Jul 21, 2011 10:48 AM
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To love and be loved and yet not to get the fulfillment; never to realize the satisfaction of it. There are people who do everything possible to keep their loved ones at ease; who love them like nothing else exist on the face of the earth, worth deserving of their love – yet their partner leaves them. Then there are those, like ‘BRETT’, who get all the love and care from their partner and still they can’t resist the attraction of others; they are wandering minds who are destined never to get fulfillment. ‘Fiesta’ is a story of Love, Hatred and Passions of such people, of both kinds, and of many other kinds, not mentioned.
ABOUT THE STORY: Fiesta is a tale of a group of young people that represents the generation that lived in Europe in between the two World Wars, later known as ‘The Lost Generation’.
Jake Barnes, the protagonist and the narrator of the story, is an American Journalist living in Paris. Jake is sexually impotent due to some injury that he acquires in war. Jake loves Brett, his one time girlfriend but now separated, because of his impotency, on his part, and her dissolute nature towards other men, on her. Jake still love her and it shows in his care and protectiveness towards her. He is the one Brett always relies on, in times of need. He drinks, but he’s not a drunkard.
Brett Ashley is the only female character of the story and apparently it revolves around her. She, apart from being the ex-girlfriend of Jake, is the love interest of almost all the chief male characters in the story. Brett lives life on her own terms and enjoys it to the fullest. She never hesitates to hang around with multiple men simultaneously and often breaks their hearts. She’s engaged to Mike. She drinks quite a lot.
Mike is Brett’s to be husband, from their attitudes it seems to be more of a compromise type of relation. Mike doesn’t seem to mind Brett’s unfaithfulness. He’s a bankrupted wealthy man and a biggest drunkard of them all and he doesn’t mind spending all money he’s left with on boozing and hang in around. He hates Robert Cohen.
Robert Cohn is one time boxer and now trying his hand at writing. He is secretive and mean in nature. He is also in love with Brett, and is ready to leave his soon to be wife for her. He follows Brett everywhere and is the object of hate of all for it and also for being a Jew, and I ain’t sure whether I dislike him more or pity him more. He don’t drink that much.
Then there is Bill Gorton, a friend of Jake, a writer from America. He is the only one not in love with Brett. He stays with Jake and enjoys the most. He is also a big Drinker.
This group of five plans to visit Pamplona (Spain) for the annual festival of Bull running and fighting called FEISTA.
Initial part of the book, follows the life of Jake and Company in 1920’s Paris. Every nook and corner, of then city, is covered in an immense descriptive manner. One feels himself wandering around in the streets. Jake plan the trip to Spain and one by one each of them follow him in.
Jake and Bill travel to Spain and have a fishing trip before moving into Pamplona. They enjoy five days of tranquility, fishing the streams near Burguete, after which they travel to Pamplona, reuniting with the group. They eat, drink and enjoy to the fullest. They watch the running of Bulls, attend the Bull fights, roam around the city, and have lots of fun and lots of arguments and all that accompanied with lots and lots of booze. Cohen follows the couple everywhere, Brett and Mike, and becomes the object of Resentment for everyone. On Brett’s relentless request, Jake introduces her to Romero, young and energetic Bull fighter; she feels smitten by his charms and persona and seduces him. Romero also falls for Brett. That’s when the Jealousy and frustration begins to creep among the men and consumption of liquor breaks all records.
Mike, Jake, Cohen and Romero all love Brett but who gets her finally, I guess that at least could be kept as secret, for the readers to find in the book. All I can say is that it ends badly with bleak outcome for all concerned.
ABOUT THE BOOK: Hemingway visited the Festival of Bull fighting in Pamplona a number of times in 1920’s. This book is derived from one such trip that he made accompanied by a group of friends in 1925. Many of the characters, like Jake, Brett and Cohen, are derived from those real friends. Written in a week or two after the trip, the book was first published in 1927 and was a huge success and established Hemingway as an author to look forward to. ‘Fiesta’ is still considered as one of his best work, though it is much shadowed, now, under the names of “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “Farewell To Arms”, “Old man and the sea” etc.
Written in a very simple and descriptive language ‘Fiesta’ brings to the reader the Paris of 1920’s. The way it covers every minute detail of the actions of the characters as well as the settings around, one feels himself to be actually present there, roaming around with them and eating and drinking and having lots of fun. The best part is, it visualizes the places; you feel like you yourself have been there in those streets of Paris of 1920’, fishing in the stream near Burguete, watching the excitement of the bull fighting: all of it you can feel. Fiesta is the best example of descriptive writing that I have read until now.
Hemingway’s love for Spain and Bull fighting is quite apparent in the book. The way he has covered the events of Fiesta, esp. the Bull fighting, could only be done by the one deeply in love with the place and the traditional event. Fiesta has painted a picture of Spain in my mind, explicitly Pamplona with its Festival of Fiesta, bull fighting and all; not sure if one could get all that in the Spain of Today.
WHAT I DON’T LIKE: Going by the review until now, one might feel there are no shortcomings, but if you’ve gone through it thoroughly you might have got its –vies as well. It is both a travel book as well as tale of desperate love; so if one read it from only one perspective, other might seem overstated. Also, it moves in linear flow and sometimes the reader feels it to be drifting in directionless direction, like the lives of the characters in it. And you wonder why the hell they are living like that!! At moments like that the excellent but simple writing of Hemingway comes to the rescue and helps you to hang on.
FINAL WORDS : Back when ‘FIESTA’ was first published, it’s a revelation for many. It was the birth of Hemingway to mainstream; a new way of writing was introduced, with bold and close to real life characters. It has survived the whip of time, but not without losing much of its sheen. Works of Hemingway that followed ‘FIESTA’ have left it much behind in term of greatness, but how can one disregard the phenomenon that started it all.
P.S : 21st July(Today) marks the 112th Birth Anniversary of Ernest Hemingway. This review is my tribute to the prodigy of descriptive writing on his special day.
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Vikky Gural
PYAR HUMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA....
