This year marks the centennial of Ernest Hemingway's classic novel "The Sun Also Rises," a milestone occasion for scholars and fans. For many, it represents a moment to celebrate his work and acknowledge that his outsized legend has receded enough for his books to be evaluated on their own merits.
Hilary K. Justice, an Ernest Hemingway scholar at Boston's John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, recalled facing skepticism about her chosen field of study as a graduate student. "I was told that studying Hemingway amounted to committing professional suicide — ‘Haven’t we killed him yet?’ was the comment of one professor in my PhD program," she said in a recent interview. Justice, who now oversees the Hemingway collection at the JFK library, added that she used to be asked at public events, "How do you, as a woman, justify studying Hemingway?"
Hemingway died more than 60 years ago, and the man who once embodied the ideal of the macho adventurer, drinker, and womanizer is now known to younger generations more through his books than his persona. At a recent centennial event in Manhattan, actors read from "The Sun Also Rises," and a panel discussion included Hemingway descendants. Brendan Hemingway, grandson of the author, reflected on how the intense backlash against his grandfather's image, particularly during the rise of second-wave feminism, has largely faded. "For my daughter's generation, you read him or you don't," he stated.
Scholars like Justice and Verna Kale, an associate research professor at Penn State, report encountering little resistance in their work today. Kale noted that many students encounter Hemingway's work before they are exposed to his myth. "So when they come to my college classroom they encounter the work before the myth," said Ross K. Tangedal, an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
"The Sun Also Rises," published in 1926, follows British and American expatriates in Europe navigating life through relationships, alcohol, and their engagement with sports like boxing and bullfighting. It became a foundational text for the "Lost Generation" of the post-World War I era. Jay McInerney, author of "Bright Lights, Big City," recalled reading the novel in college and being struck by its freshness and revolutionary prose, calling it "a really radical new voice that somehow still spoke directly to me."
While "The Sun Also Rises" remains popular, its sales are significantly lower than those of contemporary classics like F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." Circana reports that "The Sun Also Rises" has sold just under 40,000 copies in the U.S. this year so far, a decrease from peak sales of over 60,000 annually in the 2010s. Over the past two decades, U.S. sales have exceeded 1 million copies, while "Gatsby" sales approached 8 million in the same period.
Debra Moddelmog, who serves on the editorial board of The Hemingway Review, acknowledged that some readers perceive the female characters in Hemingway's works as stereotyped. However, she argues that Hemingway's famously terse prose conceals complex characters, citing Lady Brett Ashley from "The Sun Also Rises" as an example of a nuanced figure rather than a mere femme fatale. This perspective is increasingly reflected in Hemingway scholarship, where women now hold many leading roles. Justice pointed to figures such as Moddelmog, Sandra Spanier (general editor of the Hemingway Letters Project), and Suzanne del Gizzo (editor of The Hemingway Review) as examples of women shaping the field.