A Moveable Feast question

I thought the term 'movable feast' referred to church holidays like Easter that fall on different dates each year as they are based on lunar timing. In the context of the title to this book I assumed that meant that Paris moves through life with you and is not bound by conventional rules of time and space as is the enjoyment of other cities

The movie "Midnight in Paris" is a fun interpretation of what Hemingway meant. In the movie, the "feast" moves through time (forward for some, backward for some). There are times and places that live on in the imagination with a golden aura about them, and they are feasts of memory no matter where and when you find yourself. Addis Ababa in the Sixties was like that if you were lucky enough to be an expat there in those times.

Currently living in Paris, I can relate well to what Hemingway says. The things you learn in Paris, the way of life, the attitude and the glory, they go with you everywhere.

Has anyone else read The Paris Wife. I read one then the other and thought it was a great 'he said-she said' activity.

Well

Chad wrote: "I am wondering what Hemmingway meant when he coined the famous phrase..."If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with..."

Interesting question and comments, but let's focus on the "feast" why not a "movable memory" but "feast", why such an overindulgence, my guess is that Paris touches many, and all aspects of a young one's life, it has the potential to satisfy all of their desires, indulgences, it's a "feast" and full of life and laughter and surprises, never ceases to let you down, and once you go there, it stays with you, that what it gave you.

It could be the EH was taking about physical existence in this life - that his current life is a moveable feast. If one believes in re-incarnation and that karma establishes your re-birth and that you take it all with you - then it is a "moveable feast" with you being the head chef and guest within your own life. Unless you reach nirvana you must face this existence again - it is "a moveable feast" - and with EH committing suicide - perhaps he thought he would find a better place - only to find it was "a moveable feast"

I feel that Hemingway was suggesting that Paris can be with you no matter where you go. He wrote this later in life, though it was about his younger years. The people, the food, the aromas and the memories never leave you. Just writing this, I think about all of the wonderful nuances of Paris and how I miss eating at those little cafe's on the street-sides, watching the people walk past--it will always be with me, as it was always with him.

It's a pun, folks. A moveable feast is a religious holiday whose date changes every year, like Easter. An unmoveable feast is like Christmas, which is on Dec. 25th every year, no matter on which day of the week it falls.

According to A.E. Hotchner, Ernest's long-time friend, the original title for the book was "Paris Sketches". He said in a New York Times Op-ed article that Mary did not like the title and that he remembered Ernest saying once that Paris was like a moveable feast. Mary liked that and changed the title name. So, let's not look too deeply into what Hemingway meant by entitling the book "A Moveable Feast", after all, it wasn't his title anyway.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/opi...

Hemingway had a love affair with Catholicism and so the term, "Moveable Feast". He takes some literary license and got a great book title. I think he was a little too harsh with Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein, but he wrote this with some nostalgia and bitterness.

The term "moveable feast" is from the Episcopalian Book of Common Prayer. Some "feasts" occur on fixed dates. An example is Christmas. It's always, at least in the Western church, on Dec 25. Easter and Pentecost are examples of moveable feasts. Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, so it can occur anywhere between the end of March and late April. I don't think Hemingway went to church much, if at all, but he probably liked the phrase enough to use it as a kind of play on words.

Chad wrote: "I am wondering what Hemmingway meant when he coined the famous phrase..."If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with..."

The guy was a great traveler; I almost can't name another writer of his timeperiod and his caliber who traveled so extensively on an international scale.

Janet Flanner described it as "a full body experience!" I like that better--i.e., meaning simply "living in Paris", past or present.

Hemingway was, first and foremost, a writer. This book is basically a lament about his first marriage, the love he had, at the beginning, for his wife and for Paris. The sheer excitement of it. Movable Feast? Has anyone ever heard of Movable Type. It was the (printing | press) technology of the day, when Hemingway got his start (writing obits) and then his stories, his books. It was, in essence, hot type... as was his life and the times (he shared) in Paris with his first wife, when he was young, not such a drunk, quite talented, and very, very, very much in love with (his) life. He was 'a movable type' ... capable of being very much moved by the events going on around him. Pretty simple. Pretty basic.

I'm sure the phrase resonated in a variety of ways for Hemingway, but one thing suggested by the comparison to irregular holidays is that the memories of Paris are something that will come back to you on their own schedule. They're sure to return throughout your whole life, but not in a way you can predict.

Paris is the feast which will be always with you wherever you are, so it's Movable Feast!

It comes from religious saint days which do not have a set date.

moveable feast to me means that where ever Hemingway went in Paris it was a cause of celebration, so to coin the phrase a moveable feast a portable bottle of wine perhaps, and friends and you are good to go.

Chad wrote: "I am wondering what Hemmingway meant when he coined the famous phrase..."If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with..."

He meant that Paris is a feast (like a party, a celebration) that remains with you wherever you may move after having lived in Paris.

Compare the accepted translations of this title in German (Ein Fest fürs Leben - A party that remains with you your entire life) or in Russian (Праздник, который всегда с тобой - a festivity that always remains with you).