I just read over some parts of A Moveable Feast. He starts the memoir in the middle of a conversation;
"Then there was the bad weather. It would come in one day when the fall was over..." There is a melancholy about this memoir in the tone of the book but it seems to me in nearly every word he uses. It is like his soul was sad when he wrote about this time. It was the best and worst time in many ways for him.
He seems to have regrets about the things that happened in the end of their time in Paris. What I am amazed about is the amount of times he uses The to begin a sentence. But nevertheless the sentence is not boring or predictable. What is contained within the sentence is fresh, unique and the imagery is vital. I was always told don't start every sentence with The. However, I am learning that it can be done very well. I was reading Vikram Seth An Equal Music yesterday (that a friend leant me) and I was also surprised that he started a lot of his sentences with The..but the voice of the piece and his imagery drew the reader in. I am learning that some rules are not always correct, you can pull The with a superb voice. Both these pieces were first person, so that makes a difference.
Back to Hemingway, there was such sweet sadness in the ending of the A Moveable Feast. He describes his wife when he returns to her after being with a mistress:
"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 ever loved anyone but her. She was smiling, the sun on her lovely face tanned by the snow and sun, beautifully built, her hair red gold in the sun, grown out all winter awkwardly and beautifully..." (207).
And in regard to Paris, he loved it with a strong desire because it represented a time when he was with his wife in an innocent way. Their marriage broke up after his affairs. But this was looking back and knowing that this time in their life was golden and pure, even though they had no money or even position.
"There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other...Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy."
(A Moveable Feast, p.207).
