The influences behind The Sun Also Rises

1926

The Sun Also Rises

Ernest Hemingway

Lost Generation. Paris / United States. Written in English.

Hemingway's first novel (1926) follows Jake Barnes, an American journalist left impotent by a war wound, and the expatriates around Lady Brett Ashley from the cafes of Paris to the fishing streams of Burguete and the bullfights at Pamplona. Its title and epigraph come from Ecclesiastes, and its spare, repetitive prose draws on Gertrude Stein.

Where it came from

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The King James BibleTranslation committee under James I

1611

The King James Bible (Authorized Version)

Translation committee under James I

Jacobean. England. Written in English.

The English Bible translation authorized for the Church of England, a revision of earlier English Bibles checked against Hebrew and Greek texts.

What it handed down

To The Sun Also Rises (1926)

Direct source, well documented.

The novel takes its title and one of its two epigraphs from Ecclesiastes 1:4-7 in King James wording: 'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh... The sun also ariseth.' Hemingway set this beside Stein's 'You are all a lost generation' to answer her, and said the abiding earth was the book's hero. The plain, cadenced English of the passage matches the prose of the novel.

Where it came from

Ecclesiastes (Qohelet), Anonymous (attributed to Solomon) c. 3rd century BCE
The Coverdale Bible, Myles Coverdale 1535 follow this thread
The New Testament (Tyndale's translation), William Tyndale 1526 follow this thread

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EcclesiastesAnonymous

c. 3rd century BCE

Ecclesiastes (Qohelet)

Anonymous (attributed to Solomon)

Persian or Hellenistic period. Judea. Written in Hebrew.

A book of Hebrew wisdom literature in which the Preacher reflects on the vanity of human effort against the endless cycles of nature.

What it handed down

To The Waste Land

Direct source, well documented.

Eliot's note to line 23 ('the cricket no relief') directs readers to Ecclesiastes 12:5, the Preacher's picture of old age when 'the grasshopper shall be a burden'. The poem's dry stones and absent water echo that chapter's imagery of decay.

To The King James Bible (Authorized Version) (1611)

Direct source, well documented.

The King James translators rendered Ecclesiastes from the Hebrew Masoretic text, producing the verses about the sun rising and the generations passing that Hemingway quoted. Their English kept the parallel, repetitive structure of the Hebrew.

To The Vulgate

Direct source, well documented.

Jerome translated Ecclesiastes directly from Hebrew around 398 and had earlier written a commentary on it. His Latin version became the text through which the medieval West knew the book.

Where it came from

This is one of the oldest surviving works in its tradition; the line ends here.

Find “Ecclesiastes (Qohelet)” on Amazon

Where it came from

What it handed down

To The Sun Also Rises (1926)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To The Waste Land

To The King James Bible (Authorized Version) (1611)

To The Vulgate

Where it came from

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