The Sun Also Rises is considered the first significant novel by Ernest Hemingway. Published in 1926, the plot centers on a group of expatriate Americans in Europe during the 1920s. The book's title, selected by Hemingway's publisher, is taken from Ecclesiastes 1:5: "The sun also ariseth". Hemingway's own title for the novel was ¡Fiesta!, which was used in the UK and Spanish edition of the novel.

Plot introduction

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The novel is a powerful exposé of the life and values of the Lost Generation, a generation deeply scarred by World War I. The main characters are Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley. Barnes suffered an injury during World War I that makes him unable to consummate his relationship with Brett sexually.

Major themes

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The novel has heavy undercurrents of suppressed emotions and buried values. Its weary and aimless expatriates serve as metaphors for society's lost optimism after the war. Ironically, there is a marked silence regarding the war itself — it is a topic rarely discussed by any of the characters. A famous scene from the book, graphically describing the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, helped popularize that event in English-speaking cultures.

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

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The novel was a roman à clef, as many of the characters were based on Hemingway and his friends who accompanied him to Spain in 1925. The character of Robert Cohn is a savage portrait of novelist Harold Loeb, who aroused the anger of Hemingway by indulging in a tryst with Lady Duff Twysden in Normandy before bringing her to Spain. Twysden was the model for Brett Ashley; Hemingway based the character of Barnes on himself.

Release details

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• 1926, USA, Charles Scribner's Sons, Pub date ? June 1926, hardback
• 1927, UK, Jonathan Cape, Pub date ? ? 1927, hardback (UK edition as ¡Fiesta!)
• 1980, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0686635507, Pub date ? June 1980, paperback
• 1982, USA, Holiday House, Inc. ISBN 0684174723, Pub date ? February 1982 paperback
• 1982, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0684800713, Pub date ? March 1982 paperback
• 1983, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0684102501, Pub date ? March 1983, paperback
• 1984, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0684153270, Pub date ? February 1984, hardcover
• 1990, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 1558882677, Pub date ? January, 1990, hardcover
• 1994, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0816159696, Pub date ? February 1994, hardcover
• 1995, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0684800713, Pub date ? January 1995 paperback
• 1996, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0684830515, Pub date ? May 1996, hardcover
• 1999, USA, Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0808515721, Pub date ? October 1999, hardcover

Popular culture

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• The 1988 film The Moderns, while not an adaptation of The Sun Also Rises, is set in 1926 Paris and revolves around Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and the writers and artists whom they knew. The central protagonists, Nick and Rachel, strongly resemble Hemingway's Jake and Brett.

1926 novels | American novels | Ernest Hemingway works | Modern Library 100 best novels | Time Magazine 100 best novels

Fiesta (Hemingway) | 日はまた昇る | Ja aurinko nousee | Och solen har sin gång