A Moveable Feast

Hadley Richardson is portrayed fondly in A Moveable Feast. As Hemingway’s first wife, she supported and inspired him during his struggling years as a young writer. Hemingway writes of his simple companionship with Hadley, musing that “then we did not think ever of ourselves as poor. We did not accept it. We thought we were superior people and other people that we looked down on and rightly mistrusted were rich” (22). Hadley’s character is often juxtaposed against other female characters in A Moveable feast, most notably, Gertrude Stein and Zelda Fitzgerald. Stein doesn’t see her as having any of her own thoughts or agency; as Hadley tells Hemingway, “‘I never hear her […] I’m a wife. It’s her friend that talks to me’” (16). This emphasizes the place of a wife in society at the time, to converse with other wives and never speak out of turn. It also exposes the hypocrisy of Stein as a feminist icon, who herself wishes to be a respected woman but does not give the wives of her fellow writers any real respect. Hadley’s ongoing love and support for Hemingway’s career contrasts with Zelda Fitzgerald, who continuously demeans and manipulates Scott Fitzgerald and is jealous when he prioritizes his writing.

Hadley shares in Hemingway’s love of fiction, often joining him as they fantasize about a better life. The two often idealize lavish dates and romanticize travel to Michigan, Madrid, and Schruns. Her calm and easygoing temperament pairs well with Hemingway’s lifestyle; she never complains about their financial situation or the time he spends writing. Nonetheless, Hemingway and Hadley divorced in 1927 and she went on to marry Paul Mowrer, a journalist.

Gertrude Stein, an American novelist, moved from Oakland, California to Paris in 1903. She hosted a salon where prominent artists and authors would routinely meet, including Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ezra Pound. Hemingway recounts his own visits to 27 rue Fleurus where she instructed him both on writing and human nature. He describes Stein as, “very big but not tall and […] heavily built like a peasant woman. She had beautiful eyes and a strong German-Jewish face that also could have been Friulano and she reminded me of a northern Italian peasant woman with her clothes, her mobile face and her lovely, thick, alive immigrant hair…” (8). Stein loved to speak of “people and places,” preferring to comment on the character of the author rather than their work (8), In the memoir, she tells Hemingway that writing an “inaccrochable” book is the worst thing an author can do. Despite the two forming a great friendship, they eventually grow apart after Hemingway overhears a hostile argument in her home. In this way, Stein represents one of the major fixtures of Hemingway’s time in Paris that he ultimately grows away from. Stein’s most well-known works include The Making of Americans and Tender Buttons.

Ezra Pound is best known for his development of Imagism, a modernist literary movement which prioritized deliberate and concise language to form precise imagery. Hemingway describes Pound as a “good friend” who was “always doing things for people” (50). Charitable and kind, Pound cared deeply for the other authors in Paris. He establishes Bel Esprit, a fundraising program to help T.S. Elliot, and eventually other writers, pursue poetry full time. Pound also entrusted Hemingway with Dunning’s opium, knowing of Dunning’s addiction and instructing Hemingway to only give it to Dunning in the case of an emergency. Pound also tells Hemingway about Ford Madox Ford, “that (he) must never be rude to him, that (he) must remember that he only lied when he was very tired, that he was really a good writer and that he had been through very bad domestic troubles” (38). Pound is portrayed as a good-natured man who cared deeply about his community. An American poet and critic, some of Pound’s most famous works include the epic poem The Cantos and novels such as Ripostes and Hugh Selwyn Mauberley.