In A Moveable Feast: The Restored Editionthere are actually two sections dealing with the English writer and editor Ford Madox Ford. One of these sections, "The Acrid Smell of Lies," was added in the restored edition by Hemingway's grandson Sean. Both vignettes are extremely unflattering to Ford. In the chapter called "Ford Madox Ford and the Devil's Disciple" Hemingway details an encounter with Ford in a Paris cafe. He describes Ford derisively "as an...
In A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition there are actually two sections dealing with the English writer and editor Ford Madox Ford. One of these sections, "The Acrid Smell of Lies," was added in the restored edition by Hemingway's grandson Sean. Both vignettes are extremely unflattering to Ford. In the chapter called "Ford Madox Ford and the Devil's Disciple" Hemingway details an encounter with Ford in a Paris cafe. He describes Ford derisively "as an ambulatory well clothed up-ended hogshead." Hemingway goes on to insult Ford throughout the piece, suggesting that Ford had a bad odor and that Hemingway needed to hold his breath when he was near the man. In the introduction to the restored edition Sean Hemingway admits that his grandfather's dislike for Ford has "puzzled" biographers, especially because Ford often praised Hemingway's writings and was one of the first publishers, in his Transatlantic Review, to print Hemingway's stories. Hemingway's disdain of Ford, however, is quite in line with the insulting treatment (although a bit harsher) he gives other literary luminaries who were his friends, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and Sherwood Anderson (in Torrents of Spring).
The main insult in "Ford Madox and the Devil's Disciple" is to suggest that Ford could not even recognize the famous French writer and historian Hilaire Belloc (and thus was probably unable to recognize true genius). Ford claims that he has "cut" Belloc when he refuses to acknowledge the writer's presence when Belloc looks toward the table where he and Hemingway are seated. At the end of the sketch after Ford has left, Hemingway discovers that the man who Ford thought was Belloc was actually Aleister Crowley, an occultist who was often accused of worshipping Satan. This portrait of Ford tends to be ironic since Ford was well-known for recognizing great writing and promoting the careers of men such as Joseph Conrad, H. G. Wells, Thomas Hardy and Hemingway himself. As with many of Hemingway's relationships, there seems to be a good deal of jealousy on Hemingway's part. Another explanation of the poor treatment of Ford is posited by Sean Hemingway and is explicitly revealed in "The Acrid Smell of Lies" where Hemingway writes, "He [Ford] lied about money and about things that were important in daily living that he would give you his word on." Therefore, Hemingway's dislike may have originated because of a deal involving money. Years later, then, when he was writing A Moveable Feast, Hemingway couldn't help but harangue Ford in the worst of ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment