography written by Harold Loeb and published in 1959, the very year that Hemingway was last in Pamplona. For Hemingway it was his Last Hurrah. A last happy time with his old friends. Later, there is even an interview with a matronly friend who was only 19-years-old when Hemingway hired her in Pamplona to work for him as a researcher/typist in Cuba after they met at his last fiesta in 1959. Equally interesting to me was Burgess' description of Hemingway's final fiesta where everything seemed to come together there for him and he finally realized what was important to him. A year later he died. In the last half of the book Burgess revisits Hemingway's favorite places today and shows the reader what still remains of the author's legacy in Paris and Pamplona. Good stuff! I found the book a fascinating read on several levels, then and now. He hit the bull's eye both times!

Book is an excellent read. The first half of the book neatly traces Hemingway's time and travels in and between France and Spain. The bibliographical recounting is based largely on Hemingway's best biographers and personal memoirs of the people in his life. The second half of the book-and perhaps the best part-is the author's personal memoirs of his encounter with Hemingway at the annual running of the bulls at Pamplona in 1959. This encounter ultimately led to the author's quest-traveling over the same paths in France and Spain-to further understand Hemingway and his works. Essentially, Robert Burgess discovered two important things: 1. Hemingway's fiction is consistently more fact than fiction, and Burgess makes a convincing case for this premise; and 2., at the annual running of the bulls at Pamplona in 1959, within a year of Hemingway's death in 1960, he was still listening, learning and recording facts for future fiction. The book is an essential manual for the Hemingway buff. Further, it is an excellent companion for The Sun Also Rises.

With this book, Burgess has made a permanent and invaluable contribution to the collective knowledgebase about one of history's most revered authors: Hemingway. With detective-like determination the author illuminates where Hemingway's fiction intersected with Hemingway's real life experiences. And with engaging style Burgess takes the reader to those famous places of long ago, and shows how they survive to this day. He even weaves an interesting literary braid at one point, tying three different accounts together to complete the picture. A must read for anyone claiming to be a Hemingway fan. I suggest you read Sun Also Rises first, to properly set the stage.

This book retraces Papa's footsteps through the streets of Paris and Pamplona and weaves biography, history, and field notes into great stories about our greatest story teller. I intend it as a high compliment when I say that the book is an easy read. (I had no problem staying up late the day I got it and finishimg it the next morning over a few cups of coffee - except being late for work.) It turned out to be doubly rewarding when I decided to re-read "The Sun Also Rises" afterwards. "Hemingway's Paris and Pamplona, Then, and Now" is a great companion piece for Hemingway's first novel and I plan on bringing it with me when I make the trip to Paris and Pamplona myself.

I discovered Hemingway's Paris & Pamplona in February of this year, three weeks after my long-planned trip to Paris. I was screaming as I read this wonerful book, thinking of the cliche: if only, if only.

Still, reading Robert's book was a great way to spend a few evenings. I have read most of Hemingway's work, including many of the popular bios about him. This book was different. Instead of approaching this subject as the all-powerful, all-knowing biographer, Robert Burgess takes the reader along with him on his trip in Hemingway's literary footsteps. This tale has the accuracy of a serious biography without all of the footnotes.

Among other things, Robert is an accomplished photographer, and his original photos of Hemingway in Pamplona are in this book. As the author meets Hemingway for the first time, so does the reader.

Among so many other things, Hemingway's Paris & Pamplona accomplishes a couple of appreciated tasks.

First, whenever appropriate, the author lists the name and title of the source of his information, the result being a thorough list of biographies written on life in literary Paris at the turn of the century. I knew some of them, but surprises existed, too.

And second, reading this book feels like a conversation with the author, enjoyed at one of Hemingway's favorite bars. And every now and then, Robert will lean over and share a little-known story about a place or a person or a thing. Or at least the sidebar tidbits were unknown to me.

I was sad to finish this book, but thanks to the author, I know of many more, all waiting for me!

Mr Burgess really did some extensive research, he brings the charactors that inspired 'The Sun Also Rises' to life as no one has done before. I was entertained and informed from beginning to end, the book answered a lot of questions I have long had about how much was fact and how much was fiction in the writing of SAR. The best book I have read on Hemingway in a long time..

S Alfred Baker
Hemingway in Michigan Research Center

Bob Burgess is a long time fan of Hemingway and met the author in Pamplona. In this book Burgess is meticulous and knowledgeable and manages to conjur up the man, the events, the places, and the atmosphere. His research is meticulous and the work authoritative. I'll be reading the book unabridged for Golden Hours for the Blind and Disabled on Oregon Public Broadcasting later this year.
-- Harley l. Sachs

This book, Hemingway's Paris & Pamplona - Then and Now, is an exciting and nostalgic read. It's fun. Robert Burgess weaves an interesting history of Hemingway's personal and literary experiences in France and Spain using The Sun Also Rises as a basis, while also exploring and portraying these places today. The reader gets the trip for the price of the book. Inside, Burgess' own recollections of Hemingway, historical facts, literary references, friends' statements, and his detailed investigation of the sites reveal the world that Papa and his characters knew. From the Pyrenees to Pamplona to Paris, the author captures the essence of Hemingway's turf, accurately describing it then and now. The specifics are splendid, as real and imaginary people are brought to life. For Mr. Burgess, researching and compiling this book must have been a memorable trip back in time, as he re-explored places from his own past. The enthusiasm shows. For anyone interested in Hemingway, Spain, Paris, or Mr. Burgess' extrordinary travels, I could have reviewed this book in two words: BUY IT.....
By Jimmy Hall/ Georgia