Hemingway vs. Fitzgerald

Hemingway vs. Fitzgerald:
Historic Prizefight Between Two Literary Heavyweights

Michael Roberts, Promoter

The combatants were two of the literary heavyweights of the 20th Century. The prize was undisputed world acknowledgement as the most influencial and important writer of the era. The venue was Paris in the 1920's.

The battle of the literary giants was not actually much of a contest. There cannot be a fight when one man refuses to put up his fists. Still, one author bullied the other in an attempt to either establish himself as the celebrated champion of the literary world or to discredit him as a literary rival.

Although friends at first, Ernest Hemingway became jealous of F. Scott Fitzgerald after the commerical success of The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald had become a sensation with the success of two best-selling novels, while Hemingway was still perfecting the craft of short-story writing and working as a reporter. Anxious to enjoy the perks that fame had brought Fitzgerald, Hemingway quickly (by his standards) wrote The Sun Also Rises in 1926 after a visit to Pamplona, Spain. Although Fitzgerald was instrumental in the editing and publishing of the novel, the opening bell had rung for Hemingway.

Secretly, Hemingway despised much about the life of Fitzgerald and fashioned Robert Cohn, a character in The Sun Also Rises, after him. Cohn was a self-destrtuctive man, a hero-worshipper, a bad novelist, a hopeless drunk, and a man seeking desperately to become a gentleman. The trend of disparaging Fitzgerald in print became habitual for Hemingway. Meanwhile, throughout the 1920's and 1930's, Fitzgerald continued to praise Hemingway as a genius as a writer and a friend.

Despite numerous hardships since the critical success of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald was continually "pounded" personally and professionally by Hemingway. His wife's mental illness, financial worries, alcoholism, and failing health greatly affected Fitzgerald's ability to write. Hemingway remained relentless in his assault. He would go on to insult Fitzgerald in "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" (a short story in Cosmopolitan), "Green Hills of Africa," "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," and A Moveable Feast, as well as in interviews and private correspondence.

Throughout his life, Fitzgerald was hit with continual jabs from Hemingway. In various writings and with various characters, Hemingway hit Fitzgerald with a flurry of insults. At various times through various Fitzgerald caricatures, Hemingway refers to Fitzgerald as a whiner, a coward, an impotent writer, a sexually insecure person, a literary prostitute, and a disaster of a man.

Hemingway won the contest with a convincing knockout. Fitzgerald died prematurely while Hemingway went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize for literature. Fitzgerald finally "threw in the towel" after reading "Snows of Kilimanjaro" in 1936, when Fitzgerald pleaded with Hemingway "Please lay off me in print" after reading the "poor Scott Fitzgerald" passage that Hemingway had included. Having never counter-punched, Fitzgerald died, sadly very close to the character that Hemingway described and despised.

Bibliography

Brenner, Gerry. "Are We Going to Hemingway's Feast?" American Literature 54.4 (1982): 528-544.

Examines the publication of A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. The author recounts the editing and arranging of the manuscript that Hemingway left unfinished. The author analyses contrasting information between the publisher, Heminway's wife, and the foreward presented in the book.

Davison, Richard Allan. "Hemingway's 'Homage to Switzerland' and F. Scott Fitzgerald." Hemingway Review 12.2 (1993): 72-78.

Reviews Hemingway's references to F. Scott Fitzgerald in the short story "Homage to Switzerland" and other writings. Examines Hemingways's reasons for insulting Fitzgerald in his fiction and Fitzgerald's reaction to being criticized in print.

Donaldson, Scott. "The Wooing of Ernest Hemingway." American Literature 53.4 (1982): 691-710.

Examines the courting of Ernest Hemingway by Charles Scribners' Sons. Explains in detail the publication battles over The Sun Also Rises and the role F. Scott Fitzgerald played as editor and referee between the publishers and Hemingway.

Epstein, Joseph. "F. Scott Fitzgerald's Third Act." Commentary 98.5 (1994). 52-58.

Examines the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Focuses on his problems with his marriage, alcoholism, and finances. Also examines the cumulative effect of these problems on his writing.

Hart, Jeffery. "Fitzgerald and Hemingway in 1925-1926." Sewanee Review 105.3 (1997): 369-381.

Focuses on the hostility that Hemingway exhibits towards Fitzgerald and the odd nature of the relationship between the two writers. Also explores the effect the publication of The Great Gatsby had on Hemingway and the friendship.

Kennedy, J. Gerald and Bryer, Jackson R. French Connections: Hemingway and Fitzgerald Abroad. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.

Shows Hemingway's obsession with "outdoing" The Great Gatsby. Examines in depth the contempt Hemingway held towards Fitzgerald. Details Hemingway's criticism of Fitzgerald's alcohol problems, marriage, sexual insecurity, and writing for commercial acceptance.

Monteiro, George. "'Last Heroes' in Fitzgerald and Hemingway: Tender Is the Night, The Last Tycoon, and Across the River and Into the Trees." Hemingway Review 16.2 (1997): 61-73.

Details the friendship between Hemingway and Fitzgerald and the influence each may have had on the other's work. Explains the role that each played as critic and the reaction of each to the other's criticism of his work.

O'Meara, Lauraleigh. "Shooting Cowards, Critics, and Failed Writers: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway's Francis Macomber." Hemingway Review 16.2 (1997): 27-35.

Discusses Hemingway's hostility towards Fitzgerald and the mocking of Fitzgerald in Francis Macomber and argues that Macomber possesses the traits that Hemingway found disturbing in Fitzgerald, precipitated by Fitzgerald's "Crack-Up" essays.

Pizer, Donald. American Expatriate Writing and the Paris Moment. Baton Rouge. Louisiana State University Press, 1996.

Examines the work and life of American expatriate writers in the 1920's. Contrasts the career beginnings and opposing directions the careers of Hemingway and Fitagerald took.

Reynolds, Michael. Hemingway: The Paris Years. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, Ltd. 1989.

Shows the emergence of Hemingway as a writer in the 1920's while living in Paris. Details his relationships with other expatriate writers and examines his personal and professional realtionship with other writers.

Hemingway/Fitzgerald links:

Hemingway Resource Center: biography, bibiography, FAQ, audio, links www.lostgeneration.com

Picturing Hemingway, A Writer In His Time: pictures, biography, beginning years, Paris years, later years www.npg.si.edu

Ernest Hemingway: biography, works in chronological order, literary pieces www.ernesthemingway.com

F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary Home Page: bibliography, biography, Fitzgerald collected essays, articles, film clips www.sc.edu/fitzgerald

Selected Bibliography of Paris: works of expatriate writers in Paris in 1920's and 30's, tours, historic maps, museums www.paris.org