‘Paris Wife’ fictional look at Hemmingway

However, as the history in question is the American literary circle in Paris in the 1920s, it’s doubtful that any of the characters in this book are still alive today – save, perhaps, for the small children mentioned in passing who must surely be centenarians by now if not very nearly so. But such are the laws of libel that authors need to protect themselves from lawsuits, however unlikely. And with that note on the perils of writing recent history, the “Paris Wife” of the title of this novel is 28-year old spinster Hadley Richardson who, after a whirlwind romance marries 21 year-old Ernest Hemingway – despite all her friends’ and relations’ misgivings due, among other things to the difference in age.

Although this is a novel told, for the most part, by Hadley, (the first of his four wives) we do get a few pages of Hemingway’s feelings and perception of the marriage. The dialogue is, of course, the author’s but one must admire the research on which she based her historical fiction, proof of which is the note on the sources materials, of books on the period, on Hemingway himself, and Hadley as well as the letters they wrote each other preserved in archives in the US. In fact at times while reading this novel I had to remind myself that it was fiction based on fact, not fact itself.

At the time of his marriage Hemingway was said to be a promising but – as yet – unpublished writer- – apart from some magazine articles and newspaper stories. Shortly after their marriage the Hemingways went to Paris where, even though money was tight, they were soon swept up in the literary circle of expatriate Americans, of Gertrude Stein (and Alice B Toklas) and Ezra Pound. After the horrors of World War I and before the Great Depression hit in 1929, it was the Jazz Age when it seemed everyone was determined to get as much excitement, if not enjoyment out of life as humanly possible, Chanel was designing clothes, the Ballet Russe brought colour and fantasy to Paris – the pace of life was fast and furious. In her novel Paula Maclain tells the story of Hadley’s life in Paris, of going to the bullfights in Spain, of holidays in the Swiss Alps and the South of France, of her love for her husband, adapting, so far as she was able, to life in a foreign country – even though most of their friends were expatriate Americans.

However as one reads this novel one senses the cracks appearing in an apparently stable relationship. There were problems when Ernest went to cover news stories, having to leave Hadley behind in a small apartment in an unfashionable part of Paris; they needed the money but she hated being alone (as who wouldn’t being left alone in a strange country). Then, when she joined him for a holiday in the Swiss Alps, Ernest’s manuscripts that she’d packed in a small case she had stowed away under the seat on the train were stolen when she left the carriage to buy newspapers and snacks for her journey.

He forgave her, but he didn’t forget … When Hadley got pregnant she felt fulfilled but Ernest had reservations about becoming a father. When the baby comes, he cries at night (as many babies will) robbing both Ernest and Hadley of sleep – the author doesn’t have to paint a picture of the strains on the relationship as Hadley balances the baby’s needs against those of her husband who needs her to reassure him, to praise his work, to “root” for him to be his companion when he isn’t working, to be the backdrop to his life, as it were. Hadley supports Ernest but she doesn’t lie to him when she thinks he’s mistaken. she is a decent, loving wife amidst a set of hard-drinking amoral wealthy people.

By now they had moved up in the literary circles to Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and other wealthy expatriates who had no need to earn a living. They were a hard drinking circle of friends who had little regard for the ties of marriage, some formed a m?nage a trois – the mistress living in the same apartment or house as the married couple.

But the Hemingways’ marriage still appeared solid, she learned to respect Ernest’s need to work in rooms away from home, he seemed devoted to her - and, so it appeared, to their son “Bumby” until …

… Until enter the snake in the garden of marital bliss in the shape of Pauline Pfeiffer, a fashionable, independently wealthy, thoroughly modern girl who, we realise, took one look at Hemingway and decided he was the man she wanted.

She befriends Hadley, insists that they are all best friends. She turns up uninvited when Hadley and Ernest take another skiing holiday, wearing the very latest fashion in skiing clothes. Ernest writes a satire on the work of erstwhile friend Sherwood Anderson, Hadley is appalled to think he could write so savagely about someone who was once his friend even though they had quarrelled (as so many did with Hemingway). Pauline insists Ernest’s satire is brilliant. Ernest feels Pauline, unlike Hadley, really appreciates the book.

It is tragic and painful to read the last few chapters in this book. Whether happily married for decades on end or not, one can’t help identifying with Hadley who can see her marriage coming apart, her life a shambles until she finally admits defeat, accepts divorce to allow Ernest to marry his mistress (for by now everyone knows the marriage is over). Hemingway laps up adoration, courts danger – marries twice more and has many affairs before he shoots himself. In this novel we see Hemingway as a basically insecure man who needs to prove himself over and over again. Fortunately, Hadley finds peace and a long-standing relationship in her second marriage, yet still feels affection for the man who treated her so badly. Yet, perhaps, he atoned for his mistreatment in his very last writing – the memoir “A Moveable Feast” in which he wrote he “would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley” – the Paris wife.