Jake Barnes and his associates (among the Lost Generation there was scarcely a thing like friendship) are forever poised on the brink of destruction in Ernest Hemingway's first and brilliant novel, The Sun Also Rises. They drink, they entertain sexual dalliances, they drink some more, they talk about drinking, they drink again. Among the generous flow of libations are incredibly visceral depictions of 1920s Left Bank Paris, fishing holidays, and the brutality and stink of Spanish bullfights. Barnes' detached narration becomes the universal voice of the disillusioned American expatriate artists living in Paris between the World Wars.
The story centers around the sexually liberated Lady Brett Ashley, for whom Barnes develops a romantic attraction. Barnes, however, suffered an emasculating injury in World War I, and understands that he will never be one of Brett's paramours. Throughout the novel other men are introduced, each of whom desires Brett (they even fistfight over her at one point), and each of whom finally loses her. It's a spare plot, but as with most of Hemingway's fiction the real emphasis is on the themes explored rather than the narrative vehicle used to express them.
The Sun Also Rises is primarily about a search for identity among those whose nihilism has broken every tradition they knew and left them with no more than angst and a powerful thirst. Typical of Hemingway, this search centers largely around the male need to express and establish masculinity, which they do here primarily through violent means. They kill animals, they fight animals, they fight each other, they have sex with women. Barnes' wound necessitates a greater visible effort on his part, as his anatomical maleness has been compromised. In the end, these men are left no more identified than before, their brief shows of manhood ultimately lost in a society increasingly feminized—a trend symbolized by Brett, whose faux-masculinity (she wears her hair short and initiates many of her sexual encounters) dominates and controls the men in her circle.
A fine example of Hemingway's brilliant and entirely unique style, The Sun Also Rises contributed to the beginning of a revival among American literary artists and heralded the beginning of his own remarkable career. Less thematically complex than his later masterpieces, this is nonetheless a must-read for anyone wanting a complete picture of American literature in the 20th century.
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