A Moveable Feast

The Restored Edition

De: Ernest Hemingway

Narrado por: John Bedford Lloyd

When Ernest Hemingway died in 1961 he had nearly completed A Moveable Feast, which eventually was published posthumously in 1964 and edited by his widow Mary Hemingway. This new special edition of Hemingway's classic memoir of his early years in Paris in the 1920's presents the original manuscript as the author intended it to be published at the time of his death.

This new publication also includes a number of unfinished Paris sketches on writing and experiences that Hemingway had with his son, Jack, his wife Hadley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford and others. A personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, Ernest's sole surviving son, precedes an introduction by the editor, Sean Hemingway, grandson of the author.

©2009 the Hemingway Copyright Owners (P)2009 Simon & Schuster, Inc

The Fitzgerald story is one of his best

His story about his experiences with Fitzgerald in Paris is the largest of these stories, and it really a biography in its own right. His ability to describe Fitzgerald’s looks and quirks shows his own writing genius. This is Hemingway at his personal best: the man who supported another genius even though that genius had severe mental handicaps.

Hemingway's Paris of the 20's is Truly a Feast

I'm a big Hemingway fan (if I don't think about his love of hunting!). I read this years ago, but decided to listen to the newest edition that has additional material from the last editions. I love listening to good writing with well-spoken readers. I'm never disappointed with Hemingway, because his prose is so clean.

Paris in the 1920's was truly another world from the Paris of today. As as I progressed through the book, I found myself yearning for a trip to Hemingway's Paris.

This is sort of a food memoire. After all, how can you write about Paris and France and not include something about eating and drinking?
And although Hemingway's food and wine descriptions make you wish you were there with him, my favorite chapters were about his friendship with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway's son, Jack, who he called Mr. Bumby.

The last chapter includes Hemingway's various versions of his introduction to the book. Not only does it prove writing is always rewriting, but thinking that Hemingway kept every version of a short intro and they're all archived is even more fascinating.

Extremes of joy and sadness

I am in tears at the end of this story—Hemingway’s philosophy about putting the reader into the story worked on me. I’ve never been to Paris except in this story—and felt I was truly there. I recommend listening to this while reading “The Paris Wife”. They complement each other well. At the end you might realize that Hadley was the one “true and good thing” in Hemingway’s life.

40 years later...

A fictional depiction of Hadley as heroine. Slow, easy listen with an interesting last chapter relating notes about the book, hand written by Hemingway.

Fiction or Nonfiction?

Hemingway says the book is fiction because reminiscences are never really accurate. However, I do believe Hemingway captured the essence of Paris and the people he met there through his engaging vignettes. And with memoir, that’s about the best you can do. I know because I’ve tried.

Slightly disappointed..

I just wish the sample was of the narrator speaking. It is really important to me to know what I'm getting in to, so it seems a bit silly to have a sample hat isn't who you will be listening to for hours.

Bloviations, Calibrations

Published posthumously in 1964 (3 years after Papa died), this somewhat scattered memoir covers his years as a young writer living in Paris. You may already know the title comes from a passage in the book, "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

For most of the memoir, Hemingway was married to his 1st wife, Hadley, containing the poignant description that, “When I saw my wife again standing by the tracks as the train came in by the piled logs at the station, I wished I had died before I had ever loved anyone but her." Of course, this was just prior to his leaving her for his next wife.

A MOVEABLE FEAST contains some wonderful tips for writers starting out and is a fascinating look at those heady days in Paris, with significant (sometimes overly nasty) parts covering, respectively, a friendly Ezra Pound, John Dos Passos, a charismatic James Joyce, Gertrude Stein (whom Hemingway described as resembling a "Roman soldier"), Ford Madox Ford (who seemed to have been awfully foul-smelling) and F. Scott Fitzgerald (whose wife Zelda apparently made him remarkably self-conscious about the caliber of his reproductive equipment).

As Christopher Hitchens so aptly explained the continued fascination with this memoir, it's "an ur-text of the American enthrallment with Paris," "a skeleton key to the American literary fascination with Paris...." And it serves the nostalgia of Hemingway "at the end of his distraught days, as he saw again the 'City of Light' with his remaining life still ahead of him rather than so far behind."

I Listen again and again

This is one of my absolute favorite audio books. I've listened to it several times and will keep doing so. This book can transport me back to the past like only "The Sun Also Rises" can.

Excellent Book

Loved listening to this great book. I loved this time in history, amazing how you can do so much for so little.. The narrator made me feel he was Hemingway himself.

the way he bridges the past to make it relatable to people of the present.

I loved the book and felt like I made a connection to the past and a respect to someone I have never met