Hemingway’s Paris of the ‘roaring twenties’ as it is presented in “The Sun Also Rises” follows a group of expatriates indulging in excess and pursuit of experience: loose and heavy spending, partying and a lot of alcohol. A ‘lost generation’, reeling from the shattering of pre-war ideals and values, most of them are veterans or in some way directly connected to the war. It paints a lifestyle of an expatriate that is flashy, glamorous, yet somehow empty.
The novel’s protagonist, Jake Barnes, is a man’s man, yet ‘un-manned’ by the war and terribly in love with fellow expatriate Lady Ashley. Ben Lerner’s 21st century addition to the American expatriate genre seems initially far removed from “The Sun” and not just as a result of the 90 odd years separating Madrid of 2004 from 1920s Paris. Adam Gordon, fraudulent protagonist of “Leaving the Atocha Station”, is disillusioned with art, poetry and authenticity in general. His scholarship to Madrid has included little actual research: his time is marked by consuming alcohol, mounds of hash and attending occasional meaningless party and generally failing to accumulate experience. Yet these two expatriate experiences are in discourse with one another through several key concerns of the genre: the drive for experience, the dangers of Europe, the competence of the American expatriate and the unobtainable.
These various themes place these two texts in a conversation over what it means to be an American expatriate, and how that experience has changed or updated from Hemingway’s Spain and Paris to Lerner’s Madrid – particularly that expatriate identity even still exists.
Table of Contents
1. How the expatriate ‘experience’ has come under pressure, fluctuated and updated from Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises to Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station
Research Objectives and Themes
The primary research objective is to analyze the evolution of the American expatriate experience by contrasting Ernest Hemingway’s 1920s classic, The Sun Also Rises, with Ben Lerner’s 21st-century novel, Leaving the Atocha Station. The study examines how the construction of expatriate identity, the pursuit of authenticity, and the relationship with foreign environments have shifted from a post-war disillusionment to a contemporary crisis of self-awareness and digital-age disconnection.
- The role of historical trauma versus modern apathy in shaping expatriate identity.
- The dichotomy between the "real" experience and the "touristic" perspective.
- Authenticity as an unobtainable goal in a commodified world.
- The decline of traditional American competence and authority abroad.
- The influence of literature and media on the performance of the expatriate persona.
Excerpt from the Book
How the expatriate ‘experience’ has come under pressure, fluctuated and updated from Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises to Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station
Hemingway’s Paris of the ‘roaring twenties’ as it is presented in The Sun Also Rises follows a group of expatriates indulging in excess and pursuit of experience: loose and heavy spending, partying and a lot of alcohol. A ‘lost generation’, reeling from the shattering of pre-war ideals and values, most of them are veterans or in some way directly connected to the war. It paints a lifestyle of an expatriate that is flashy, glamorous, yet somehow empty. The novel’s protagonist, Jake Barnes, is a man’s man, yet ‘un-manned’ by the war and terribly in love with fellow expatriate Lady Ashley. Ben Lerner’s 21st century addition to the American expatriate genre seems initially far removed from The Sun and not just as a result of the 90 odd years separating Madrid of 2004 from 1920s Paris.
Adam Gordon, fraudulent protagonist of Leaving the Atocha Station, is disillusioned with art, poetry and authenticity in general. His scholarship to Madrid has included little actual research: his time is marked by consuming alcohol, mounds of hash and attending occasional meaningless party and generally failing to accumulate experience. Yet these two expatriate experiences are in discourse with one another through several key concerns of the genre: the drive for experience, the dangers of Europe, the competence of the American expatriate and the unobtainable. These various themes place these two texts in a conversation over what it means to be an American expatriate, and how that experience has changed or updated from Hemingway’s Spain and Paris to Lerner’s Madrid – particularly that expatriate identity even still exists.
Summary of Chapters
1. How the expatriate ‘experience’ has come under pressure, fluctuated and updated from Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises to Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station: This section establishes the comparative framework between Hemingway’s post-war expatriate model and Lerner’s contemporary critique, focusing on the shifting meaning of the "expatriate" label. It argues that while Hemingway’s characters seek to overcome war trauma through the pursuit of sensory experience, Lerner’s protagonist struggles with a profound, unmotivated existential emptiness and the inherent inauthenticity of his own expatriate performance.
Keywords
Expatriate, American Identity, Hemingway, Lerner, Authenticity, Trauma, Touristic, Disillusionment, Madrid, Paris, Modernity, Masculinity, Experience, Post-war, Inauthenticity
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the central focus of this academic paper?
The paper explores the transformation of the American expatriate literary archetype by comparing the experiences of characters in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station.
What are the primary themes discussed in the analysis?
The key themes include the obsession with "real" experience, the performance of national identity, the impact of historical and modern trauma, and the evolving concept of authenticity in foreign environments.
What is the core research question?
The work investigates how the concept of the "expatriate experience" has fluctuated and updated over time, specifically looking at how modern authors critique or move away from the traditional 1920s models.
Which scientific methodology is employed?
The author uses a comparative literary analysis, examining textual motifs, character psychological development, and the thematic discourse between two novels set in different historical contexts.
What does the main body of the text address?
The body analyzes the characters' relationships with "home," the role of violence and catastrophe in validating identity, and the shift from confident, competent American expatriates to fragmented, self-aware individuals.
How would you summarize the work using keywords?
The paper is characterized by terms such as expatriate identity, authenticity, literary comparison, post-war trauma, and the critique of the tourist gaze.
How does the role of trauma differ between the two novels?
In The Sun Also Rises, trauma is a tangible, shared experience of war that shapes the characters' behavior, whereas in Leaving the Atocha Station, the protagonist lacks such a definitive, singular trauma and instead struggles with the absence of genuine, felt experience.
What is the significance of the 2004 Madrid train bombings in Lerner's novel?
The bombings represent a pivotal moment where the protagonist is forced to confront actual tragedy, which serves to highlight his detachment, his touristic behavior, and his inability to process reality without the mediation of digital media.
Why does the author argue that Adam Gordon is a "fraudulent" protagonist?
Gordon is described as fraudulent because he constantly performs his identity—such as lying about his mother's death or his upbringing—to fit into the perceived image of an "authentic" expatriate artist, ultimately failing to connect with his environment.
What conclusion does the paper reach regarding the future of the expatriate genre?
The paper concludes that the traditional, "gauche" American expatriate model established by Hemingway has been largely declared obsolete, replaced by a more cynical, self-reflexive, and ironic perspective suited for the 21st century.
- Citation du texte
- Alex Gibbs (Auteur), 2016, Examining an updated expatriate experience from Earnest Hemmingway's "The Sun Also Rises" to Ben Lerner's" Leaving the Atocha Station", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/339622
