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1-Page Summary of A Moveable Feast

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In the beginning of this passage, Hemingway describes the bad weather in Paris and all of the alcoholics in cafés. He talks about how he works at a café and sees a beautiful woman who inspires him to write. Later on, he goes on vacation with his wife, Hadley, but when they come back it is still cold outside so he is always hungry. Sometimes Hemingway struggles with writer’s block but reassures himself that if you just write one true sentence then everything else will follow. He often goes to visit Gertrude Stein at her home where she lives with Alice B. Toklas because she is an influential mentor for him as well as an artist and literary figure in Parisian society whom Hemingway clashes over sexuality issues with because he tends to be sexually conservative compared to Stein’s views on sex.

Hemingway lived in Paris and was poor, so he could not afford to buy books. However, the bookstore Shakespeare and Company let him rent books for cheap. Hemingway would see James Joyce eating at a fancy restaurant called Michaud’s but couldn’t afford to go there himself. He enjoyed walking by stalls selling fish near the River Seine because sometimes it would be sunny after a cold winter only to turn rainy again—a phenomenon known as “false spring.” This made him sad and frightened him.

Hemingway and his wife Hadley go to the races one day. At first, they are worried about having enough money for food or betting, but they end up enjoying themselves anyway. They win some money that they use to buy champagne and eat at a fancy restaurant. Hemingway continues going to the races with his wife until he is advised by Mike Ward that it’s time to stop “going racing” since it’s putting too much of a strain on their lives.

Hemingway often goes to 27 rue de Fleurus in the afternoons, where he and Stein discuss people and literature. Hemingway likes Ezra Pound and James Joyce, but Stein does not like them. She also dislikes Hemingway’s taste in literature. One day her car breaks down, so she takes it to a mechanic who is part of what Stein calls “a lost generation.” This means that men who served during World War I developed a nihilistic attitude toward life and an inclination for destructive alcoholism.

Hemingway had a hard time making ends meet in Paris, and sometimes he couldn’t afford food. However, that didn’t stop him from spending hours at museums and galleries admiring paintings. Sylvia told him not to skip meals because they would make him weak and vulnerable. Hemingway felt ashamed of himself for pretending to be someone else—a saint who doesn’t eat when people are hungry.

Ernest Hemingway lives near the Closerie des Lilas café, which he visits occasionally. One day, he sees Ford Madox Ford there. Hemingway usually avoids him because of his bad body odor and nonsensical speech. It’s difficult to believe that the man in front of him is truly Ford, the great writer. One spring evening Hemingway meets a painter named Pascin at Dôme Café. He treats two sisters with flirty and somewhat demeaning behavior.

Ernest Hemingway notes that Ezra Pound is a great friend. He has many paintings by Japanese artists with long hair in his studio and Hemingway likes them but doesn’t understand the paintings. He does like the paintings of Ezra’s wife Dorothy, on the other hand. Ernest teaches Ezra how to box at Ezra’s studio, where he meets painter Wyndham Lewis. Lewis is an awful man whom Gertrude Stein nicknames “the measuring worm.” After years of friendship, Ernest and Gertrude’s relationship ends abruptly one day when Ernest accidentally overhears a private conversation between Alice B. Toklas (Gertrude’s partner) and Gertrude about him during an argument over money for their trip to Spain together that summer; it turns out they were discussing whether or not to invite him along because they knew he couldn’t afford it anyway so didn’t want to be seen as asking for favors from someone who was poor—but since she had said his name while arguing about this fact, Hemingway heard her say “we can’t ask him because we know he hasn’t got any money”.