Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Drink
During Hemingway’s time in Paris, one of his most interesting friendships resulted from the company of famous fellow-American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. In a chapter of A Moveable Feast titled “Scott Fitzgerald,” Hemingway details the pair’s initial meetings and the beginnings of their friendship. Particularly, soon after they meet, the two plan a trip to Lyon, and Hemingway looks forward to traveling alongside Fitzgerald, particularly since he admires him as a more established author and writer. Before the excursion, Hemingway anticipates the journey to include, of course, excellent food and wine, most of which would be paid for by Fitzgerald.
A young Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Photo from here.
Although Hemingway notably enjoyed well-prepared, rich meals, Fitzgerald was even more willing to spend quickly and loosely on the finer things of life; as they traveled about, Hemingway, even, was aware of Fitzgerald's ability to frivolously spend money and time almost at a debilitating level. On one morning, Fitzgerald recalls that "It was a big American breakfast with ham and eggs and it was very good. But by the time we had ordered it, waited for it, eaten it, and waited to pay for it, close to an hour had been lost. It was not until the waiter came with the bill that Scott decided that we have the hotel make us a picnic lunch. I tried to argue him out of this as I was sure we could get a bottle of Mâcon in Mâcon and we could buy something to make sandwiches in a charcuterie..." (140).
Lyon; one of the stops and destinations along the pair's proposed journey in France. Photo from here.
In addition to Fitzgerald's personal excesses of food and time, he also was one to excess in drink. Hemingway notes that "Scott had obviously been drinking before I met him... we had a whisky and Perrier in the bar while we waited for the lunch and both felt much better" (140). Hemingway is fully aware that Fitzgerald has a bit of a drinking problem, and after asking Fitzgerald if he was a "morning drinker" he decides to join Fitzgerald in having a drink while waiting on the preparation of the expensive picnic lunch. While Hemingway does notice the excess of Fitzgerald's dependency on alcohol, he is much quicker to join in with Fitzgerald in this way and offers less criticism than he does on Fitzgerald's luxurious consumption of food and travel time.
The rest of the chapter is similarly peppered with numerous instances of the pair's alcohol consumption, including, but not limited to, their consumption of "the white Mâcconais at each of our stops. At Mâcon I had bought four more bottles of excellent wine which I uncorked as we needed them..." (142).
Hemingway recounts an "American breakfast." Photo from here.
Alongside this, although the pair does engage with a good deal of the French cuisine and drink, it is notable that they begin their travels, as mentioned above, with an "American breakfast" (140). As their first meal of the journey, this seems to be a somewhat ironic choice. The duo's decision to dine in this way emphasizes their status as Americans abroad. Once again, this type of detail removes Hemingway from the romanticized European backdrop and emphasizes his inability to erase his American habits and sensibilities underneath a blanket of Parisian mimicry. Like Hemingway's experiments with "hunger" as a "good discipline," Hemingway has moments in which his carefully crafted image of an artist slips, and he is, ultimately, a human who must face moments of the ordinary amidst the extravagant lifestyle he strives to cultivate.
Hemingway, Ernest. A Moveable Feast. Arrow Books, 1996.
I don't know much about these two authors (basically, I've read The Great Gatsby and that's the extent of my knowledge), so it was interesting to learn about their lifestyles through the lens of food and drink. Particularly interesting to me is that Hemingway was critical of Fitzgerald's excesses in food and travel but would partake in the drinking aspect of his lifestyle, as if this is more acceptable, or maybe more irresistible.
ReplyDeleteI love the passage you quoted in the second paragraph. I was struck by the phrase "close to an hour had been lost", as although Fitzgerald says the breakfast was "very good", his use of the word "lost" feels like an acknowledgement of the futility of his indulgences.