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Thursday, March 20, 2014

WE ARE BUT FLAMES

 
Flames appear to be objects ... but they are instead a process.

   As are we ourselves.  We appear to be permanent, but we are in flux constantly.


Have you seen MIDNIGHT IN PARIS?
 

The Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, and the other lost generation in Paris lived in the moment as if the moment would never end. 

All moments do.  That is why we are a process not objects.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story collection ironically titled,Taps at Reveille, 

the last of his books to appear before his death in 1940, was published on this day in 1935.

His New York Times obituary notice used it to book-end what was described as a short, sad writing life.

Fitzgerald described himself as “a cracked plate” — emotionally and professionally deserving to be shelved, though not discarded.

Hemingway viewed Fitzgerald’s comments as sentimental, self-absorbed and in the worst style of giving up.

(Another irony that followed the Lost Generation.)

Unwilling to let his former friend have his self-images:

the cracked plate, or the Taps at Reveille soldier who would trumpet his own interment.

Hemingway published “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” a few months later. It presents Fitzgerald as the hunter-writer who has lost his talent for the kill.


Bet you didn't know that fact about Hemingway's short story, did you?


Fitzgerald and Hemingway first met in April 1925.

At the time, Hemingway, who had been working as a journalist, had only published a handful of stories and poems, a total of eighty-eight pages.

 Fitzgerald on the other hand was the author of three published novels, two short story collections and countless individual stories.

The meeting between the writers led to a tumultuous friendship often characterized by insecurity and jealousy – a friendship that would affect not only the two men, but their writing as well.

Fitzgerald and Hemingway were close during those first years of friendship. As Hemingway’s literary career continued to prosper,

he became increasingly resentful of those peers who had originally helped to propel his star:

Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and especially Fitzgerald took the brunt of Hemingway’s cutting words.

While Fitzgerald was there for Hemingway when he needed support, Hemingway did not return the favor.

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.

We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.


                           - Albert Schweitzer
 

What people are you thankful for in your life?
 
What places, moments, and life stage?
 
Have you taken time to give thanks to those people, to look beneath the surface to see if they stand in need?




5 comments:

  1. This is one of my favorite movies.
    I never realized till I saw this movie that all those creative minds where so intertwined.

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  2. A MOVEABLE FEAST by Hemingway tells you even more. Like you, I really love MIDNIGHT IN PARIS! :-)

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  3. Count me in as one who loves both Moveable Feast and Midnight in Paris! However, didn't know about the Snows of Kilimanjaro, and the Fitzgerald connection. Interesting.

    Yes, they did seem to live in the moment, sometimes to their later detriment, yet their words can still touch our hearts and minds.
    I'm glad they occasionally visit at Meilori's!

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  4. D.G.:
    Both MOVEABLE FEAST and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS were absorbing and fascinating -- especially for writers.

    Their words do touch our hearts -- if only Hemingway could have thought more of the hearts around him.

    I enjoy their company at Meilori's!

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  5. I haven't seen the movie - but did know that snippet about The Snows of Killamanjaro.
    Hemingway showed extreme behaviour so often. He could be generous - or damagingly the opposite. While he fascinates me, I doubt I would have liked him (perhaps too self-centred for me?).
    Sadly too many of us are ashes, the flames have gone and we are not prepared (or able) to let anything rekindle them.

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