…for Paris is a moveable feast. – Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway, one of the most famous names in American literature, towards the end of his life, decided to pen down his memories as a young artist. The times when he was young, struggling, inspired, visionary, and looking at the world with all sorts of possibilities presenting themselves to him and waiting for him out there. That, in simple words, my reader friends, is the core of A Moveable Feast.
Hemingway’s romanticized and dream-like style of writing is shown magically in the work that traces the artist’s younger days in Paris, his meeting with other writers in cafes, his struggles as an artist, and how he looked around for inspiration in every nook and corner of the magical city of Paris.
There had been no artist who hasn’t romanticized a particular city. Be it Ghalib and Mir’s beloved Dilli, or JK Rowling and London, all of them had taken inspiration from their cities and made them essential characters in their works. And so does Ernest Hemingway. Having seen all the beauties, attractions, and artistic muses in Paris, he believed his city of youth to be the grandest of all.
When you decide to pick up this posthumously published memoir of Hemingway, you won’t be just reading the writer’s memories of the past, but also gaining a gastronomical and visual experience of food, drinks, and art that he explains vividly. The book will appear to you like an old friend talking to you, gossiping with you, and sharing his deepest secrets with a great laugh.
Lastly, the genius of Hemingway as a writer appears in the title. A Moveable Feast is not simply the idea of a journey or a trip that moves a person emotionally. Rather, he felt that once a person takes an experiential journey and explores everything a place has to offer, the place stays with you forever, in your memories, in your heart, and in the art you create. That’s what it means by having a moveable feast.
