Some More Cafe Life

The sidewalk cafes of Paris and the circle of friends that Hemingway met there is a central theme to "A Moveable Feast."
He did much of his most productive writing sitting in a cafe with his blue notebooks and a few pencils and a pocket knife to keep them sharp. The walk from his apartment or just a stroll through Paris to the cafe were stimulants for a good day's work.
His first published short stories were written that way and his beginning of "The Sun Also Rises" started there, too.
The painting is called "Hemingway's Paris," and is courtesy of Maranda Pleasant of Big Modern Art.

Hemingway And Hadley

A Moveable Feast is not just about Hemingway learning to perfect his style of writing & living the Bohemian life - it is a love story about his first wife, Hadley.
He was married four times and had many affairs, but his "book of sketches" is saturated with sketches of Hadley and the things that they did together.
In this 1922 photo they are in Chamby, Switzerland, a favorite spot for them in the winter.
A photo of Hadley from an older post

HERE

Jules Pascin

Jules Pascin was a good friend of Hemingway. He was a working artist, Bulgarian by birth, and a regular of the Left Bank cafe circuit. Like Hemingway, he usually only went out to drink after getting in a good day's work. They frequently met at the Dome Cafe, a cafe Hemingway liked because many of the regulars were artists that had worked at their craft that day and were not just out to be "seen." In "A Moveable Feast," Hemingway devotes a short chapter to his friend, called: With Pascin at the Dome. Pascin who suffered from alcoholism and depression hanged himself when he was 45.
The first painting is "Woman at Her Toilet."
The second painting is of Pasin's mistress, Lucy Krohg.
The next painting is titled "Nude Sleeping."
After the photo of Pascin is a self-portrait by him done in 1921. Then, a portrait of him painted in 1906 by Albert Weisgerber.

The Little Book of Sketches

A fine example of "A Moveable Feast". I love the artwork on the dustjacket. It's hard for me to say exactly when this edition came out, but 1964 was the first publication date. Hemingway worked on AMF from the fall of 1957 to the spring of 1958. He worked primarily at his home in Cuba. It centers on the Paris years of 1921 -1926. It was called the Paris sketchbook as he worked on the chapters, digging up the memories from years ago. His fourth wife edited it after his death. It was published by Scribners.

A Favorite View For Hemingway

Photo courtesy Carlos

Lisbon Weekly Photo

A routine part of Hemingway's Paris years was walking down the Boulevard du Montparnasse to the intersection of rue de L'Observetoire where the La Closerie de Lilas cafe is located. It was one of his favorite spots to write, eat and drink. Hemingway would sit outside after a good days work or to be alone with his thoughts. He would often gaze at the statue of Marshal Ney. He admired the courage of Ney and writes quite often about him and the Lilas in "A Moveable Feast."

At The Track

Gare du Nord Station

Ernest and Hadley used to go to the horse track at Auteuil to relax and possibly make some money. They would leave from the Gare du Nord train station and go "through the dirtiest and saddest part of town and walked from the siding to the oasis of the track." They enjoyed that patch of greenery that the track provided just outside the middle of urban Paris.
Ernest found it to be hard work, as he put it; learning about the horses, the odds, jockeys, owners and track conditions. Hadley would bet on the long shots, with little study, and often with good results.
Eventually, Hemingway found that he was spending too much time and money at the track and gave it up as a bad habit. The End of an Avocation, is the name of the chapter in "A Moveable Feast."

Hemingway Loved Cezanne's Work

The Players by Cezanne.
Hemingway commented frequently on how hunger sharpened his senses. So he would go nearly every day to the Musee du Luxembourg when he couldn't afford to eat to better appreciate the Cezannes.
In "A Moveable Feast", he said he was learning something from the Cezannes that made writing simple true sentences far from enough to make the stories have the dimensions he was tring to put into them. He said he was learning very much, though, from the Cezannes.

The Dome Cafe

The Dome Cafe is mentioned several times in "A Moveable Feast."
"With Pascin at the Dome" is a humorous chapter. Ernest meets the painter Pascin there and two models who are sisters.
Hemingway has put in a good days work and is in a good mood. He has verbal volleys with the sisters and Pascin who is recounting his day with his models and trying to get Hemingway to join in the flirtations.

Beginning

Hi,
This is just a construction site at the moment.
I hope to add maps & descriptions of Hemingway's favorite (and, not so favorite) places in Paris in the 1920s.
If you've read "A Moveable Feast," by Hemingway perhaps you've been fascinated by the streets that he walked, the cafes he frequented and the addresses that he lived at. You probably pictured them and wondered what they really looked like, like his apartment above the sawmill and the cafe on Place St-Michel.
This is the time of year for it certainly, springtime in Paris.