F.Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald was perhaps the most famous of the Jazz Age writers, (he supposedly coined the phrase himself). F. Scott Fitzgerald embodied the spirit of the Roaring Twenties. He staked his claim as the voice of his generation with his first novel, "This Side of Paradise" (1920), and later with "The Great Gatsby" (1925). The Saint Paul, Minnesota native spent a lot of time visiting Paris in the 1920's with his wife Zelda, and their daughter Scottie. Fitzgerald was a fan of Hemingway's early work and Hemingway loved "The Great Gatsby." Fitzgerald was to become a good friend (if a difficult one) of Hem's and the two had quite a few interesting and humorous moments in France. Fitzgerald would also help Hemingway in getting his writing published. Hemingway devoted quite a bit of space in "A Moveable Feast" to Fitzgerald, their time together, and Hemingway's not too flattering opinion of Zelda's influence on Fitzgerald's career.

Bicycle Racing At The Velodrome

After Ernest gave up horseracing, he discovered cycling and liked it more than betting on the horses.
A friend of his, Mike Ward, told him that he used to bet on the horses but he'd found something better, bicycle racing.
In "A Moveable Feast" Ernest wrote: "I have started many stories about bicycle racing but have never written one that is as good as the races are both on the indoor tracks and on the roads."
" French is the only language it has ever been written in properly and the terms are all French and that is what makes it hard to write. Mike was right about it, there is no need to bet. But that comes at another time in Paris."

Running Of The Bulls

This week it is the "running of the bulls" in Pamplona, Northern Spain, at the Festival of San Fermin. Young men have been participating in this ceremony since the 1600's, but Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" published in 1926, made it the event that it is today.
Gertrude Stein recommended to Hemingway that he take a vacation there to help him "clear his head" and concentrate on the business of writing a novel.
These photos are from 1925, one year before he finished his novel.
Top photo: Hemingway on the left, Harold Loeb, Lady Duff Twysden, Hadley, Don Stewart and Pat Guthrie.
(If you click on the bottom photo, you will see Ernest just in front of the bull as he participates in "the amateurs.")