Hemingway and Stein: Constructing Self in Memoir

Introduction: Autobiography Through Others' Eyes

A memoir or autobiography can take on a myriad of different literary forms. For both Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway, self-reflection is best achieved through the eyes of other people. The impact of Hemingway's A Moveable Feast and Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is remarkable: each work creates autobiographical material that is neither narcissistic nor self-centered. The authors achieve their literary feats in part by writing in a straightforward style of prose that characterizes the rest of their respective bodies of work. Whatever impressionistic elements do add nuance and flourish to Hemingway and Stein's memoirs never tips into purple prose.

Moreover, both A Moveable Feast and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas are constructionist — or constructivist — texts in that the authors assemble a "self" for the reader. That self is not monolithic but rather pluralistic and multi-faceted. Despite their relatively plain use of prose elements, both Hemingway and Stein manage to create complex characters that the reader can relate to on multiple levels. Sex, creativity, psychology, and social identity are all themes common to both autobiographies.

Both authors are American expatriates living in Paris, and they in fact knew one another, referring to each other in their respective memoirs. Their different genders, backgrounds, experiences, and worldviews make A Moveable Feast and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas divergent works, however, offering singular perspectives and insights.

Constructing the Self in A Moveable Feast

Hemingway and Stein both construct and portray the self through the eyes of others. For Hemingway, the construction of self is achieved by writing in the first person as himself. He weaves together a series of what are otherwise stand-alone anecdotes; A Moveable Feast was, in fact, posthumously assembled by Hemingway's fourth wife, Mary. That posthumous assembly fits the overall theme, tone, and style of the autobiographical work. After all, A Moveable Feast is fundamentally about the construction of the self through the stories and perceptions of other people. Hemingway's fourth and last wife is part of his personal narrative, and she too contributes meaningfully to the construction of his identity as he would like the world to see it.

Hemingway comes across at times as a bitter and sad man, whether or not he intended the world to see him that way. He gripes about the bad weather in Paris, the smells, and the drunks who roam the streets. From the first chapter, his heavy outlook on life permeates the pages of the memoir. He writes, "All of the sadness of the city came suddenly with the first cold rains of winter, and there were no more tops to the high white houses as you walked but only the wet blackness of the street" (Chapter 1). Given that the author ended his life by his own hand, the heavy, intense, brooding character Hemingway conveys is probably what he intended. He continues to draw the reader into his bleak worldview by criticizing his friends and fellow artists and writers, often with a tongue-in-cheek quality — making snide remarks about others as a sign of affection. Of Gertrude Stein, he states, "In the three or four years that we were good friends I cannot remember Gertrude Stein ever speaking well of any writer who had not written favorably about her work" ("Une Generation Perdue").

Hemingway on Sexuality, Gender, and Gertrude Stein

It is instructive to compare Hemingway's portrayal of Gertrude Stein with Stein's own autobiographical material, as well as her perceptions of Hemingway. Hemingway understandably acknowledges his simultaneous fascination with and fear of homosexuality. In "Miss Stein Instructs," he writes, "Miss Stein thought that I was too uneducated about sex and I must admit that I had certain prejudices against homosexuality since I knew its more primitive aspects." Hemingway readily acknowledges that his prejudices stem from his childhood and his socialization, yet he is open-minded enough to seek understanding through the eyes of his friend and fellow writer Gertrude Stein.

Hemingway also reveals his intrigue with gender more broadly, as when he describes F. Scott Fitzgerald in an ambiguous way: "a delicate long-lipped Irish mouth that, on a girl, would have been the mouth of a beauty" ("Scott Fitzgerald"). Hemingway seems simultaneously attracted to Fitzgerald and homophobic — a tension that runs throughout the memoir and that Stein's presence in his life only intensifies.

Conclusion: Identity, Relationships, and Modernist Memoir

Stein appears in Hemingway's memoirs, and vice versa — and reading both texts together allows for a fuller understanding of both modern American authors. The autobiographies share several elements in common, most notably their capturing of a specific moment and subculture in expatriate Paris. Both Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway invite the reader into their lives: filled with eccentric creatives who drink too much, have lots of sex, and develop narcissistic personalities. Their straightforward writing styles defined their generation — a kind of photorealism that becomes an effective autobiographical tool.

The reader receives both a subjective and an objective impression of the literary lifestyle in early twentieth-century Paris. Stein and Hemingway use novel autobiographical techniques to show that all human beings create their identities by constructing "selves" through relationships with others.

Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. A Moveable Feast. Scribners.

Stein, Gertrude. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. Harcourt, Brace, 1933.