Friendship

Hemingway considers many of the people he describes in his book as "friends," and he implies much about what friendship means to him, how it is won, and how it is lost. Among those Hemingway seems to count his friends are Ezra Pound, Evan Shipman and F. Scott Fitzgerald. He considers Gertrude Stein a friend, but depicts an episode where he loses the ability to continue thinking of her as a friend.

Hemingway has great respect for Ezra Pound. He describes him as being very kind and always willing to help other authors and artists. As Hemingway describes Pound, he is sometimes misguided in his efforts, and Hemingway is sometimes disappointed in Pound's tendency to let his personal relationships cloud his judgment. Nevertheless, Hemingway has a basic respect for Pound that is built on Pound's own talent as a writer and his engagement with the rest of his...