“You are all a lost generation.” The phrase was Gertrude Stein’s, but Ernest Hemingway made it famous when he selected it as the epigraph for his novel, The Sun Also Rises. Immediately a bestseller upon its publication in 1926, The Sun Also Rises defined a cultural moment and brought modernism to the masses. It made Hemingway a literary celebrity, whose life of café-hopping and bullfights became synonymous with glamour.

But The Sun Also Rises has a second epigraph, taken from Ecclesiastes, that suggests a very different perspective on the dissipated, seemingly aimless lives of his post-war expatriates. In this course, we will delve into both epigraphs and explore how they address the novel’s deepest questions: What does it mean to live life fully? To face death bravely? To find meaning in a world transformed by war and upheaval?

Image: Matador and bull, 1903, Library of Congress

Cheryl Miller on The Sun Also Rises

This course is offered by Humanities at Hertog. It takes place weekly on Wednesdays, via Zoom, from 6 PM to 8 PM ET. Fellows will receive a $150 stipend contingent upon participation in the course and completion of a brief response paper. All course materials will be provided.

Faculty

Cheryl Miller

Cheryl Miller is executive director at the Hertog Foundation. Previously, she served as deputy director of research in the Office of Presidential Speechwriting and as research assistant to David Brooks at The New York Times. Her reviews and commentary have appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, and The Weekly Standard. She graduated from the University of Dallas with Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Politics.

Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session

Readings:

Topics:

  • Robert Cohn & Jake Barnes
  • The Quarter
  • Glamour & Lady Brett Ashley
  • Men & Women

Discussion Questions:

  1. Earlier drafts of The Sun Also Rises began differently, introducing first protagonist Jake Barnes or his former flame, Lady Brett Ashley. The final version begins with a character sketch of Robert Cohn. Why does Hemingway start the novel this way?
  2. Why does Jake feel so “rotten” throughout this first section? Why is he “sore”—with Robert Cohn, with the Quarter and its expat crowd, with the young men at the dance club, with Frances Clyne, and with Brett?
  3. Compare Jake and Georgette, Jake and Brett, and Robert Cohn and Frances Clyne. What similarities and differences do you see in the relationships between each pair?
  4. This novel inaugurated the Hemingway “cult,” making the old haunts Hemingway and his characters frequent tourist destinations and sparking fashion trends. What is attractive about the expat crowd of the Quarter? About Jake and Brett?
  5. The characters drink prodigious amounts of alcohol throughout this novel. Why all this drinking? What function does alcohol serve?

Readings:

  • TSAR, Book 2, Chs. 8–12
  • Genesis 32:24–28
  • Ecclesiastes 1

Topics:

  • Bill Gorton & Mike Campbell
  • Jake’s Catholicism
  • The Irati River

Discussion Questions:

  1. We are introduced to two more fiesta-goers: Jake’s American friend, Bill Gorton and Brett’s fiancé, Mike Campbell. What are they like? How do they compare to each other and to Jake and Robert Cohn?
  2. The question of “values” comes up several times in this first section, often in comical or semi-serious terms (e.g., Brett and Jake’s conversation with the Count in Ch. 7, Bill Gorton’s joke about stuffed dogs). What is valued by – or valuable to – the different characters: Jake, Brett, Cohn, et al?
  3. Jake’s Catholicism is mentioned several times in this first section. Why is it important that Jake is Catholic?
  4. Bill and Jake enjoy an idyll fishing on the Irati River. Contrast the Spanish countryside to the Parisian Latin Quarter. Why this interlude before the main action of the novel?

Readings:

  • TSAR, Book 2, Chs. 13–16

Topics:

  • Fiesta
  • The bullfight

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is the purpose or meaning of the fiesta? For the Spanish peasants? For Jake? For the expats? Is it any different from the partying that happens in Paris?
  2. What is Jake’s “fine philosophy,” as described in Ch. 14? Is it “silly”, the effect of “too much brandy”? Or has he learned something?
  3. How do the different characters respond to the bullfight? Why is the inn-keeper Montoya convinced that Jake is an aficionado, but his companions are not?
  4. In Ch. 16, Jake excuses Cohn and Mike’s behavior by telling Brett that “Everybody behaves badly… Give them the proper chance.” Is this a fair summation of the novel thus far? Who is culpable for the explosion at the festival—Cohn, Mike, Jake, Brett?

Readings:

  • TSAR, Book 3, Ch. 17–19
  • Re-read Ecclesiastes 1

Topics:

  • Pedro Romero
  • Vicente Girones
  • Two epigraphs

Discussion Questions:

  1. Why does Jake arrange the liaison between Pedro Romero and Lady Brett Ashley? Is Cohn right to call him a pimp?
  2. What does the story of Vicente Girones demonstrate about bullfighting (Ch. 17)? Do you agree with the waiter’s assessment of Vicente?
  3. Compare Belmonte and Pedro Romero. Why is Romero the superior bullfighter?
  4. What do you make of Jake’s final question and the last line of the book?
  5. Is The Sun Also Rises a great American novel?

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Biography Image

Robert C. Bartlett

Robert C. Bartlett is the Behrakis Professor of Hellenic Political Studies at Boston College. His principal area of research is classical political philosophy, with particular attention to the thinkers of ancient Hellas, including Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle. He is the co-translator of a new edition of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.