For this blog post, I have chosen to write about my copy of Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. I read this book last semester for my Intro to American Literature class with Professor Stoneback. For me, it was definitely a challenging and enlightening class. Looking at the book is like looking at a reminder of an accomplishment I made by completing the class. I bought it used off of Amazon in pretty good condition with barely any marks on it. However, I was not shy in marking this book during class. Within it I have highlighted important sections such as the value scene with Brett, Jake and the count and famed lines such as “Isn’t it pretty to think so.” All over the book I have scribbled questions to myself and made notes of Stoneback’s remarks like how important the value scene is.
The size of the back is about 5 x 7 inches. It is a paperback edition published in New York by Scribner an imprint of Simon & Schuster in 2003. Scribner originally published the book on 22 October 1926. The book has remained in print since it’s original publication. Hemingway used his own experiences in Spain to inspire the novel. The photo to the left is a first edition cover of the book.
The book is based off of Hemingway’s manuscript of the story. According to an article I read online from The New Yorker, it seems that the manuscript went through an intensive editorial process. Ian Crouch’s article “Hemingway’s Hidden Metafictions” details several alternatives titles and lines that had been rewritten. The final line “Isn’t it pretty to think so” was originally written, as “It’s nice as hell to think so.” There has been a new edition of the novel published that reveals alternatives from Hemingway’s early manuscripts.
Maxwell Perkins was the Scribner editor on Hemingway’s work. Perkins also worked with F. Scott Fitzgerald who played a role in Hemingway’s editorial process in their correspondence as well. Fitzgerald reminded Hemingway that less is more and that the book didn’t really start until “Robert Cohn was
once middle weight boxing champion of Princeton.” Hemingway deleted the several pages of material he had written before this official opening line.
The book now sits amongst a stack of novels I am currently reading this semester and ones I read last semester. But, this book always brings me back to Stoneback’s class which was unlike any other. The front cover has Ernest Hemingway in big letters on the top and The Sun Also Rises on the bottom and in between is a blurry picture of a bull and a matador. When I look at the book, I see a text that bares the evidence of being carried from class to class. Ultimately, it looks like a student’s book to me. A student that was deeply motivated and interested in learning about the subject. However, I suppose my opinion could be a little biased on this matter.
The Materials of History, Thought, and Art 
I had no idea the huge importance of The Sun Also Rises before taking Stoneback’s class. No clue at all. But somehow I choose to take this one book with me as I traveled throughout Italy and Ireland with my mom and my sister. I have many books. I am curious what made me choose this one. And I am even more curious because after coming back from Europe I signed up for Stoneback’s class. In his class I learned the value that The Sun Also Rises had to his entire life.
I remember Stoneback talking about the significance of the last line; “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” Reading your post was so interesting because Hemingway edited the line to make it perfect. To fully get the point of the entire novel across. I am bit biased too, and that class ignited a whole new meaning to reading and learning that I never knew existed before.
I really enjoy how your post serves to honor not only the content of this book, but also the class in which it was introduced to you, and the materiality of its appearance. Because I am not an English major, I’m always blown away when a text/book/novel can affect me on more than a literary level; what I mean to say is that your analysis of the evolution of Hemingway’s writing and your appreciation for Stoneback’s lesson signify that this book has taken on specific and special meaning in your life.
I think that the phenomenon of reading a book and feeling emotional resonance with its content is a remarkable experience. Your post made me think of my experience this semester while reading “The Hare With Amber Eyes”. While becoming immersed in de Waal’s process of chasing the history of his netsuke, I also became more devoted to my own process. In other words, I often recalled de Waal’s personal sentiments about the “burden of inheritance” while I was trying to digest my great-grandmother’s letters, and I found comfort in his book because it was as if the author and I were engaging in an exploratory process simultaneously. I know that sounds weird, but truly, I remember being frustrated with my own blog writing and turning to de Waal’s book. His words were inspirational indeed, but there was also something important about looking at all of the photographs inside. I matched faces to names, and soon realized that I wanted to paint a portrait of my relatives in the same systematic and fascinating way that de Waal had.
All of this is simply to say that I appreciate your description of “The Sun Also Rises” because it reminds us that books can have a significant connection to our own learning, reading, and writing experiences. The stories in books more often than not transcend their most basic meaning, and I think you did a good job at exemplifying that.