MORE THAN JUST THE PARIS WIFE

We are all familiar with the adage that behind every successful man there is a loving wife (or some such sexist nonsense). I believe I have made my opinion on it clear in the previous sentence. One thing, however, is true. When one half of a couple attains a mixed blessing such as world-wide recognition and fame, the other half of the couple almost always finds his/herself plunged into the darker pages of history. This was very much the case with Hadley Richardson who was the loving wife of Ernest Hemingway just around the time he became as the literary giant he truly was.

Hadley supports Ernest through those years of poverty and uncertainty, assuages his doubt, provides him with a happy home, travels all around the world with him and does her level best to get used to the Paris set, composed of great talents with even greater characters such as Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ezra pound and Gertrude Stein. Hadley truly loves Ernest and is sure that their relationship can weather any storm fame, fortune and literary scandal brings, but as Ernest spreads his wings and begins to soar, whether she can actually keep up becomes more and more dubious…

It’s always an interesting one, isn’t it, the story of a famous person told from behind the scenes, more specifically from the perspective of his long-suffering wife. But if you were hoping for an OK magazine type dish the dirt deal on Ernest Hemingway, well this isn’t quite what you are looking for. I mean, I would be the first to say that Hadley is ill-treated at times by Ernest but the book does not by any means make a martyr of her. I do hate that kind of womans story – painting the woman as an angel that was wronged at every turn by the man is one genre, but it is not realistic. And what art of every form needs is REALISTIC female characters, you know, ones that are actually true to life. And as in every relationship, one cannot lay the blame for all the problems at Ernests door, no, not by a long shot. In fact, as a woman and a writer, there were times in the book I would have liked to physically grab Hadley and try to shake some sense into her. I guess she can be forgiven on the count that it was an electric time, the changes in her day to day life were constant and difficult to follow on an emotional scale and Ernest Hemmingway – though undoubtedly truly in love with Hadley at the time – was not by nature the easiest of men to get on with (much less live with). In fact, Hemmingway’s rise to fame was fraught with scandals and arguments of many kinds. A lot of artists and folks of renown all together on one social scene means that many egos to please. And this is a scene difficult to adapt to for someone like Hadley who does not even see herself as an artist. The Paris wife is, if nothing else, a wonderful study of love pitching itself against a truly extraordinary and relatively modern phenomenon – worldwide fame.

Historically speaking, it is also an important study well-worth reading. From the 1920s onwards, paris was a truly extraordinary town to be in (did anyone watch the Woody Allen film Midnight in paris). All the artistic greats of a single generation were there, together, the atmosphere must have been electric when all these creative geniuses came together. It makes one think of a certain period in history when Vienna was the centre of creation for classical music with Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and many more all gathered in the same city. I was wondering where this city might be today. L.A. London… No its actually more complicated than that. The creative city of the late 20^th and early 21^st century is, without shadow of a doubt, the internet. Competition is all the more fierce because it is all the more democratic, with artistic creation open to everyone but if you get into the thick of it, it is on the internet that the opportunities, the inspiration and the muses all reside. You needn’t, like Ernest and Hadley, have to physically go to a café downtown to see, be seen and meet people. All you need to do is open your browser. For the everyman, the tough bit comes about selection. Of course, the internet is what it is and the wealth of choice means – Im not being snobbish here people but you know what Im saying is definitely true in some cases – a drop in quality. What you need to do is not get side-tracked. What you need to do is do your research. And then, you have to have the strength of will to close that browser and get to the business of creating.  All you really need to do is to step away from the paths that are well-trodden and prescribed and find your own way… There are a lot of people who will say that the internet has ruined everything (whatever everything may mean) but I strongly disagree. I think it is an incredibly exciting time, where you never know when you may discover a budding artist or art form… Or indeed when a budding artist may discover themselves…