Fitzgerald and Hemingway by Scott Donaldson

Author:Scott Donaldson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literary Criticism/American/General
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2011-08-04T16:00:00+00:00

The fifth paragraph is concerned with their parting in Italy and the understanding they reached at that time. They “agreed he should go home,” and she “would not come until he had a good job and could come to New York to meet her,” but on this point Ernest and Agnes were in anything but agreement. “On the train from Padova to Milan they quarreled about her not being willing to come home at once. When they had to say goodbye in the station… they kissed good-bye, but were not finished with the quarrel. He felt sick about saying good-bye like that.”

Still, the unnamed narrator—perhaps by this time we can call him Ernie, as Agnes did—was willing to accept this condition and any other she imposed. “It was understood he would not drink, and he did not want to see his friends or any one in the States.” What was understood between them, in other words, was that he should give up all vices and entertainments, including friendship, and not get involved with anyone else. No such conditions were exacted of her.

The sixth paragraph, after presenting expository details about his going back to America and Ag’s opening a hospital in Torre di Mosto (sic), proceeds to develop at length two topics barely touched on in Version A: Ag’s seduction by the Italian major and the contents of her good-bye letter. In Versions B and C, it was not only lonely for Ag, but lonely “and rainy” as well:

Living in the muddy, rainy town in the winter, the major of the battalion made love to Ag, and she had never known Italians before, and finally wrote a letter to the States that theirs had been only a boy and girl affair. She was sorry, and she knew he would probably not be able to understand, but might someday forgive her, and be grateful to her, and she expected, absolutely unexpectedly, to be married in the spring. She loved him as always, but she realized now it was only a boy and girl love. She hoped he would have a great career, and believed in him absolutely. She knew it was for the best.

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