Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises: “Talking” with Authors and Scholars

This lesson features video clips of authors and critics reacting to Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. It’s designed for students who have finished reading the novel or for a class to round out its study of Modernism or the post-World War I period without spending time on an entire novel. For example, if students are reading The Great Gatsby and need a companion text, the video summarizes much of The Sun Also Rises while characterizing its context in literary history. For students who have already read the novel, hearing authors weigh in on its themes can enable them to engage more seriously in the literary conversation and explore their own reactions alongside those of experts. The lesson is not recommended as an introduction to the novel because of the many plot elements revealed in the videos.

Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises was the signature novel of what Gertrude Stein called “The Lost Generation”—survivors of World War I who, in the aftermath of colossal casualties, struggled to find meaning in established institutions. With the values of country, religion, and traditional class structures suddenly seeming hollow, many felt lost and attempted to distract themselves with bar-hopping, country-hopping, and love affairs. This is who Hemingway depicts in The Sun Also Rises—characters modeled on himself and his friends in the post-war years. Yet through the drunken haze, the characters also aim to find hope, beauty, and meaning.

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students hear about the impact of the novel on scholars and authors such as Tim O’Brien (The Things They Carried) and Peruvian Nobel Prize-winner Mario Vargas Llosa. Students then use a shared document to examine some of the videos’ standout quotes. The activity can be done independently or collaboratively, with a chance for students to identify what they learned from a classmate’s responses, and can culminate in a mind-map or essay. An extension activity offers an opportunity for students to articulate questions about Hemingway’s anti-Semitic portrayal of a close friend in The Sun Also Rises and provides an overview of global anti-Semitism in the 20th century.

Essential questions:

• How do authors and literature scholars describe their lasting impressions of The Sun Also Rises?
• How can experts’ insights expand our understanding of a literary work?

About the Author:

Jessica Leader is a teacher and author. She has taught middle and high school English and social studies for 13 years in New York, Kentucky, and Washington, DC and has authored curriculum materials for several Ken Burns films. Her middle-grade novel, Nice and Mean, was published by Simon and Schuster. She believes in the power of great stories.