Hemingway’s “Moveable Feast” as Moving Target
This month Scribner is releasing a “restored edition” of one of Ernest Hemingway’s most popular books, A Moveable Feast.
The reason I read for the revision was that the book as we know it it had been cobbled together by Hemingway’s fourth and last wife Mary in the aftermath of his suicide, and that what she included, and did not include, reflected her desires, rather than those of the author.
The story, unsurprisingly, is more complex. The revision was commissioned by a grandson of Hemingway’s from his second marriage. He felt his grandmother, for whom Hemingway left his first wife, Hadley, got a bad rap from the book. So not only is he doing to Moveable Feast what he criticized Mary for doing, he’s got a vested interest, as well.
An op-ed from Hemingway’s friend and publisher A.E. Hotchner adds another wrinkle.
I wonder–what’s more important–what is “true”, or that A Moveable Feast as it was is a lovely, wonderful book.
July 24th, 2009 at 7:24 am
I’m all for leaving it alone. I won’t read the new one. I’m sorry he feels his grandmother was treated badly–but really, other than a few stragglers of descendants, who does this benefit?
July 24th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
When it was first plugged, I thought I’d definitely read it. Now I’m doubtful.